Miles to go before I sleep…

Aug. 6^th Friday. After filling up we detoured out to Mission Beach. This was recommended to us as one of the best beaches so naturally we decided to have a look. It is also one of the best places to spot a wild Cassowary as the land behind it is a protected sanctuary for the large indigenous flightless bird. We have yet to spot one.

We got there and both agreed that it was indeed a very very nice beach and also that we weren’t really interested in swimming or sunbathing so we moved on. We also realized that we have seen some of the nicest beaches the world has to offer by now and perhaps we will maybe pass up the next one. From beach to mountain town all in spitting distance is pretty much how the next few hundreds miles went. We traveled down the Bruce Highway though floodway roads that are regularly underwater in the rainy season. There are even meter sticks on the side of the road to indicate to drivers how deep the water is over the road! Those snorkels sticking out of peoples hoods aren’t just for show. Realizing that our tiny car is really only useful in these parts for certain months out of the year kind of helps put into perspective how gnarly Australia is. And this is a major highway!

Our next stop was Tully. The town of Tully is a small one situated on a slanting hill (good thing) and adjacent to a large sugar cane factory. Train tracks and small trains for transporting the cane dominate the landscape and we’ve probably driven over at least a hundred rail road crossings. Most of them with signs, watch for trains. Tully is special because it is one of the wettest towns in all of Australia with an average annual rainfall of something like 5 meters. A large fiberglass Gumboot (rubber boot) with a spiral staircase and lookout platform inside was erected outside of town. The tourist trap stands at a whopping 7 meters high which is the height of the highest recorded annual rainfall. On the inside of the boot are photographs of various parts of town under 1, 2, or 3 meters or so of water. Lucky for us, it is August and our stay in Tully was a dry one.

Ingham came into view and we stopped at the Tyto Wetlands information center. A very helpful woman helped us in our search for a nearby national park where we might camp for the night. It was almost noon and the site was quite a ways away. We stood in the wonderfully decorated building with informative exhibits on the flora and fauna of the wetlands all around us and rows and rows of brochures and pamphlets, maps and flyers for all the different activities, nature trails, hiking routes, waterfalls, beaches, mountain climbs, and animal sanctuaries that we could visit. Overloaded with possibilities for how to spend the rest of our day, we had to make a tough decision. In the end we decided to press on toward Townsville and pass up the 55 kilometer detour out West to some waterfall. Some waterfall was in fact Wallaman Falls, the highest waterfall in the southern hemisphere and the 3^rd highest in the word at 305meters, according to its excellent brochure. But the last 18k indicated that a four wheel drive vehicle was recommended. What that really means is that if you want to get there, you had better have 4 wheel drive and not a refrigerator with 4 inches of ground clearance. I told Will that I hope to never have to pass on the 3^rd highest, largest, longest, oldest or any other adjective whatever ever again. I marked Wallaman falls down on the list for my next trip to Australia.

We blasted through Townsville stopping only to admire the sailboats moored in the river and kept on going. One last detour as the sun started going down was to the top of a large hill with a steep drive but an amazing view from the top of farm land as far as the eye could see. 30 miles or more of farm plots with mountains in the far far distance and a view of the pacific to the east. A compass plate at the summit indicated the great circle bearings and distances for various other major world cities or ports.

We finally stopped to use a payphone after we were near where we thought the national park campground was only to find that we were off by about 60 km due to the poor detail on our road map and since we were both pretty tired, we just pulled off at the next “rest stop” to camp. Of course as luck would have it, the one we came across had a large sign. “No camping…No Overnight stays…No Tents…Penalties Apply”. Odd we though considering that signs on the road we had seen tell you to “pull over if sleepy”, and “take a rest and refresh”. Figuring that we were pretty well in the middle of nowhere still 20 k from the next town we pitched our tent anyway, in the dark, way in the back behind some trees. We set the alarm for 5:30am so we could be packed up before first light and went to bed. A cold cold night followed. Our coldest since leaving Cairns in fact but we suffered through the cold and highway noise and managed another free campsite. At least we tried.

Rise and Shine, it’s Move on or a Fine…

This was the front page headline in the Cairns Post newspaper which greeted us in a small gas station outside of Mission Beach. The article addressed increasing concern for illegal camping in Cairns and noted that it is also a problem in Townsville and Mackay. Ironically the volunteer town council members who have been patrolling the areas frequented by illegal backpacker/campers call themselves the “DAWN PARTOL”. If you don’t know why that is ironic, turn the page and read back into this blog to catch up! They seek out illegally parked campervans and tents and request that sleeping campers move on and inform them that they are breaking the law. While they don’t have the authority to move people on, they seem to help deter repeat offenders according to the article. Also mentioned, police officers are powerless to challenge illegal camping on certain types of land noting that most people are pulled up by the side of the road or in a public car park.

