On the Road Again

I have left Byron Bay. I repeat: I have left Byron Bay. Right now I’m sitting in the bus terminal in Brisbane waiting for my lovely 23.5 hour bus ride up the coast to begin. It’s already warmer in Queensland than Northern New South Wales (Byron). This morning was the coldest morning yet I think; I was awoken because I was so cold, even under two big blankets.
Anyways, I said in my last post that I was hoping to go to Bowen for seasonal harvest hard labor. Well it turns out that all the hostels in Bowen, as well as Ayr, Home Hill, and Cardwell are full at the moment, so why don’t I call back later? I have not experienced this much frustration and stress in months and it has come as quite a painful shock to my system. So after calling what felt like a million hostels looking for a bed and being rejected each time, I gave up, and decided that my efforts to find a place might work better if I am only a couple hours drive from the potential location rather than over 24 hours away. Thus, today, I head to Townsville, Queensland. It’s the largest town on the East Coast (North of Brisbane that is), with a population above 100,000. Maggie Island is a short 8km ferry ride away and I am hoping that it will be a good starting off point to find some work or at least be much easier to pop down to Ayr or up to Tully at short notice should a bed become available.
I’m definitely excited to be on the road to a warmer place with the possibility work in the form of a physical challenge that pays.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I come into work soon and with it have an address for a solid 3 months so you can all send me my belated birthday goodies ;)

So Update: I'm in Townsville now. The bus ride was long but not that bad. It is definitely warmer here but overcast today. Townsville seems pretty dead and I've only been here about 2 hours. Luckily they have free wi-fi at the Macca's near my hostel... speaking of- I'm in a 4-share room with a bunch of young Scandinavian girls who at 2pm in the afternoon were still in bed nursing hangovers. My favorite! I will hopefully be heading back down to Ayr or up further North to Tully on Monday. Oh, and somehow I managed to leave my raincoat on the bus, it was attached to my backpack with a carrabeener and now they're both gone- oh, fiddlesticks!