I took the ferry from Hervey Bay over to Fraser Island. The largest sand island in the world. There I joined a tour from the King Fisher Resort that took us 4x4ing all over the island. We hiked, swam in lakes, searched for Dingos (they look like German Shepherds) and got to hear interesting stories from our tour guide Dingo Dave. Dave AKA Snoop Dingo loved to rap about his favorite topic the Dingo.

I reached out to Peter Macbeth on Facebook when I saw he was a fan of Blend Apparel and The Makepeace Brothers. I knew the guy had to be cool. Peter lives just outside of Brisbane. He said he’d be happy to take me for a hike when I came to town at the Glass House mountains. Peter picked me up very early (6am) on a Friday and we headed almost an hour outside of Brisbane to the Glass House Mountains. I was excited to be outside of Brisbane and really looking forward to the hike. As we started the hike he mentioned we’d probably be on all fours climbing most of the way up. I thought he was joking. He wasn’t. The climb up Mt. Tibrogargan was steep and gnarly at times. That didn’t stop us as we got to the summit in 45 minutes. Such an amazing climb and the view from the top was insane! Thank you Peter for taking me on the “hike” and I can’t wait to do another one.

I’ve spent the last 10 days in the northern part of Queenland in Cairns. One of the gateway cities to the Great Barrier Reef. It was one of my intentions coming to Australia to dive at the Great Barrier Reef. Cairns is a big party town and after a week in the Outback I was ready to go out and have some fun. I did just that and then some. After being hungover my first few days in Cairns I decided to get down to business and sign up for a dive trip. I booked a three day two night reef trip. I was stoked to learn how to dive. As I mentioned, I had been some what hungover my first days in Cairns and as we all know who’ve been in that place our decisions are some times clouded. I thought I signed up for a dive course to become a certified diver, but when I showed up at the boat I was told I actually signed up snorkel and do some intro dives.

Bummed and hungover I took a positive outlook on the situation and was excited none the less to go to the reef and stay on an awesome boat for 3 days. That was until the boat started to leave the harbor and I got VERY seasick (or so I said seasick). In all honestly, I didn’t make it through the safety lecture before getting sick. Let’s just say everyone knew me…. It was very funny.

Once My stomach calmed down I was able to enjoy the three amazing days on the reef and do three intro dives. After coming back to Cairns I had a choice to make. Do I start to head down the coast or stay in Cairns and take a course to become a certified diver. Taking the course would mean paying more money and spending 4-5 more days in Cairns.

I chose to take a four day course and become a certified diver. I’m stoked I did that and I’m even more STOKED to now be a certified diver with 8 dives under my belt on the Great Barrier Reef.

I woke up at 4:30am this morning. My tour rolled out of camp at 5:20 heading to watch the sunrise at Uluru (Ayers Roc). This is the main reason I came to the outback. I was VERY excited. There was a little drizzle as we gathered with the other tourists to watch the sunrise at 6:30am.

After we watched the sunrise we went to walk around the base of Uluru. The walk was close to 9k, about 4.5 miles. As I put my ipod on to start the walk I hit shuffle and “I Am A Rock” by Simon and Garfunkel came on (true story) maybe this was a mystical sign of sorts.

Standing next to Uluru I was in awe of it’s size and beauty. I have always had a desire to visit Uluru. There is something so spiritual about this gigantic solid rock structure. So awesome!

After what I felt to have had rock solid experience I shaved my beard ( I’ve had a beard for almost a year).Feeling fresh and clean I jumped on a bus to head back to Alice Springs to continue my journey. Off to Cairns tomorrow!