Stop over in Taipei on the way to Canada. We arrived in the evening, and China Airlines provided us with swish (there were free combs! and it was on a golf course sponsored by Jack Nicklaus) hotel accommodation while we waited for our transfer flight to Vancouver the next afternoon. This pretty flower was found while wandering around town in the morning.
Overdose stretcher signs in the public toilets. ‘nuf said
Xanthorhea – they were absolutely everywhere around the QLD-NSW border National Parks
So my attempts to get my thesis in by the latest deadline were in vain. Having moved back the Queensland flights once already, I decided I may as well just go, and worry about the thesis again later.
Brisbane – Arrive, collect supplies
Main Range NP – Camp at Spicer’s Gap, hike
Mt French NP – Visit Frog Buttress
Border Ranges NP – Camp and listen to the bellbirds
Nimbin – Drive through with a quick stop to wander around and be amazed at all the tourist rubbish and doped out hippies
Byron Bay – Swim in the ocean, visit the lighthouse and the Eastern-most point of mainland Australia
Nightcap NP – Camp overnight, find a tick on me shortly before going to bed, generally dislike the spooky atmosphere
Lamington NP – Visit alpacas on the way up, be amazed at the windy road with all its one way sections, set up camp surrounded by brush turkeys and pademelons, do some day hikes, then an overnight hike out to Echo Point
Brisbane – Collect supplies on the way through
Nambour area – Stay overnight in relative civilisation, visit a guinea pig called Sid who lives with a harem of other guinea pigs, and a bunch of lorikeets that continually run around in the cage chasing the guinea pigs around, and out of the hollow logs lying on the ground, visit glassblowers
Great Sandy NP, Tin Can Bay and Rainbow Sands – Wander around and camp the night
Glasshouse Mountains – Hike up Ngungun, climb at Ngungun, do some hikes around the area, fail to ascend either Beerwah or Tibrogargan due to the extreme windiness, and curse the fact
Brisbane – A couple of climbs at Kangaroo Point, and catch the flight home again
So the story ends with a train ride from Nong Khai to Bangkok. The day train reveals the Thai countryside looking bare and dry, and very much like Australia in places. Although it does have floppy eared Brahman cows running around to keep things entertaining, as well as the occasional expanse of water, or limestone outcrop.
Back in Bangkok, I decide I never want to go there again. Khao Sanh road is a cesspit of evil – at night it pounds with music, neon lights glare from everywhere, sun-soaked tourists wearing far too little crowd the street, and vendors pack the arena. It’s impossible to move, and I have the flu.
The one thing that saves Khao Sanh road is that there is someone there making the banana and chocolate pancakes I fell in love with in Ton Sai three years ago. I eat one as we walk towards the airport bus to make our escape.
The only stopper in the whole escape plan is that we’re both coming down with some sort of evil Bird Flu virus, and my ears are blocking up. I am warned that my ear drums will explode, that I should delay my flight by two days if my ears don’t improve overnight, and pay far too much money for some antibiotics and eardrops and other hocus pocus medicine from the medical centre in the Bangkok airport. It’s midnight, and we abscond to a hotel in the hope that a good nights sleep will reduce the chances of exploding ear drums. The foyer looks like a scene from a Wild West movie, but they have rooms with beds.
Waking up at 5am from a night of fevered sleep, we catch a racing taxi to the airport. 140km/hr in a 90 zone gets us there in no time. My ears don’t feel good, but I can force them to unblock, which I figure is better than nothing.
They don’t explode. I am relieved.