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Agnes Water – Southern Cross Backpackers

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It was teeming rain when Carolyn drove us to the transit station on our last day in Noosa. Both Lucy and I were excited and slightly anxious at the change ahead. The continuation of our adventures up the coast was an intriguing unknown. And since our arrival we’d been staying in motels, friend’s houses and with relatives; the Southern Cross Backpackers in Agnes Water would be our first ‘dormitory’ accomodation. We arrived at 18:10 to a waiting minibus, that took us swiftly to the hostel. The greyhound journey had been a fairly tiring 9 hours, so we were looking forward to the usual crash-out on a comfy bed and I must admit I hadn’t really thought about the fact it would be a dorm of six. The three dutch lads that greeted us asked us where we were from, but the conversation pretty much ended at that.

The atmosphere immediately following our arrival was uncertain, though not unpleasant. We both agreed that what we needed, were some people to strike off a good conversation with. As there was a barbeque about to light up, the opportunity arose to do just that. All we needed was to buy a drink and we got a hot dog. We sat down with it and got talking to Irish couple Owen and Tia. They had been making their way down the coast from Cairns; working in many hostels although in this one they were taking a break and just paying to sit back and relax. They were also just one of many people we would meet that were headed for Sydney for New Years.

The following day we had a leisurely start, as we’d booked the Scooteroo Tour which starts in the mid afternoon and is pretty much the main reason that many backpackers make a stop of Agnes Water. At the hostel office, we had been warned the previous four or five days had been solid rain and the forecast was grim, but the new day brought with it some stunning sunshine and at 14:30 we were picked up (speaking Rural Aussie Time; at two thirty we were waiting for the bus, at two fifty-five it actually turned up). The tour basically involves riding 125cc chopper motorbikes through quiet rural roads in search of kangaroos. In addition they cheese it up with a complementary flame-decal helmet, matching leather jacket and free temporary tatoo. I passed on the tatoo, but the rest was safety equipment which meant I was supposed to wear it. So I fed it to a passing platypus then resumed looking awesome.

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First Weeks in Noosa & Australia Zoo

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We packed up everything on our backs again and caught a bus into central Brisbane to catch another one back out of it: the Greyhound coach. Our next destination would be Noosa, although on the way we’d stop at a number of places including Australia Zoo. While here we noticed a billboard proclaiming November 15th would be Steve Irwin Day, so decided to plan our Australia Zoo outing to coincide as we had the month to choose from.

The 3+ hour trip went by quickly as I had an audiobook of Richard Dawkins’ Greatest Show on Earth to occupy my mind. As well as greatly clarifying anything I didn’t know about the evolutionary process, I found it greatly inspiring and hope to ellaborate more on that subject in a future post about games.

My relatives in Noosa live in Sunrise Beach, in a beautiful house looking out onto the Coral Sea (essentially the coastal Australian stretch of Pacific Ocean) from a raised hillside, perhaps a hundred metres from the water’s edge. After the first week they were away in Tasmania for 20 days, so we looked after the house and (temporarily resident) cat. After the busy sightseeing and activites of the previous two months, Noosa was to be something of a break. Some days were spent simply relaxing at the house. I had the chance to get a lot more work done, in the fine office that was a pacific-view balcony. In addition, I participated in NaNoWriMo, but that is a subject for an entry in itself.

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Game Design for War Against Machines

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The central theme to the Terminator franchise is Man vs the Machines. While I am very fond of Machines (and find the concept of their rebellion seriously flawed), I’ve always found this a very interesting premise. It is also one that is practically screaming to be utilised in computer games; as anyone who has played a co-operative computer game might have noticed, that is the exact conflict they are engaged in.

