Moving on.

     So. Unfortunately I have had to move from Margaret and Geoff's. They have a lovely girl from mexico coming to stay with them and it is time for me to move on. Thankfully Geoff introduced me to Ian and Susa who I will be staying with to be a trial run for them. They want to try out Helpx and see how it goes (I hope I represent us Helpx-ers well).  They have toddler twins that are adorable but a handful. With Ian and Susa I will be helping clean the boat I worked on the other day, cleaning out their garage and some other smaller things.  
     The day before Geoff, Margaret, the rest of the boys and I went to Noosa National park to surf for the day. I can now say that I have jumped off Flat Rock and into Boiling Pot. Apparently this is something big in the surf world or at least here in Noosa. It was lots of fun, I am slowly getting better and it is always enjoyable to watch everyone surfing. 

Me paddling out.

At peace with the waves...             or whatever.

Waiting to catch a wave.

After a good crash. 

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain  

I most certainly am not disappointed in my efforts to surf though it is slow going. And even the mistakes I am making along the way, and there are plenty of those, I am learning so much.

Its hard to write a lot.

  It is hard to keep this blog up. The last thing I want to do while I am enjoying myself and having lots of fun is sit down and write. I really dislike writing but this will be nice to look back later and remember my travels. It's also great because I can keep my family up to date on what I'm doing and not annoy people with it on other forms of social media. So I will start now on what Ive been doing while slacking on this blog. 
     So. Since I got here I have been struggling to get my phone working. At first it was fighting with AT&T to unlock my phone like they were supposed to have done before I left the US. Finally getting that done I moved on to activating my pay as you go sim card. That they want you to have a telephone number to set up....     Hello! Im trying to GET a telephone number how am I supposed to provide them with one!! I will need to go into town and go to an actual store and set it up. 
     A few days ago I decided it would be nice to get a 4x4 car to get around in instead of going around on transportation. This requires a bank account. I was going to get one anyways but it wasn't an immediate need. Now wanting a car it is.  WELL, apparently you also need a phone number to register your bank account. This is just wonderful and makes no sense to me. I need to go in and talk to my new Australian bank. 
     Buying a car is as difficult as buying a car sounds. It's hard so far I have found a lot  I like but they are overpriced for not having registration and a RWC ( means that the car is safe to drive). 
     On to the fun stuff!! All around town here are little art displays for the art festival going on.
    I am learning to surf, I actually stood up!! 
 On tuesday I made burritos for my HelpX hosts and it was fun. Then on thursday I made quesadillas for them with the leftovers from burrito night. To my shock and horror they had never had nor heard of quesadillas. So I had to explain what  a quesadilla was and how to eat them. Australia really has very little Mexican food and to a Californian this is extremely strange as Mexican is a big part of our diet. 

"An adventure without risk is Disneyland"- Doug Coupland
Disneyland a dream land but this is real adventure.

Im a Poor Planner

   

The other day I went with the guys to watch them surf and take pictures. Unfortunately it is school holidays here and so the beaches are very crowded. So crowded in fact that it was extremely difficult to keep track of who was who in the crowd. I also am not very good a photography and thus didn't get a single decent picture out of hundreds. 
     On the way back from surfing the guys have a tradition of stoping at 7/11 for coffee. Me not being a coffee drinker I got a doughnut. Well I tried to get a doughnut. A couple of days into the trip and my credit card company randomly decided to shut my card down so it got declined and that was plenty embarrassing because I knew that I had plenty of credit left on it. Thankfully it was a quick fix and all that I had to do was hit a button on an email they sent me. Would have been nice if Capital One had paid attention to the travel notice I gave them ahead of time. 
     Australian Rugby league is big here and that night we watched the Broncos vs Roosters. I think it was a lot more exciting than American football. It was actually kind of fun to watch, unlike football lol.

"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving" -Lao Tzu
I do have a few fixed plans and I am intent on getting there (or I will let my hosts down) and I am by no means a good traveler but I hope to become one some day.

A Surfing First!

   

Geoff  and Raff took me out to go surfing at Granite, well they surfed and I got to attempt it. 

     The first thing I learned was that the boards are very light for how large they are. 

     The second thing I learned is that the boards are actually quite heavy. It may be light as a feather at first but carrying that board ~5k uphill in bare feet then climbing down the side of a cliff the board seems to just get heavier and heavier as you go. Carrying it back it was even heavier.

     Then Geoff taught me how to use the leg leash and off we went! (I am right handed but board left foot back, apparently this is strange) Paddling out wasn't too hard one you get past the breaking waves. Out there I got to practice sitting up and paddling around trying to stay out of everyone's way. As I got better at that, Geoff said I should try and catch a wave just laying on the board. That attempt sort of failed as will happen with beginners. I totally ate wave and flipped end over end than got ran over at least by my board and maybe Raff. All the joys of learning to surf. I then paddled back out to wait another try. Getting board paddling around and sitting watching the guys I started watching for fish and turtles. There was even some dolphins in the distance.  If you get sea sick I don't recommend doing watching the sea-life and getting distracted. Sad to say I am the first anyone at this house has heard of getting sea sick on a board. I was good enough not to fall off and roll with the waves but I AM lame enough to get sea sick. It was cool watching the fish trying to eat the jellyfish though!  So feeling a bit nauseous I went back to shore to watch the guys finish their surf and back home we went after the obligatory 7/11 run for coffee.

"I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train" -Oscar Wilde