East Coast #2

Cairns
4 days
Dive, hike, jump and fly

Ocean Freedom Cruise
Scuba dive and Snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef

 

 I met Karen (Middle, England) at Fraser Island and bumpt into her again in Cairns. We had the same scuba dive cruise booked.

Cape Tribulation
The only place where 2 World Heritage sites exist side by side: The Daintree Rainforest (Ancient) and The Great Barrier Reef.

 

I met Alina (Germany) during the Cape Tribulation day trip. She was on the Ocean Freedom cruise the day before with me, the next day same bungy jump time, and flight to Brisbane. We were both surprised by how similar our itineraries were.

 The great thing about traveling the East Coast is you are most likely to see friends you met in the last town again traveling in the same direction.

A native Australian explaining his lifestyle in the rainforest. He also showed us his tools made of trees and rocks.

Bungy Jump
A.J. Hackett
14 Floors
Ocean view
1 Breath taking jump

As I leaped forward, I had about 3 seconds of air time, floating in the sky until gravity pulled me down.

The scariest part was walking up the stairs and looking down. Jumping was easy, you just let the bungy cord do its job.

Advice: Don't look down and pretend you are going to dive in to a pool.

East Coast Travel

The past few months in Australia has been the most adventurous. I landed in Sydney with no plans or direction of where or what I was going to do in Australia. I traveled the entire East Coast of Australia and met the most wonderful people along the way!

Ice cold Polar dip!

Laura's Birthday

After two fun months in Noosa, I was ready for some more adventure! It was difficult to leave my hostel family, but my Greyhound Pass was soon to expire.
The next two weeks of my life were filled with unbelievable scenery, instant friendships, and breathe taking experiences that would last a life time!

 
East Coast 
North of Noosa

 Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. Together with a group of 30 travellers, we were split into groups where we drove our own 4W's on the beach, prepared our own meals, and visited a variety of beautiful landscapes. I was overwhelmed by the long and non uninterrupted white beaches (75miles). Fraser Island is the only place in the world where tall rainforests grow in sand dunes

 

Lake McKenzie

 The sands around the lake are composed of pure, white silica and the water in the lake is also so pure it is unsuitable for many species.

Driving on Fraser Island

Stopped to take pictures of wild life

SS Maheno Shipwreck (1935)

Next stop was a very small town called Agnes Waters next to 1770, where Captain James Cook "first" discovered Australia. The Southern Cross Nomads Hostel I stayed at was so safe that the doors did not have locks. While in Agnes Waters, I took advantage of the $17 surf lession for 3 hours where I caught my first real wave. After surfing, I rented an electric bike with a Scottish boy and jetted to 1770 to visit the famous historical site. 

 

 

The Greyhound bus departed from Agnes Waters in the late evening and arrived in Airlie Beach the next morning with only a few hours before departing for the Whitsunday Island adventure. Two days and two nights of snorkeling, games, white sand beach and taking in the beautiful ocean scenery.

When we returned to Airlie Beach, we celebrated with free pizza. I learned that this tall blonde Swedish stud that was staying in my hostel room with 7 other people was the #6 ranked DJ in the world, Avicii...he is 23 years old makes $20,000 a show.

Month #2

Completed the Sunshine Coast Half Marathon :)

Traveling with out plans or having the freedom to rearrange your itinerary makes up for quite the adventure. While touring the east coast of Australia, my 3 day stop over in Noosa has turned into 7 weeks. I have had the opportunity to work for my accommodation in the restaurant (free dinner) and as a bus driver.

Bus station-Picking up backpackers

A bus driver?? I thought my dream would never come true! Slight problem...I don't know how to drive a manual, on the left side of the road with up to 10 backpackers at one time. But I am over 21 years old which was the only requirement.Within 1 week, after driving on the left side of the road, stalling multiple times, and getting better at using round a bouts, I mastered the the roads of Australia!

Wendy and I at Noosa National Park

 While looking for a job, I met Wendy, a Health and Wellness coach who runs a Nutrition Club in Noosaville. I decided to join Wendy's team as a distributor which would allow me to promote high quality the nutrition of my future personal training clients. As well, enhance my athletic performance for running marathons.The results have been outstanding, I have lost 4lbs and 4% body fat in one month and feel more energized.

By knowing Wendy, I found a Hillsong Church located right across the street from my hostel, aka "Rock Band" church. Through the church, I met some awesome Aussies. Together we rock on at church on Sunday mornings, head to the beach, bbq, and party. I have been lucky to meet some amazing people through them and experience places outside the backpacker world with them. For example, Noosa Springs Golf and Spa Resort, where I got to visit a million dollar home on the golf course.

I met Tracey through Hillsong Church. Tracey is Australian and was raised by Italian and British parents. Like myself, she also did a Work 'n Holiday in England for 2 years where she worked as a Physiotherapy Assistant in Long Term Care. How cool is that? How did I find someone which such similar life experience and with a European background! Tracey has been such a great friend to me and welcoming to Australia, that one day I would like to do the same for her when she visits Canada. 

Laura, Hannah and Elise

Laura - Estonia

Hannah - Germany

My besties! Laura, Hannah and I have been living together for the past month. We sleep, eat, work for our accommodation, and party together. We have become so close as friends because we are in each others faces 24/7. Together we have found a common ground which we can feel a sense of self and care for one another. We experience all types of emotions together, the highs and the lows and help each other overcome obstacles and share our happiness. We entered the hostel as strangers and leave as family/friends truly. How cool is it that people from all over the world unite and want to experience the similar things or places?

