Getting ready to leave Noosa Heads, off to Sydney to meet up with Cousin Norm for his tearful goodbye to Sydney and subsequent Southern Drive Road Trip through to Adelaide. Pix are road outside of Paluma, and Cloudy Creek in Paluma National Park.

Following my trip to the Yongala, I took advantage of happy hour on the patio of X Base on Maggie, and somehow it melted into a dance night in the evening, which somehow melted into me grabbing my horn and mixing it up with the DJ. After the dive of a lifetime, and several hours on the patio, I was pretty charged, and the jam was a lot of fun. The DJ, who'll remain nameless for karmic reasons, told me about a not-so-legal beach party the following weekend (Sept2), at an undisclosed location, with DJs, drummers, and other straggly musos jamming down on the beach. I thought: wicked. I had been planning on leaving Maggie and the Townsville area on the Monday, so this meant I had to stick around the area. Ah well, I decided to rent a car and go inland upon my return to the mainland, and I still had plenty of time left in my trip. Unfortunately, I don't have a cell, and once again forgot a pen when I needed it the most. Mental note: don't go out at night without your pen! So I took his email, and said we'd hook up again. I couldn't just meet up with him at the gig, since it was TOP SECRET. After I got my horn yaw-yaws off, headed down to Rocky Beach to see stars and go for a swim. Got really stoked on the phosoplankton, which light up in the water when you wave your hand through it. Apparently, when they light up, it means they're dying. I was the Mad Butcher.

Woke up at noon, and was alone again, the crew having checked out at 10am. Kind of a mellow day, since I was by myself again, and it was too late to organise any sort of adventure. One of the drags about travelling alone is that you sometimes get a little sick of being alone. With the schedule I'm on, I find that I have the time to know people a little better, but not long enough to be mates forever, especially without the immediacy of the cell phone. At the same time, there is a luxury to being able to arrange and rearrange time table, or not bother at all, stay an extra day, leave earlier than you thought, switch hostels or rooms on a whim, and there is always room for one more anywhere. An advantage of a time-maxxed tourist visa versus the full year is that you are always feel transitory. I've heard than when you settle for a bit and pick apples or tend bar for 3 weeks or more, it ceases to be like travelling and life. Still, it's a nice little global community, and I find a few people who find a place and just stay there..... Hmmm....

Spent the rest of the day and next relaxing and exploring. Once I had my head together again, I rented a scooter and went to explore the island. Sorry mom, motorbikes rule. My first stop was Horsehoe Bay at the top of the island for a wander along the beach and Cap'n Cooks favourite rocks. Hopped back on the bike up to the Forts, which is the site of a WWII army base that had been disguised as boulders, the path up to which is supposedly packed with koalas. Considering I didn't know what eucalyptus looked like, and koalas only eat certain subspecies, the path up was slow as I had to crain my neck at every tree. I was not rewarded. The Forts themselves were essentially the concrete floors of the bunkhouses, and the remnants of the control centre and signal tour. Unfortunately, the boulder camoflage is mostly stripped away, but the towers offered great views of the surrounding area. On the way down, I ran into a red-headed girl who was looking for koalas, and I had nothing to offer her. After that it was down to Florence Beach for some snorkelling, then the long walk back to the bike, and a last minute cruise to Picnic Bay to run out the clock on my rental. On the way back to my bike, I ran into the red-headed girl again, and it turns out she saw two pairs of koalas, mom and cub. Man! This trip sucks!

Checked out the next day, and chatted out with two British girls who had seen koalas, and dolphins while kayaking. Man! Got to the terminal, and rented a car, which was made a bit difficult about my lack of a cell and, well, destination. I guess they like that sort of thing. I rented a manual Holden Getz, and after some humming and hawing, and a chance look at a tourist brochure, I decided on Paluma NP, en route to which was Crystal Creek, a nice little swimming spot recommended by a local the previous evening.