It’s a complicated situation since Australia’s east coast beach towns are currently hurting with low tourist numbers. They don’t want to drive people away but at the same time they don’t want anyone breaking the law. While technically illegal camping can be punished with a fine up to 500 dollars or even vehicle confiscation, Cairn’s council thinks that handing out warnings and notices are the best plan of attack given the large number of offenders. In July they gave out 600 warnings (like the one we got outside of Mossman) mostly to illegal beach campers and 3500 notices have been given out this year alone. Yes there are RV and caravan “camping” parks but many times they are full up. Anyway, college aged German, French, and even American backpackers/campers would more likely eat road-kill than pay 25-30 bucks a night on such lodging.

Public opinion is divided, some say that due to the tourist slump, backpacking visitors travelling on the cheap should be allowed to camp in public as long as they are in a safe place and are not an eyesore with cloths lines hanging up and such. Others see it as an untapped source of revenue and suggest a nominal fee for sleeping in a parking lot in a campervan in the heart of Cairns and other cities. Seems to me that a little planning by the cities and some friendly looking, “cheap tent camping for backpackers” sign would be a big hit and help draw visitors in to see some of the local tourist attractions. It takes some work to find the tent camping sites and phone in a reservation but we are at least doing our best to obey the law and camp in designated areas.

Enter the Great Greenway...

Aug 5^th, Thursday. We got a late start today from Cairns after a rough night out at the pub with our friend Alan Witt who just flew in to join up with Eye of the World. As the saying goes, a sailor would sooner part with his life than with his grog, and despite being jetlagged a whole day and a half Alan was still up for all you can drink happy hour.

While recovering from Cairns nightlife Will downloaded some useful maps onto his I-phone which has proven to be an invaluable tool for adventuring. It serves as a GPS, internet device, calculator, dictionary, atlas, compass, the list goes on. It’s kind of like the electronic version of a Swiss army knife. As we left Cairns, finally headed north, we slowly made our way away from the rainforest, the wet tropics region, and into miles and miles of sugar cane fields and low lying floodways.

We passed through Gordonvale and Babinda, an RV “friendly” town which they boast on a large sign, and then on to Innisfail. We picked up some fresh foods and cheap sausages for dinner there as well as some fuel. It was getting late so we took a side road to Etty Bay that advertized camping. We found an RV park full up (this seems to be a common trend) beside a great swimming bay with jellyfish nets for the peak season. While it looked like a nice place, we weren’t going to be able to sleep there. We moved on up the road about 5k and found a “rest stop.” Although close to the road, it had some trees and grass next to a creek and a bridge and although it was pretty noisy with trucks driving overhead there was not a single no camping sign to be found. We cooked dinner on the provided pick nick tables and had an uneventful albeit noisy rest for the night in the tent beside the car. Another free campsite in the books and well on our way down the “Great Greenway”, from Cairns to Townsville.

Daintree Rainforest and Beyond

Aug. 3rd. We were back on the road by 8am and headed into the Daintree Rainforest. It was around this time that we started to realize what a ridiculously small car we were travelling in. Almost every other car on the road here is a large land cruiser 4wd vehicle with a snorkel for traversing rivers, 2 spare tires, 4 spare jugs of fuel, a heavy duty car jack, a winch, “roo bar” on the bumper for deflecting the various road crossing marsupials, a shovel, and various other useful emergency equipment tied to the roof. We on the other hand have to be very very careful when driving over the 4 inch high speed humps on the paved road. Despite our off road deficiencies, we did manage to drive as far north from Cairns as is possible in a 2wd vehicle. Right up to where the paved road ends and 100km of dirt road, which is impassible during the rainy season, leading to Cooktown begins.

We booked our campsite over the phone. It was the last one available which we hope is a sign of good luck to come. Around 11am we pulled into the Discovery Center and stepped into (literally) the Daintree rainforest. The Discovery center is celebrating its 21^st year of teaching people about the Australian rainforest. It features a “rainforest skywalk” which takes you through the forest about 30 ft off the ground and then up a tower to the very tops of the trees.

