No, I'm referring to the 10 day road trip from Cairns to the Gold Coast. A journey filled with with some of the most beautiful scenery, and people, I've come across in a long time.
Here are a few things I've learned:
1) It's a REALLY long drive. Australia is massive.
2) I do not miss the humidity of the far north.
3) Although the Cairns area is tropical and beautiful, it's quite small town feeling. And right now, in stage two of my life, I need a little more hustle and bustle (it goes without saying that I will miss the friendships I have made in FNQ).
4) I'm pretty good at driving on the opposite side of the road
5) True friends are the ones you can lose touch with for years and carry on like you haven't missed a day
6) I don't like Bundaberg rum
7) I'm still sad, depressed and miss my wife terribly.
I honestly thought that my drive down the coast would mend me and give me new direction. And that once I reached my friend Elliot's place in Palm Beach I would be ready to strive forward with renewed direction. But the saying is true. 'It's not the destination, it's the journey.' And it's obvious my journey is only beginning.
As for my arrival in the Gold Coast, Elliot couldn't have made me feel more welcome. My long haired surfing/pool shop owning friend took time away from his daily duties to meet me at his place, help lug all my boxes and belongings up into the spare bedroom that he spent hours cleaning
(It after moving in all my stuff, it took me minutes to undue his hard work. Sorry brutha), and then proceeded to take me the half block walk down to some of the best surf break along the Gold Coast.
Now I can't surf, nor can I swim well for that matter, and I was still really hungover from the night before. Whereas Elliot is like a dolphin, jumping over and under the incoming waves pushing forward into the sea, looking for the perfect wave.
(This one's for the ladies)
I, on the other hand, would get smacked in the face by what seemed like mini tsunamis, which seemed to push me back ten feet for every five I went forward. At this point the water was only a couple feet deep. After watching the dolphin at work I dove under a wave, "I did it!". It wasn't until I tried planting my feet back on solid ground that I realized I wasn't in Kansas anymore. All of a sudden I was treading water. "What happened to the ground I was standing on?". I heard Elliot scream out "Jizzam where are you?". I pretended to laugh as I raised my arm to show him where I was. This was a true test of my lack of swimming prowess. I could feel myself starting to panic, and my muscles start to tire. I started swimming parallel to the waves and finally found solid footing again. Elliot explained that I must have fallen off the shelf, and then proceeded to explain how to follow the wave breaks to know how deep the water is. He also explained that once a strong current catches you above the waste you're in deep trouble. I think he used the term dead man. These are things I would have liked to have known prior to entering liquid death.
Elliot lives in an older beach apartment building, containing about six units in total. Although a surfer dude, Elliot is no idiot. He owns two or three of the units, and heads up the buildings Body Corp. He lives in the top unit, with a nice view of the waves seen through the two beach side buildings in front of us. His younger brother, X, lives in the unit below.
Elliot and I took the back stairwell connecting the balconies down to have a few drinks with X. Now, where as Elliot is a surfer dude, with a mature outlook on life, his brother is a surfer dude with a "Let's getter ripped" outlook on everything. X's apartment is set up for one thing, partying. I sat down on the couch and he threw me a beer from the electric Eskie ('Cooler' in Canada) beside the coffee table. X's menagerie of friends are really cool. It felt like a U.N. meeting though (photos to come). There was a Scot, Kiwi, American, and a crazy South African named Bobby, who deserves his own blog or perhaps even a book. I'm making Bobby t-shirts. Put your order in now.
The one thing I'm struggling with in this journey is that I've been to many of these places before.
Although they were great while I was there, I feel like I've earned the right to move on to new things. Sitting around getting pissed every night was fun in my twenties, but after getting married, planning kids, and thinking reading in the local coffee shop 'Rocks!', my priorities changed.
There problem is I no longer know what to do with my life.
I did know: Be the other half of a successful marriage, have beautiful babies, and work to enjoy life, not to consume it. Now, that's all changed.
I'm in a wonderful country, staying with a great friends, in a beautiful community surround by gorgeous people. But I don't know what I want to do next, let alone the rest of my life.
Now before you send in your comments telling me it will all be okay (don't get me wrong, I appreciate each and every one of them, and would not have had the strength to make it this far without them), I already know that life has a way of shaping itself for you. Looking back at my life I wouldn't have changed a thing, even though right now I kinda want to. There is happiness and, hopefully, love for me in the future. I just need to figure out who the hell I am before that future comes.
So far, on the Gold Coast, I've been given a great place to stay, learned to respect the water, watched a pro surf competition, tried out boogie boarding (I sucked), took some great photos, got to hang out with Elliot and his crew, and have seen more beautiful women than I can shake a stick at. What the hell does that mean anyway? Shake a stick at? I'm going to get a stick to take to our trip to Byron Bay tomorrow. I'll take the challenge. If I lose, it just means I'm surrounded by an abundance of hot ladies.
I think life will be just fine my friends.
Jimmy
Thanks for the hot surfer man photo brother! :)
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