Laura cutting Tracey's Hair for $5 and strawberries

Noosa Life

 Australia Zoo:
Home of the Crocodile Hunter

Photos: photobucket.com/leasie4

The zoo was phenomenal! Plenty of wild life to experience, from elephants to otters.
I was excited to see a variety of animals and spend some quality time with the kangaroos and koalas. Wondering around the zoo made me feel like a kid again.

Steve Irwin"The Crocodile Hunter", has made a massive impact on saving the wild life not only in Australia but internationally. I could feel his passion and dedication to wildlife through his extreme facial expressions posted all over the zoo and the zoo keepers. Unfortunately, he died in 2006 by a sting ray. However, his legend as the crocodile hunter will live forever.

My favourite part of the zoo was petting the kangaroos and koalas. The roos were laying around on the grass waiting to be feed and the koalas were either sleeping or eating.

Photos: photobucket.com/leasie4

It has been 2 weeks living in the small beachy town of Noosa, Queensland. My initial intention was to stay here for 3 days and then continue to travel north up the East Coast. Most of my stay was filled with rain and delayed me from to touring around Noosa and Fraser Island. The hostel I was staying at was in need of workers. I took the opportunity to work for my accommodation and a free meal and quickly put my travel up the East Coast on hold. 

Work for Accommodation

I was hired to assist the Chef with dinner for 3 hours a day for a minimum of 2 weeks. My first shift, I helped "serve" pizza by which I mean watch people take a slice while I eat pizza. Each night there are different meals from different countries from Italian to Mexican. The Chef/supervisor is half Greek/German. We get to practice our Greek speaking skill to each other, which reminds us of our family back home. Together with a guy from Belgium (French speaking) we run orders and keep the kitchen tidy. 

Actual Accommodation

So, I found my way into a room with 12 people from all over the world, such as UK, Italy, Belgium, Brazil and Germany. With 6 boys and 6 girls surprisingly almost everyone gets along. I settled on a top bunk with no side railing to stop me from rolling off. A week later, a roommate left and I took the bottom bunk where I could create a tent around my bed for privacy. I love my little cave.

Lifestyle

After a few days in Noosa, I was wondering what I was doing with my life.

Noosa is not very busy during their winter season and jobs are scarce. As I continue to look for a job, I decided to sign up for Bikrham Yoga and train for a Half Marathon. 

For 30 days, I have challenged myself to attend a 90 min hot yoga session almost every day. Currently, I have participated 6 out of 10 days. I have seen improvements in my flexibility and have a quicker recovery from running (minimal muscle soreness). The muscle imbalances my body has been experiencing have become less prevalent due to the spine stabilization and low back exercises. While training for my previous full marathon, my IT Band became really tight. 

Practicing Bikrham yoga involves a heated room to help to increase circulation to my muscles, ligaments and tendons thus providing nutrients and eliminating waste quicker. In addition, training in a heated room has improve my cooling system, known as sweating.

Training for a marathon in Noosa is a dream come true! 

A small beach town surrounded by national parks provides a variety of terrain. Each day of running has a different focus, such as running on the beach, hiking trails, hills/stairs, flat and green fields.
I have a pair of cross training hiking shoes and a pair of runner. Since my running shoes are starting to breakdown, I run barefoot on sand and grass for most of my training and use my hiking shoes for my long Sunday morning runs. 

During 6 weeks of training for a 21Km run, I am enriching my nutrition through Herbal Life products to optimize my performance. I take two meal replacement shakes a day with fruits and veggies and one meal for dinner. In addition, a multivitamin/mineral 3 times a day and a natural fat burning herbal tea to satisfy my cravings.

I started Herbal Life 5 days ago, I already felt better from the inside out and my energy has increased. I am looking forward to losing some weight to improve my running performance while consuming a high nutrient diet. 

Overall, balancing hot yoga, running, and herbal life has been amazing. I have the time and freedom to pursue my passions of healthy living. I am very grateful to have this opportunity to live healthy and happy.

Photos: photobucket.com/leasie4

Sunshine Coast

1 Month in Oz

More Pictures
photobucket.com/leasie3

Video
youtube.com/leasieloo2012

Brisbane - Catherine (19years) from Richmond, England

From Byron Bay, I purchased a 3 month Greyhound Bus Pass to Cairns (one direction). I stopped in the Gold Coast/Surfer's Paradise which is similar to Miami Beach. I visited a childhood friend of mine who just flew in to start his studies at Griffith University.

As soon as I arrived at the Islander Nomads Hostel in Surfer's Paradise, I met Catherine. A 19 year old English girl traveling on her own. During high school, she volunteered to work in Africa with a group of students for 3 months. The village she lived in had no vegetation, and she had to eat bread and pasta everyday with vitamin supplements.

Next stop, Brisbane (Brizzy) for another night. Investigated the town, the Botanical Gardens, City Hall and store fronts. I liked Brizzy better than Sydney because it is smaller and people move slower, except it is further from the beach. I was happy to head north to a little beach town called Noosa.

Noosa, booked 3 nights and noticed they were looking for staff. I signed up to work for my accommodations for a minimum of 2 weeks.

Noosa National Park
Great hiking trails in and around the coast. I saw a koala sleeping in a tree.
Noosa is surrounded by national parks.

 

Sunshine Beach

Started my first shift today assisting the chef in the kitchen. I will be helping with some breakfasts (brekky), but mostly dinners, and yes...free food! yay! My supervisor is a Greek and German male surfer who makes his own tzatziki! I lucked out on the best job at the hostel compared to housekeeping.


Sunshine Coast Marathon

On August 26, I will be running a half marathon along the sunshine coast. With only 37 days to train I am challenged to run 21 km in under 3 hours (cut off time).