Recapping

Happy New Year 2012!

Usually at the beginning of a new year we tend to look back what happened to us the previous year and how good or bad it was. Or, at least I do.. I'd have to admit that at least for me 2011 was quite an eventful year. It started waking up back in Finland from my friends sofa after a New Year's party, havin a hangover, obviously.. It seems that quite often our 1st of January usually starts with a hangover or even being more or less drunk still after a big nite.. In this post I'm doin a quick and brief look at what was my year 2011 like.

Pretty soon after New Year I found myself again behind the wheel of a truck, doin a few week stint drivin bulk powders around Scandinavia. Basically it was the same kind of job like had been doin the previous summer and autumn for Van Den Bosch Transport, a Dutch company. When February arrived, my Scottish friend that I met while workin at VDB visited Finland for a week. I'd remember it started as a joke but here he was, first time ever in Scandinavia. And he was lucky, it was a warm week.. Few nites out at my home town, saw an ice hockey game and even took a ferry cruise to Stockholm and had a chance to see the city for few hours while ferry was on shore. All in all, it was a nice week.

Like you might guess, soon after that I was truckin again, this time for a small, local company, drivin re-frigerated goods, mainly grocery deliveries. Quite a few weeks passed by and it was time get myself prepared for 'the big trip' to Down Under. For the week before I had flight to Australia I decided to take a mini-trip to Baltic and that's when I started this blog. Riga was a great experience and especially a KHL playoff game between Dynamo and Magnitogorsk was a thing to remember. The following weekend after my trip I had a wee farewell party and then it was time to embark for another journey, this time to the other side of the world.

I had a long stopovers at London and Abu Dhabi but both of those we're planned. My first few days in Australia started with another unforgettable experience, seeing Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix live, what an amazing event. Few more weeks at Melbourne, including a great Easter week as a volunteer at farm in Mount Gambier, South Australia. Then it was finally time to start my first road trip that I had been planning for so long. 4 of us, campervan and thousands of kilometres of Australian highways ahead of us. What an amazing journey that was, drivin thru the Red Centre. I'll never forget those moments in glorious Australian Outback.

Finally, after 30days on the road, our journey ended in Cairns and it was time to look for work. Two weeks of hunting and I was on my way to Walkamin. My time at Walkamin didn't start so well but in the end I made it thru. And, I was truckin in Australia for the first time. Not properly, but still. That spell lasted for about 3,5months before it was time to move ahead again. My time in Walkamin was an experience but I wouldn't say that it was good nor bad, I'd say it was just a necessity to be able to move along. But, I did meet lots of new people in there, few of them I've seen afterwards here in Brisbane and hope to see them in the future as well.

After Walkamin, it was time to head down south and this time I had booked a campervan alone. That was somethin I had wanted to do, travel by myself to see which way I'd prefer, company or solo. Cairns to Brisbane took me 2 weeks. All in all, it was nice experience and I did saw few places where you couldn't get with public transport but I'm not sure, even to this date, was it worth the money that it took.. But, that's life and traveling. Another few weeks of job hunting and this time I landed a proper truckin job.

Like I mentioned, my year 2011 was quite an eventful year. Counting back, I've been in 7 different countries that year - Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania, UK, UAE and Australia. I had plans to visit SE Asia in August but it never turned out nor did not plan to spend New Year in Thailand. But hey, that's life. My last few months here in Brisbane have been a bit mixed but I won't argue that I haven't enjoyed it. All in all, 2011 has been one of the most remarkable years - if not the most - in my life. All the things and places I've seen and visited, all the people that I have met along the way.. ..there's so much happened to me last year.. Maybe you wouldn't be able to write a whole book out of this year but at least a few chapters. How this all is to continue, that's still un-clear to me, I do have few options and wishes but only time will tell what 2012 is gonna be like.

Brisbane : First Impressions

So, 2wks gone by in Brisbane and what to tell.. Well, at first, the city really doesn't feel as big as it is. Even in CBD all you need to do is walk few blocks to the other way and you're almost alone. So far I've only explored CBD, South Bank and bit of Kangaroo Point & Fortitude Valley where I live at the moment. On the first weekend all I did was just relaxin in hostel. Well, Sunday was a big nite since was watchin Rugby World Cup final. Reckon that was the first time I was cheerin up for non-European team playin agaist European team.. Not that I really understand that much about the game itself but it was good match, like final is supposed to be.

One place that I really enjoy is City Botanical Gardens, this beautiful haven in the middle of the CBD next to river. So often I find myself just wondering there and soaking up the feeling. In that sense Brisbane feels a bit like Edinburgh where you got parks here and there. One thing that still takes time for me to get used to is seeing lizards in the middle of city.. If there's something that Edinburgh was missing it had to be the river. In here, the presence of Brisbane River calms me so much, reminds me of Turku and Aura River.

Mainly my time so far in Brisbane has consisted of job searching and exploring the city itself on foot while tryin to get some photos. On my first week I took a second trip to Australia Zoo - might do another entry about that later -  this time to see all the live shows but other than that, besides few interviews, I haven't really left the city centre. Just been walkin along the river bank and finding new places on a daily basis. Like I mentioned, I've enjoyed Botanical Gardens but also South Bank has been nice place to visit. I'm still yet to take any river cruises nor even just a city ferry but I'll get there, sooner or later. One thing that also interests me is doing Story Bridge climb, althou it is a bit dear..

