Southern Queensland

Dan McLeod and I sat in his backyard in the shade watching his 4 year old, Caleb, climb his play house like a monkey. Adventures we had at Avondale College where we studied together were relived. We had this one routine of sneaking into the girls dorm via a rope tied to a handrail in the fire exit on the 3rd floor. Our lady friends on the inside would guide us through the halls without being spotted by the hall monitors. We laughed at how we had to pee in sinks to stay undetected and limp around the next day because of the spine jamming, ankle cracking jump out of the 2nd floor. We used to skip classes and work to go surfing down at Cathos. One day after our surf Dan, Rodrigo and I ended up getting pulled over by the cops for recklessly speeding in my nonregistered, uninsured, push starting '78 Sigma. I was driving with an expired DL. I was sure to get a massive fine. The cop was not impressed. He went back to his car to begin the process. I was sure I would be deported back home. I was sweating bullets when he ran back and threw my useless DL at me. "Its your lucky day, Mate. I would take you in, but there is a robbery in progress." Gravel sprayed the Sigma as he sped off sirens blaring. My favorite story was the camping trip into the rugged Australian bush when Dan forgot to bring his tent. Imagine three big dudes fitting into a small two man tent with pooring rain. Dan had to sleep with his feet sticking out of the zipper while David and I tried not to spoon too much. It was a bonding experience to say the least. Inspite of 8 years of no comunication Dan and I get along like we hadn't missed a day.

Koala

After hanging with Dan I drove up to the world famous Australia Zoo. It was the home of the late Crocodile Hunter. I had visisted years before Steve Irwin was tragically taken out by the barb of a stingray. It has since grown quite large. It was sad to see thousands of pics on the walls of Steve Irwin in his uber hyper pose holding Fierce Snakes, tackling an alligator, leaping through the air over a barbed wire fence to catch a Brown Snake. He ran Austalia Zoo with the philosophy of hands on encounters to educate the public on the importance of protecting nature. Being a hands on kind of guy I loved it. I was able to pet koalas, kangaroos, wombats. I even fed an Asian Elephant. The zoo has shows all day. The best was at the Crocoseum, which is a new massive stadium built with a pool in the middle. The handlers run around with dead chickens and slabs of liver showing the masses the speed, power and stealth of the apex predator known as the saltwater crocodile.

Dan and Caleb

Bursting at the seems with new animal knowledge I hit the road to... um.... drive. Not really having a particular destination, I drove north. Eventually getting tired I decided to stay at Noosa Heads. Noosa is a rich trendy beach town with gorgeous beaches and a scenic headland. The cheapest bed in town was 28 bucks. It would have to be a one nighter. The next morning was spent watching longboarders styling down the lines at the point break in town. Contented with the free show I drove back down the coast towards Brisbane.

Brisbane was great, becuase I met up with Kelly Ching in ..you guessed it...Chinatown. Our paths seem to cross quite often. We hung out for the day which happened to be St. Pat's. In the process of chatting her up, I found out she used to be a Coors Lite promo girl, so naturally I made fun of her. Going for a St. Pat's stroll with the help of the Silver Bullet's navigating skills we ended up getting lost several times. This required more jesting at Kelly's expense. The day rolled into the evening and the Irish were out in force... or should I say "farce". Saying goodbye to Kelly and Brisbane the 300 and I cruised back to my home away from home, Byron Bay.  I was very pleased with my mini road trip...very pleased indeed.

Meat Pie

Working for the Super Levi

The Road

Lizard Attack

Water Dragon

Home

Super Light Eyes

Glass House Mountains

Crikey

Wombats

Wombat

Croc Feeding

Crocoseum

Eastern Water Dragon

The Feeding of Elephants

Feeding Line

Asian Elephants

Sleep 23 Hours a Day

Careful Not to Disturb

Grey Roo

Noosa

I Love Espressos

Being Cultured