After exploring, we made it to the campground with time to spare for cooking up dinner before it got dark. The National Park campground is as basic as they come but at least we didn’t have to worry about someone telling us NO CAMPING.

On the Road, Headed North?

We decided to go up North to check out the rain forest before heading south on our way to Sydney. After stopping at the grocery for some food we left Cairns headed north with no real plan other than that we were going to camp somewhere for the night and preferably not pay anything. We filled up at a gas station (passing by a BP) and checked the oil (she needed some) and coolant and topped off the tire pressure. We were surprised to see that the air compressor at the gas station was not only FREE but filled your tires automatically up to whatever pressure you punch into the LCD screen on the front of the machine. Very cool. It took a little while to figure out highway roundabouts and fortunately for us, keep left, signs are plastered everywhere. We stopped at a campground RV Park but at 13 dollars per person per night we decided to move along. We made it to Mossman around 7pm and stopped to look for the flashlight we had bought since it was dark but we had lost it. A guy working at a coin laundry place looked at our car and said, "Couldn't have found a smaller one could you?" to which I replied, "we really tried, but no". I asked him about a real cheap campground in the area and he asked if I had read the local paper lately.

Apparently the stereotypical young car campers are the bane of Australia's east coast small towns and communities hold meetings where citizens complain about them. He told us however about a rest stop area with toilets and picnic tables about a 1 km down the road over a bridge that he figured we could just throw up our tent in. He had a very serious look on his face when he warned us not to go near the river due to crocodiles. When we got there, there were about 4 other camper vans (Volkswagen type) already parked and a sign indicating no tents allowed. We decided that it was a good bed and it was already dark so if we got up early enough we shouldn't have a problem. While cooking dinner (sausages and onions with garlic bread and pasta and chicken for tomorrow's drive) a police car drove through the park and said a friendly "hello" to us and didn't stop. We took this to be a good sign but wondered if they were just checking for tents. In any case, we had an uneventful sleep until around 5am when a garbage truck rumbled through about 6 feet...sorry, i mean about 2 meters, away from the tent and woke us up wondering where the swat team was to haul us away.

We were up by 6:30 and put away the tent post haste just in time for a town council "patrol" van to drive through and speak to all the campers in the park. "Did you sleep here last night?", he asked, "Yes" I replied. "But we didn't have a tent, we saw the sign" I said with a perfectly straight face. He handed me a piece of paper detailing the rules of the the park which was basically NO CAMPING and took down our license plate, my name and license number. He wasn't authorized to give tickets and I probably could have refused to show my license but I figured that just humoring him for whatever he wanted save for money would help out the next guys he comes across and we're never going to be here again. He was very friendly and offered me a list of RV parks that we could stay at. After he spoke to the other "campers" (who were not using tents, sleeping in their vans) I asked him about cheaper camping like "tent camping" that was free and he recommended a national park on Noah's beach which we ended up staying in that night.

Many young car/van backpackers/campers we have met have been met with similar warnings about camping. They fill up the parking lots but aren't technically "allowed" to sleep in their cars and must use window shades to avoid giving probable cause that someone is sleeping in the vehicle. It seems that cheap tent camping is hard to come by and must be booked in advance over the phone. Other differences are that fires seem to be generally disallowed in all parks and amenities are very basic with just a toilet and no shower house in the "tent camping" campgrounds.

It's not the SIZE that matters...it's how you USE IT

Aug. 1st. We made an offer of 700 and there she was. Our nice, old, brand new car. We figured that we would at least: See more of Australia this way and somehow, we rationalized that this would be cheaper than staying in hostels and buying a plane ticket to Sydney. At least we agreed it would be more of an adventure. Trying not to jinx ourselves we found each other wondering "what's the worst that could happen". Since the acquisition of a car we have felt a great sense of freedom to go do whatever it is we want to do on no particular schedule and in no rush. As long as we make it to Sydney before our plane takes off everything will by groovy. As they say here... No Worries!

Our new car is a 1985 Honda CityPro2. Its about as long as a refrigerator and just big enough for the two of us to sit. It's a purely practical transportation machine, as cheap as they come. She has a bad CV joint that makes a loud popping clicking noise whenever we make a hard turn but we figure, most of our driving will be straight ahead to Sydney so NO WORRIES! However, we knock on wood quite often.

We've named our beloved vehicle Babe (after the pig in the movie) because every time we make it over a hill we found ourselves praising the car for not breaking. Then Will said, "That'll do car"...That'll do Babe...Babe it is. For 700 bucks, if the doors fall off when we get there (knock on wood) it will still all be worth it.