Yet its an opportunity that has been completely squandered. The last offering from the Terminator universe, as far as I’m aware, was just another setpiece shooter taking us through cardboard-cutout locales with pre-scripted missions and paths. Strip out the graphics, and it’s Medal of Honor. No Terminator game to date pits you, alongside an army of humans only, in a battle against an army of machines controlled by a central AI opponent ‘commander’ (in fact, I can think of only one game at all that does anything resembling this). And even if a Battlefield clone were to surface that did pretty much this, they probably wouldn’t do what I have in mind. That’s why I’m going to ask the industry to just shutup a sec. I’ve got an idea.

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Do not adjust your set

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So now that it’s November, where have all my travel blog entries gone? Well, in short, I decided to do NaNoWriMo. Thus a large portion of my writing juice has been taken up by working on my novel Chronozone Zero; a book that’s been in progress for oh so many years. Anyone familiar with NaNoWriMo would rightly point out that this is cheating. This is true, but I really fancied doing NaNo and the last thing I need is to start another novel. I am also not keen on imposing yet another foolish dare on my long-suffering Lucy while we are meant to be exploring the great Down Under. The upshot of it all will be that I shall (hopefully) finish a book I have wanted to finish for some time (and Lucy, having read the preview, is also impatient for).

On a similar subject, I finally finished the 3rd draft of Cloudgazer just in time to be free for November. Lucy completed reading it last night ( in two days, no less! She’s posessed of a reading prowess that I cannot begin to comprehend). I will be doing another short edit some time soon, before seeking out a wider proof read audience.

In the meantime, stay tuned for more posts on Oz, I promise to do another in the next day or two!

North Stradbroke Island – Part 2

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The next day, we had a plan. After saying a short farewell to the two Irish girls, we drove down to Cylinder Beach, the most ‘friendly’ of the island’s beaches, off the road just before Point Lookout. It seemed an ideal place for a pair of sea-noobs like us to literally get our feet wet.

I am contradicted (as ever) in that I feel most naturally comfortable and in my element on the deck of a ship, yet I cannot swim to save my life (unless my life can be recovered in less than a minute, because my treading water endurance is on par with my deep space endurance). I am also entirely untrustworthy of the unknown element of the ocean. A particularly unkind observer might declare that I am basically afraid of sharks. But this isn’t quite fair. It’s the Jellyfish that I don’t like.

Anyway, I digress. I only wish to point out that me touching the water wasn’t out of the question, I was just never that enthusiastic on going properly into it. Yet something that day made me change my mind. Perhaps because I hate passing up on things due to negligible, silly worries and risks; it would be most uncharacteristic for me to do so. Whatever it was, we both waded into the crashing waves. I didn’t expect to regret it, and indeed I didn’t; it was immensely enjoyable. The sea was cold; reflecting the time of year more than the weather of the day (which was roasting). But it was welcome and refreshing, bobbing up and down with the waves.

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North Stradbroke Island – Part 1

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We’re in Cleveland; it’s just past 8pm and we’re a few metres from the waters edge. The black liquid laps against the quiet moonlit shore as a large metallic bridge is lowered, and the cars all drive down the concrete toward the sea, then up onto the car ferry waiting to take them to North Stradbroke Island.

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Whales of Moreton Bay

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On the morning of Sunday 2nd October, we were up bright, early and excited. For the first time we would see one of the planet’s great wonders, one of the largest animals alive today: Humpback Whales, or Megaptera novaeangliae. Heading up the coast a few dozen kilometres to Redcliffe, we arrived to find the car park we’d been advised to use had a market on top of it. Still, we had an hour to kill, so we took a look around and it turned out it was rather a good market, where Lucy picked up a pair of Happy Pants. Everyone needs a pair of Happy Pants! Anyway.

The boat that took us out from Redcliffe jetty was a catamaran called Eye Spy. And I know that modern catamarans are fast, but- well, that doesn’t prepare you for being on one. If you’ve ridden a fast ferry or such recently you’ll know what I mean. It’s like a speedboat the size of a restaurant. Once underway, we headed outside the cabin to the open deck, enjoying the placid speed as the fairly strong wind was with us so it hardly felt like there was a wind at all.

