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Reports

During my travels, I received free accommodation for a night in exchange for writing a daily travel diary. This diary documented how I reached my next destination, the hosts who welcomed me, the food I was offered, and other experiences along the way. Below, you will find the archives of these extensive reports. Please note that English is not my native language, and most entries were written quickly, often around midnight. Enjoy!
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Thursday, 18 April 2002
Noosa Heads --> Noosaville, Sunshine Coast, Australia

Sue, the lady from the kitchen, walked up to me showing the Sunshine Coast Daily newspaper. After a short talk I had yesterday morning while in Buderim, the reporter wrote the article and I never expected it to be front-page news for the entire Sunshine Coast. Especially not that the headline said: "He’s the world’s biggest freeloader”.
It’s okay if the media calls me a freeloader, as long as I know I am not a scrounger, bludger, slacker of people-user, it is fine with me. It just teaches me that The Media does not read my website and the content of my daily reports - at all!

My host Drew Pearson had to go to a wedding today, but he had arranged that I could use a phone line in the reception booth of the Halse Lodge in Noosa Heads. But first I had a scrambled-eggs-on-toast breakfast with coffee, while I read the newspaper on the veranda.

Sue, the lady from the kitchen, walked up to me showing the Sunshine Coast Daily newspaper. After a short talk I had yesterday morning while in Buderim, the reporter wrote the article and I never expected it to be front-page news for the entire Sunshine Coast. Especially not that the headline said: “He’s the world’s biggest freeloader”.

It’s okay if the media calls me a freeloader, as long as I know I am not a scrounger, bludger, slacker of people-user, it is fine with me. I just have to put some more attention on the fact that I do things in return, like sitting behind a laptop for three hours in any condition (whenever possible) to update my website and tell everybody about my latest adventures. If reporters don’t get that little fact, I am easily a freeloader… (No! Most reporters I’ve met have never seen my website!)

After writing my latest reports, uploading the photographs and processing new invites and another mailbox full of emails, it was already around 2am.

At this time Glen and Steph and little Jaymie Watson, my next hosts, picked me up from the lodge. They live in Noosaville, northwest of the Heads, in a green bush setting. We had a lunch bite with a hamburger at a local take-away, while we enjoyed the nice weather and a great view on the shallow Noosa River.

I had one little problem, last night partying had gone to my head a bit. Someway I had to just ignore that menace away slowly…

Glen is the managing director is Business Media Australasia, a company that is specialised in the organization of big events for companies and video and multimedia productions. The head office is based in Sydney, so Glen has to fly up and down a couple of time per week. It sounds like a great job, especially when I heard about the times he has to fly up to Indonesian Bali, just to arrange a big few-days conference and be there while it all occurs.

After the little lunch, Glen took us all along to the other side of the river, to the North Shore, an inhabited area of Noosa. We got straight onto the beach with Glen’s 4X4 and Glen explained me that the beach is very much used as a common road for the citizens. Why travel on the highway, while the beach is going up the same direction as your destination? Ah! Maybe that’s how the Dutch can fix their traffic problems in The Netherlands! Just open up the beach for cars!

Haha, Glen even managed to get lost on the beach. That was quite a laugh! He had to hear from a Dutch guy where the exit to the main road was…

I was driven to their home in Noosaville and Glen showed me around their beautiful Queenslander home. Mother Steph loves gardening and Glen really proved me everything about that.

Tonight I’d be sleeping in a little caravan in the garage. The fact that little Jaymie was having her first teeth explained it all to me. “You won’t get any sleep, if you would sleep with us in the house,” Glen explained. As long if there is a bed, even a caravan would be perfect for me.

For dinner Glen and Steph had already organized something out at the local Noosa Harbour Marine Village. We had dinner at the Italian family restaurant Amici on the Water, where I met up with both of their parents! The parents had seen me on Channel 9 in March and in today’s newspaper and were pretty excited to hear some interesting stuff from me. The cook prepared us these enormous appetizing pizzas, made the original way with a wood fire oven.

(Have you also noticed the last weeks that Australians seem to love pizzas?)

Around 9ish we arrived back home again, where Glen and Steph took little Jaymie to bed and got to bed not long later. (By the way: the name Jaymie is inspired by the American comedy serie Mad About You, with Helen Hunt playing the role of Jamie).

I settled myself in the little caravan on the garage. It was rather cosy, I must say. It had a good bed and you know what? Glen even swung out some 40 metres of phone line out of a window, into the garage and into the caravan, so I could update my website through my laptop! That was great!!

But I couldn’t work that long on whatever I have to do, I had to catch a good night sleep, because tomorrow I would meet up with the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin!

Good night Noosaville!

Ramon.

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