Terra Firma

I Herby revive this blog.

My last post was from Virgina before heading on a journey that took me south and across the very large pacific ocean. Yes the plan was to go all the way around but shit happens. I'm in Australia, I bought a very small car with my friend Will, and we're headed down to Sydney from Cairns to catch a flight back to the US. But until then, we hope to experience some of this wild country. So far we're doing pretty good...knock on wood.

This is a fish we saw on the dock when we arrived. Even if I didn't know there were man eating crocodiles EVERYWHERE here this alone might keep me out of the water.

Bon Voyage

To the five people who still look here to see if there is anything new. I am hereby putting this blog into extended hibernation and instead would like to direct anyone to the Eye Of The World Website on which there will be forthcoming interesting updates and much more regular and exiting posts. I am going forth into the world to explore, trying to keep the the world from shrinking too much.

All play and no work

I expect posts on this blog to come more infrequently (I know they already do) with the summer approaching and EYE gaining momentum so I'll just recap and announce. 

Firstly, I graduated. Finally. It took long enough but just in time for life changing events. and new things. Everyone asks me what I'm going to do now and I love seeing their faces when I say, "Oh well actually i'm going sailing around the world". I still don't think I fully grasp what that is but people sure seem impressed. Currently upon returning the plan is to continue studying all things boating specifically wooden boats. I would like a degree in naval architecture eventually but mostly just want to work on and sail boats. I know I already have one trip around the world on my plate but I also would like to sail around the world in a boat that I built. I think that is just something I need to do. 

There is already a ton of post Tybee blab out there so I won't add mine in depth but I will say that this years Tybee 500 was a great one and with more boats than I've ever seen at the race. Trey and I gave our best showing ever in the race and were really happy with the results. No major breakdowns or injuries on the entire team velocity team (all 7 boats of it) so what more can you ask for. Thanks to Wizard and CrazyRussian who greatfully lent their epirbs to the team velocity cause.   

Just days after Tybee it was back to work on the William T. Piquette. Our 40 foot Rhodes Reliant sailboat. Adam and I drove up to work on the boat last Wed. and did just that through most of memorial day. It was a very sucessful session and the boat is getting closer and closer to float day.Be sure to see the Eye of the World website for the very latest news and and details from last week.  

We are adding features to the website every day and beginning to really structure the educational program. Eye will be participating in many upcoming events in the next few months which will be announced on the website so come out and hang out with eye crew. Also, don't forget to donate if you can. $25 bucks gets you a really nice T-shirt!

So what about now? I'm getting ready to head off to Virginia for the summer. I'll be working at the Bayport boy scout reservation with the CHASE (Chesapeake Bay High Adventure Sailing Experience) program up there teaching boy scouts how to sail larger boats (30-35' range) for 7 weeks. Fellow EYE crewmemeber Adam Domanski worked for this program for a couple of years and he tipped me off to it. When thats over, it's off to Hawaii for a couple of weeks to see family and then back to VA to really get eye of the world out the door. 

Hot links this week

Countdown to the Tybee 500. First leg starts Monday. We have an incredible 23 race boats signed up for this years Tybee 500 a record number. I thought I would help out those that cannot be there in person. Get the most out of your vicarious online adventure by following the race this week on the following sites.

Tybee500.com - Official race rules and notices will be posted here as well as periodic updates about the race.

Sailing Anarchy.com - Another must read with info about race results and cool articles.

Twitter.com/tybee500 - Check for the latest tweats.

velocitysailing.com - Race updates as they pertain to team velocity will be posted here. Check out the team site for skipper and crew bios and the latest from velocity sailing.

topofusion.com/tracker-tybee.php - topo fusion has agreed to provide real time race tracking via personal SPOT mesengers. Those boats that have SPOT messengers will show up on the tracker page during the race. In addition, you can follow TVS1 (my boat) by going HERE (SPOT share page), but you won't see other boats.

Team Seacats.com - You can't forget to read up on the Team Sea Cats blog. They will surely have some of the most up to date info out there about all the teams. A must read.

Catsailor.com - Just drop in on "general discussion" and find the appropriate Tybee thread that is sure to have some coverage.

More team blogs...

Team Pirates of the Chesapeake - team blog.

Team Adrenaline- team blog.

Team Chums - team blog.

And of course, don't forget to check out the NORSA blog and the EYE of the World Blog regularly!!!