105 total travel days.

Past few days have been up and down. I'm sitting here at the bar of our hostel in Noosa, it's a resort town in Queensland on the ocean. It's gorgeous and would be perfect, but we've run into van trouble. We picked our parking spot behind the hostel and started setting up camp. But then the sliding door on our van wouldn't close. It's locked in the open position. So far we've only had minor inconveniences (leaking roof for the upper bed, the lawn chairs they gave us are all broken, the DVD player doesn't work. some other small bullshit) but this is a major problem. So roadside assistance couldn't fix it, now we have to get up tomorrow and get the van ready for a tow truck. I don't think it will cost us anything but it's such a pain in the ass. It especially stresses out Bryce. I usually don't care, there are worse places to be stuck and Jucy (the rental company) should he paying for it but it's just a fucking headache and stuff like this ruins his mood.

Enough bullshit though, we spent the last few days in Byron Bay. The hostel is wicked and there's a brewery and bar sharing the parking lot. We hung out with our high school friend Sam and her friends. She's been here since October, traveling, surfing, sheering sheep. Shes really bubbly and has made many friends in her travels. We drank with her boyfriend and her pretty Norwegian friend. I guess after Australia Sam wants to move to Norway. We got really drunk and drove her the next morning to her bosses house so she could start her next sheep gig.

We spent another night in Byron, and met two Scots and an English dude who also had a Jucy van. They had been living for the past year in Melbourne and have been away from home for 16 months, they've hit up South East Asia, India, and Europe and are planning on going to South America next. We passed the whiskey around and traded van stories and bitched about the queen.

Next morning we headed to Nimbin. The drive in was incredible, tight twisty roads with amazing scenery and waterfalls, dotted with fruit farms, it was gorgeous. It made me miss my bike and made me day dream about going home with the money I have, going home buying a Harley and riding across Canada. I had heard about Nimbin before our trip and wanted to check it out. It's a tiny town about 60 kms inland from Byron Bay. Marijuana is illegal in Australia but in Nimbin it's sold openly on the streets and they have huge weed festivals here. The 60's never really died here, it's only a few hundred people living here but everyone is either a burnout in his 60's, a aboriginal living off welfare, or just a sketchy dude. The main drag is filled with hemp stores, craft stores, psychics readings and other bullshit. Our hostel just outside of town was amazing though. We pulled in and about 3 Wallabies were sitting along the fence staring at us. The hostel, like Nimbin, was run by hippies, but the bathrooms were nice, theres a pool, and our van overlooked an amazing valley. At night the stars here are amazing and the animal noises are unreal.

Bryce and Cam are both leaving at the end of the month. I'm going to stay, but I don't know for how long. I don't want to travel alone but I don't have much choice. I've still got a lot of cash left and don't wanna go home. Honestly I don't miss much from home. I really miss my family, friends, motorcycle, and my own bathroom. But that's about it, out here in the van I have steak everyday (it's 5 dollars for a steak in Oz and it's almost 5 dollars for a green pepper here), I also navigate while Bryce drives, and just listen to music and enjoy the scenery. I don't know how I'll fair on my own though, Bryce says I've come out of my shell on this trip but truly solo travel worries me. I'm still an introvert and having a huge beard and tattoos probably doesn't paint the most welcoming image.

Right now I'm thinking of either finding a hostel here in Oz to work in, or I'll fly to New Zealand. It's only 300 for a flight to Auckland. I don't want to admit defeat just yet. I think after my friends leave I'll get a nice hotel in Brisbane and just enjoy some hot showers and TV for a few days and try to think about it.