2:39 p.m. - 2003-08-19
Road trip with a dingo
So we left Gloucester on Friday afternoon and took the Dingo with us (he loves a road trip). We were heading to Brian's sister Cari who lives on the Gold Coast. We were drinking and smoking all the way and because Brian had never been there before, of course we got lost. It took us 40 minutes driving around in circles to find it. We didn't arrive until 11pm. The next day we all went to see some land that had been given the go ahead for an Eco-village. Cari was interested in buying into it. $150,000 investment and you build your own house. It was basically two blokes and their Utopian dream. It sounded wonderful but I wonder if it would work. There was a hell of a lot of work that needed doing and it wouldn't be fully actualised for another 50 years at least. Who would buy into that? There is a similar working concept in Maleny near Brisbane called Crystal Waters. I might check it out. These alternative communities are all the rage in Australia, the antithesis of the housing developments along the Sunshine coast.
We all went out on the piss to the Gold Coast that night. We had such a laugh. The whole place is a zoo, shocking people behaving shockingly! Fascinating though. Nick was driving, so Brian and I downed tequilas all night and had a wild time. I even danced to a Beatles Medley in a dreadful place called The Avenue, where there was a very unattractive fat couple snogging on the dancefloor.
Sunday was hazy. We left Cari's and headed towards Brian�s brother�s place in Belthorpe near the Glasshouse Mountains. He works in Perma-culture and reforestation and lives in what feels like the middle-of-nowhere. We stopped off on the way in a place called Sanctuary Cove. It's a huge resort with a golf course and yachts everywhere. I think it is trying to be a bit St. Tropez. They failed on that one, the place was dreadful, Brian had to meet some people there for a meeting and Nick and I got caned and wandered around spinning out. We felt like we were in The Truman Show. Everything was so ordered and plastic and bland. Even the people were plastic. There was �Sanctuary Cove Security� driving around as if they were the police and guests riding around in golf buggies. It was very entertaining though, especially when we were sitting watching everyone else watching the awful cabaret act in the bar. A member of the staff who was the equivalent of a Red Coat was dancing like he was on drugs to the music. I laughed my arse off, I think he could have been on TV. He was zany, but very geeky looking and wearing a bad Hawaiian shirt. He seemed extraordinarily happy. Brian told me he'd been chatting to him and apparently he was shagging an 18-year-old. This guy was in his thirties, so no wonder he was happy!
I didn't want to leave that gem of a place, but we had to get to Matthew�s. We got lost finding him as well. We were wasted and by the time we got halfway up the mountain it was dark and foggy.
He lives in a big shed too, but his is much warmer than Brian�s is, it was like a sauna in there.
Thursday 21st August
Matthew took us on a tour of his land and the surrounding area. We visited a rainforest conservation centre, which was home to some of the oldest rainforest in the world. It�s so sad to think how much we�ve destroyed. They are the most beautiful examples of nature. There seems to be so much of the alternative lifestyle around the outskirts of Brisbane. We went to Maleny, which is famous for having the largest concentration of Co-operatives in the world: twenty in one town. After some organic coffee we were taken to meet Bill who conceived the famous Woodford Folk Festival there 13 years ago. He�s a real character, very unhealthy: overweight, a smoker and rattles with pills. We went to the festival site where Matthew had planted masses of trees. It�s a remarkable place, with a view of the mountains, aboriginal sculptures, and Wallabies jumping all over the place. I could picture getting off my face and feeling all spiritual on New Years day here, after an all night party. That�s when I decided to stay in Oz for a whole year. It occurred to me that I could get by on fruit picking and WWOOFing. I�m falling in love with Australia and I really want to be at the festival at Christmas. It starts on Boxing Day and carries on until New Year. That�s six days of music and madness.
Friday 22nd August �03
When we arrived at Brisbane we stopped off at a pub to watch some Blues. We�d left Ernie in the car while we had a quick half. As we got up to leave, the manager took the mic and said: �Could the owners of a white Toyota Camry please go to your car, where your brown dog has jumped out of the window and is running round the car park.� All three of us looked at each other and ran out. Bless him, Ernie was sitting by the car waiting patiently for us. Ha! Brown dog� they can�t say �Dingo" because he�ll run the risk of getting shot.
We were staying at Nick�s friend Mercedes that night. She lived in a beautiful old Queenslander with her rich but dull boyfriend. Nick had also photographed her, she was really pretty. Poor Brian had to sleep on the floor the whole trip and Nick and I always got the double beds. He moaned about how unfair it was. It was our last night together and although I was partly relieved that I�d have my space again, I was heartbroken when it came to saying goodbye. The next day they dropped me off outside a horrible hostel and I was in tears (I'm fighting back the tears right now). I couldn�t believe I was on my own again. I felt like I�d been separated from my family forever. I�d spent a whole month solid with these guys and been counselled by Nick and received tough love from Brian. We�d grown really close but I had to move on. It was a key experience for me. Nick taught me a hell of a lot about myself. He was a mirror for me really, allowed me to see myself clearly. I�ve never spent so much time with someone so thoughtful, serious and wise. He speaks so slowly, very concise and considered. It�s a very calming and charming characteristic of his. He made me feel safe, and that�s the key to attracting women, so Brian says, make them feel safe. He boosted my confidence through the photo shoot and by constantly telling me I am good enough, and that I can do anything. I must stop apologising for my existence and stand up for myself. For a start I need to get over my damn indecisiveness - which drove Brian mad!
I felt so lonely in the hostel that night. It was one of those horrible transient places in the city. No one bothers to make conversation, as they don�t stay long. I didn�t fancy cooking in the kitchen, as it was so filthy and smelly. I went out to find food and ended up spending $7 on horrible seafood noodle soup that I hardly touched. I watched The Simpsons in the TV room and felt so depressed that I rang my Mum. I always do that, only ring her when I�m bored or lonely. Then I went through my WWOOF book and picked a few places to call that were around Brisbane. I knew that no one could surpass Nick and Brian�s hospitality and felt really unenthusiastic about the scheme. I wished that they�d been the last people I�d have WWOOFed with. I didn�t want to spend another night in the 13-bed dorm and managed to arrange a placement the next day with a man called Keith.
