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A month ago I decided to take a rather impromptu trip to Australia to visit my sister, Bri, who lives in Brisbane. I'd visited her when she lived in Perth and we'd eaten our way around the city. We had delicious Aussie breakfasts like eggs and avocado on toast, decadent coffees, and visited a fish and chip shop in which sheets of newspaper were laid on our table onto which the chips were poured. That was three years ago and I was determined to make a trip out to see her life in Brisbane. When she found out I was coming she assured me that like before, we'd eat our way across the city.
Papua New Guinea - commonly known as PNG - is a large island off the coast of Australia that I had both the privilege and misfortune of living on for three years. I say privilege because it was an extremely beautiful and fascinating place, but also misfortune because of the violence of the culture and high crime rates. PNG is regarded as one of the least explored places in the world, with over 800 languages and head hunting and cannibilism that persisted into the 70's (and though now illegal still occurs intermittently even today). So how in the world did I end up there?
Towards the end of our time living in Papua New Guinea, it became evident that we could not leave without having made a visit to the notorious Asaro Mudmen. A small tribe from a village just outside Goroka in the Eastern Highlands Province, they rose to fame by defeating other tribes by smearing their bodies in mud and wearing terrifying clay masks when at war. The story goes that they were once attacked by another tribe and hid by the Asaro River until evening. At dusk they decided to make a run for it and hope for survival. But when the other tribe saw them rising from the river banks glowing pale from the white mud they'd come in contact with, they fled in terror believing the Asaro tribe to be spirits. Therefore, they decided - with great success - to play up this image.
This fall I was lucky enough to make a trip to Australia to visit my sister, Bri, who has decided to call Brisbane home. Now in the Southern Hemisphere, fall is the beginning of summer, so a trip to the beach was mandatory - to me anyways. The main beach options from Brisbane are to head north to an area known as the Sunshine Coast, or south to the beaches near the city of Gold Coast. I never realized that the Gold Coast was actually a city! I thought it just referred to a stretch of beaches, but apparently Gold Coast is the second most populous city in the state of Queensland. Anyways, we decided to visit both areas, first with a trip south to Currumbin and then with a trip north to Caloundra.