Into the Bush, Byron and a bit of surfing

Reunions are usually fun and seeing my cousin for the first time in a fair few years was no exception. Whilst we hadn’t really spent huge amounts of time together in the past, the age gap seemed much bigger when we were younger, I’ve always thought (and been told) we were pretty similar. At any rate he and his girlfriend made me feel so welcome at their home and I had a really chill couple of days.

Before I continue though, what a home! If my memory serves me my cousin was always a bit of a hippy and that whole idea of being in tune with your environment is something reflected by his current abode. It’s right in the middle of the Currumbin Valley and is pretty much surrounded by the forest on all sides. All the house water comes from rainwater and I’m pretty sure he said that the electricity and heating were solar powered. The toilets are even eco friendly, rather than flush they just go straight to compost.

My favourite thing though? If any of my rubbish was biodegradable I could just sling it over the side of the balcony into the forest for the local beasties to munch on. It was far more fun than it should have been.

So speaking of beasties there was an abundance of them around. Aside from my cousins dog there were also possums, bush turkeys and kangaroos weaving their way through the bush, though in the case of the former I only heard a pair scrapping in the wee hours of the morning. This being Australia there was also all manner of creepy crawly things flitting about. I’ve never been overly squeamish anyway but Japan has certainly hardened me to bugs.

Being the big nature geek that I am it is no real surprise that I was excited to experience some of Australia’s weird and wonderful wildlife. To that end my cousin kindly organised a trip to a nearby wildlife sanctuary for myself and some friends he had staying over.

Currumbin wildlife sanctuary is run by the national trust of Queensland and is one of the oldest of its kind on the gold coast, originally founded way back in 1947 by a beekeeper. Now it is of course a much grander affair and it even has a wildlife hospital attached. As a general rule I’ve avoided things like this whilst in Japan, the Japanese animal welfare policies are pretty abysmal making most zoos very depressing. The sanctuary was a breath of a fresh air however and made me reminisce of times long gone spent playing in Chester zoo. The enclosures were nice and spacious with plenty of nooks and crannies for the critters to tuck themselves away from prying eyes should the mood take them.

Aside from the usual animals; koalas, kangaroos, dingoes e.t.c, I managed to get through most of my checklist of weird Aussie wildlife, including echidnas and Cassowary; the worlds most dangerous bird. Sadly not platypuses (platypi?) at this sanctuary, they are apparently unbelievably rare. The wombats and Tasmanian devils were sadly a no show but that is just incentive for a second visit.

To round the trip off we watched a bird show sponsored by Air Asia. It’s a bit weird really to think such a massive global company would be sponsoring such a trivial thing but I guess all publicity is good publicity. I suppose it would be nice to think they are just trying to give something back, that’s what the less cynical part of me keeps saying at any-rate.

In fact this enviro-centric notion seems to permeate throughout Australia, from water saving toilets, through the large amount of recycling points all the way up to issuing massive fines for interfering with native wildlife. It’s clear to see that there is a big push to fight the wrongs of the past here. This reverence of the natural world is, I believe, very admirable and I hope it’s a growing trend.

There are similar ideals requiring this respect of the natural world in Japan, however it’s always seemed a bit shallow to me. Preservation does occur but, in general, only reserved for things of beauty or areas that can be considered aesthetically pleasing. Some of the older generation of Japanese people seem to be very proud of this but to me it just seems, like a lot of things in Japan, more about outward appearance than anything else.

Once we were all Koala’d out it was back to my cousins jungle retreat to chill for a bit. I really do mean just for a bit as well. With everyone having early starts the next day, my cousin is usually up at 5am to go surfing and his girlfriend has an almost 2 hour commute to work, bedtime was about 9am. In fact since the sun rises at about 4am and it’s too hot to do anything by midday, daily life there is shifted forward a couple of hours. Everything is really laidback as well, a nice change from the 24hr craziness that can be Japanese big cities or life in a synchrotron.

The following day I was up and ready to go by 7am. Today we were travelling through time, well time zones at any-rate, to Byron bay. A lot of people recommended this place to me and, given that I’m a big fan of mister mad, bad and dangerous to be with himself, I should at least have a gander at the town which takes it’s name from his grandfather. It’s nice though, super trendy, in fact maybe a little too trendy for me. It seems like a major way point for rich young backpackers on tours around Aus and the towns infrastructure has built up to reflect this. A bit more wandering would have been nice but I think it would of burnt a hole in my already over light wallet.

My cousin took me a bit further along to cape Byron, the eastern most point of mainland Australia. From here we had a nice wander along the costal cliffs and up to the lighthouse. This was apparently my Grandma’s favourite place in Australia on the occasions she visited. Looking out at the wonderful coastline views, the rolling waves and the impressive skyline of Gold Coast itself I could confirm something I have always known, she has great taste. On top of the views it is also a great spot for a bit of whale and dolphin watching, didn't manage to spot any of the former though sadly.

I finished the day up hanging out in Coolangatta, the Australian equivalent of Liscard. Well that sells it a little short, Liscard does not after all have gorgeous stretches of beach and I’m also told it’s a popular surf point. The high street isn’t much to look at though, but it did have somewhere I could buy new shoes. No surfing for me this day sadly as the wind was all wrong. I did have a good dip in the ocean though. Living up a mountain all the time makes me forget how much I miss the sea.

This trip definitely wet my appetite for a deeper exploration of the vast and quirky land that is Australia. I’m fortunate to have made a fair few Australian friends during my stay in Japan do they should expect a visit from me in the near future.

Yoroshiku ne.