Suddenly the boat’s engine went quiet and we slowed to a bobbing halt. I could have sworn I heard the sound of whale song at that moment; sure enough, they’d begun playing whalesong through the loudspeakers (that were used to communicate narration by the resident expert on the Humpbacks: Captain Kerry Lopez). Playing the sounds on the speakers while catching the first glimpse of the slick black forms breaking the surface might sound like a bit of a smoke & mirrors trick, but the effect was charmingly completing.


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Totally Into Brisbane

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Having worked in the Brisbane area for over a week now, we’ve had one or two occasions where we’ve been at liberty to wander. The first good chance we got was Sunday 25th; and so we decided to head into the urban jungle of Brisbane City. As we went back again today, I’ve decided to amalgamate the experiences one psuedo day that could, in some parallel universe, have happened (but incidentally didn’t).

Like any good tourists in Brisbane we started with the South Bank Parklands. This little stretch of paradise has beautiful landscaping, restaurants, bars, markets and Australia’s only innercity beach, something we spent a full afternoon enjoying (and in true British fashion managed to pick the most overcast afternoon since we’ve been here). There’s also a large ferris wheel that looks distinctly like a slightly scaled down London Eye and various graceful bridges nearby tempting us across to the Brisbane CBD: the heart of the city.

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From Ipswich to Ipswich

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And so we had arrived in Brisbane late Sunday night. Lucy was due to begin work with Pet & Vet Springfield Lakes on Monday, at 7am. The drive was half an hour though, plus a half hour contingency, plus getting ready time, equalled a fair 5am start. We found our way to the veterinary practice no trouble; a little place called Springfield Lakes in a town called Ipswich, which I am sure we have heard of somewhere.

Content in knowing I was in a Nuclear-free zone, my return drive to the motel was reassuringly radiationless. I got experimental with the route on the way back; I loathe Satnavs and have managed quite well thus far using the highly advanced “reading signs” method, so this was all playing rule of thumb. I was here to explore and the result led to an overall greater understanding of the area. Continue reading →

Roadtrip Brisbane

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I was a little relieved to wake up feeling as I did Saturday morning; an able-minded member of human society again but still in a great deal of pain. My brain knew that Brisbane was a long way, but nothing I compared it to seemed to give my brain the sense of distance I would be dealing with. I decided to just take it as it came, so bring on the Hyundai.

The car was brand new, registered Western Australia with just 3,800 km on it. We were going to add at least another third on that. We had snacks, supplies and ample water for the desert of broken glass that was my throat. A quick glance at the road map, then we shot off north over the harbour bridge, waving a fond farewell to Sydney (for now).

After about ninety million traffic-sodden intersections of north Sydney, we arrived at the Pacific Highway. This is exactly as you might imagine it (minus the Pacific part admittedly, which is typically 4-5 km away). But it was just the kind of heavy-duty, 18-wheeler, cliff-lined, palm-tree’d, sweeping vista’d freeway that I (and many cooped up UK drivers) always wanted to drive on.

We drove for ages, and then some. It was a big ol’ highway. I took a scenic detour, then we decided against it for time was pressing, so we rejoined the Pacific. We continued driving. Time passed. George R. R. Martin probably wrote another book. Then finally, we came upon Newcastle, for we needed a break. And how far along the route was this great leap to Newcastle?

About a fifth, actually.

Still, I was enjoying the scenery and the geographical milkshake of placenames, if not the fact that my throat felt drier than the rocks by the roadside. Shadows were beginning to lengthen by this point, so we settled on reaching Armidale. But by Tamworth, some 150km short, it was pitch black so we grabbed some fuel just in case. When we did eventually get to Armidale it was just 8pm, but it felt like midnight. We found a motel, more expensive than we’d hoped but very fancy all the same, so took it. Continue reading →