Road Trip : Landsborough to Brisbane

Last nite I was lucky with my timing, about 5mins after I had parked the sky opened.. This wasn't quite as cold night as in Kybong but wasn't far off it. I had decided that today I go by my feelings, first stop was Big Kart Track, hadn't been drivin go-karts in past few years so I had to try that. I went there fairly early so I could avoid any rush but in a way that was a wee mistake since most of the time I was racing just against myself. About 10mins after I finished, track got a bit busier, dammit.. Oh well, since they have night racing as well, I would come here later on some Fri to have fun under the floodlights. Since it was gettin a bit 'late' I decided to leave 2nd day in Australia Zoo till later time but I drove there anyway, just to take a peek at the Wildlife Hospital. After that I sat awhile on net and booked my hostel for the first week in Brisbane. After that I drove to Glass House Mountains township, I had thought of camping close-by and have look at the Glass House Mountains National Park and maybe took a few walks as well in the area.

Later that day, after I had settled down at my camping ground and eaten my lunch I took a wee drive to Glass House Mountains Lookout and to the base of Mt Tibrogargan to take some photos, after that back to camping via township. I had ran out of beers so had to get few for this nite..

Mt Tibrogargan

Mt Beerwah & Mt Coonowrin

I was tryin to stay awake as long as I could so wouldn't wake up too soon, but.. I was up again by 7ish.. I was tryin to spend my mornin just playin music from my netbook and doin brekkie slowly.. ..and tryin to decide what to do next.. In the end, I decided to do that 2nd day in Australia Zoo a bit later since I wanted to do go-karts under floodlights at the same time. First I took a drive to the base of Mt Beerwah to take some close-ups but it was a bit too thick forest in front of me. On the previous day I had thought of tryin to climb to the summit of Mt Tibrogargan but I decided to tackle Mt Ngungun first, since it was easier, after that I'd decide whether or not try another climb. Bloody hell, climbing up to Mt Ngungun was at times pretty darn tough, althou it was only a small bit that was extremely steep.. But the views from up there.. ..somethin spectacular, again.. By the time I was back at the car park I felt a bit too tired to try to tackle
Mt Tibrogargan so I decided to head down south towards Brisbane. I took a break at BP on the motorway to get a connection to internet and to try to find a caravan park where to stay. Eventually, I found this place close to city and drove there for overnight.

Mt Ngungun

The next mornin it was time to start packing.. I had planned to book into my hostel on Fri and depending on the surroundings, I'd either park my camper there or just return it a day earlier. I almost missed my check-out time since was so concentrated on my packing but made it out just in time. Then I drove to see the area where my hostel was. Straight away I noticed that there wasn't gonna be any way to park my for overnight so I checked in, carried my stuff to my room and drove to return my camper. The address that I had in my papers wasn't valid anymore so I had to call to Cairns head office for new address but luckily it was close-by. Managed to drop my camper and took a taxi back to my hostel. Now it was time for a another

adventure, gettin to know Brisbane and finding a job somewhere here. This time I wanted it to be a 'proper' driving job. Well, I've got the whole weekend ahead of me to relax and enjoy and then it's back to reality and for job hunting.. And, unlikely you might thought, I wasn't on the road alone, I had my mascot with me.. Finally I've managed to him a name, Elmo.

Elmo

Road Trip : 1770 to Landsborough

I took my time on the next mornin, no rush, I kept repeating to myself. I kinda had my mind set on the idea that I'll stay overnight in Bundaberg but first I decided to go to information center to see if it would be worth it stayin there. Nah, didn't sound like worth it but like I planned, I did a visit to rum distillery and took a few photos. I wasn't fussed takin a tour inside so I just took a look at the shop. I drove thru town centre and took a wee break at bakery and then I was on the road again.

After that long day spent in 1770 I felt really good again, maybe I'll drive a bit more today.. I stopped in Maryborough at Queensland Transport office to enquire about my license. After that I had to decide how far would I drive today. I planned three different camping spot, depending how far I'd like to drive. In the end I drove to the furthest one, camping ground just behind a big truck stop in Kybong. I have to say that this was pretty nice place, wee lakes surrunding camp ground and heaps of birds around. The noises of truck stop didn't bother me at all. Next mornin I'll drive to Australia Zoo in Beerwah, just about an hours drive.

First time I woke up it was about 5ish in the mornin and I was freezin my arse of.. ..this was clearly the coldest night so far on my road trip, I even had kept all the windows closed from the beginning. Bloody hell, how could it be this cold, it's already spring.. ..maybe I should have stayed in FNQ a bit longer.. I fell asleep again and woke up past 8am, dammit, I was supposed to be in zoo by the time gates open at 9am. Quick brekkie and on the road again. I arrived to Australia Zoo about 10ish and decided to buy 2-day pass since that way I'd get 2nd day for half the price. I had 14days to use it so I'd decide after today would I come tmw again or some time later on. Since I had those 2days to sepnd here I decided not to pursue for the live shows and instead I just took my time and tried to find areas where there was least amunt of people around. I did like the way zoo was set-up, althou gotta say that Africa exhibit was a bit disappointment but it's still on it's 1st phase. For overnight I drove back towards Bruce Hwy, to small camp ground in Landsborough.