Trip Recap

One of the pictures I posted of what I thought were kangaroos were really wallabies. The difference is height, and the wallabies are more square in their hind-quarters. I saw some wild kangaroos on the way to Fraser Island. The tour bus took a detour on the mainland through where they knew we would see them.

I saw one more wild koala between Brisbane and Surfer's Paradise. I pulled off at a sign that said "Koala Care Center" I think, and went inside to see the ones in captivity and the issues about koalas in the wild and how they're in danger. Another thing that most people don't realize - I didn't- is that koalas pass a certain bacteria onto their offspring that is good for digesting eucalyptus leaves, but only the leaves that are in that particular grove of trees. So they cannot be relocated, and their habitat is being decimated by development.

I was searching the trees in the surrounding acreage (hectarage?) for wild koalas, and finally spotted one along side the roadway. He was pretty high up, and my camera's batteries were dead, so no proof. He was more brown in color than the other ones I'd seen. After driving by the koala I decided to park and walk the paths to look for more. There was a Japanese family in the center I talked with a little bit, and they asked me if I had seen any. I said I had and lead them to it.

The only bright spot to being robbed (see an earlier post from the 26th) was that it enabled me, indirectly, to be in the presence of Jack Johnson. (If you don't know who he is, look on the cover of Men's Journal this month on the shelves.) I had just gotten off my 6am flight from Brisbane to Sydney, arranged that early to give me time to go downtown to the consulate for a temporary replacement passport and catch my 3:30 pm flight back to the states, so it was a domestic flight on Virgin Blue, and in their inflight magazine had an article on Jack...mostly about how laid back he is. I was walking towards the baggage claim and there he was on the left, with his wife and little blonde son. He's so recognizable. I stopped and was just like, oh my God. I got really nervous, but another guy went up to him and shook his hand so I asked his wife if they were on holiday, they said they'd just gotten there. I told her the surf had been flat but I got some good waves in Byron Bay, she said that's where they were headed and imagine how hard it was to leave Hawaii where the waves had been huge.

I went to him and introduced myself, shook his hand and told him I really appreciated his support for the Surfrider Foundation. He asked me where I was from and I said originally California but lately Washington. He asked me if I was involved in it and I said yes, and recalled that he'd done a show at the Gorge. I wished them all a Merry Christmas and happy New Year and was so nervous I completely forgot that I had a digital camera in my bag. He's so laid back and friendly he probably would have been okay with it, but I was feeling like a total gawker and didn't want to harrass the guy on his vacation. He is, though, as laid-back as they say, and as good looking as the pictures. Although I own "Brushfire Fairtales" I'm honestly a little tired of it; it's not one of those albums you can listen to, put it away, take it out months later and it seems new again. It's more like, oh this again.

The last really touristy thing I did was go to the aforementioned rock pools, in Currumbin Valley. The surf was gone and it had cooled off. The drive was beautiful, as green as up here in Washington in the summer, but palm trees and tropical birds. the pool wasn't really big but deep enough for 30' jumps and dives which I only played specator at. I took a 5' jump into the brownish/greenish water and did a canon-ball that slapped me pretty hard. The best part was sitting at a little spillway where a higher pool emptied into this one, and it was like getting a back massage.

Back on Dec 23rd I decided to try the internet at the Coolum library, which was booked solid but sometimes people don't use their whole hour, to check emails quick and let someone know what I'd been through that morning. I'd booked an hour in Maroochyadore library but didn't feel like driving down there. (The library had free internet access you could reserve in one hour blocks, four hours per week maximum. Coolum only had two computers in their library. The internet cafes were $10/hour and the machines were not up to date) I had to wait awhile and so I picked up a copy of Surfer Magazine. Earlier that day I'd heard in the news that California had been hit with five meter waves, killing someone in San Diego. Here I am in waist high mush I spent 15 hours on a plane for, and Cali's getting it all, 2 hours flight from Washington. In the magazine, I saw the editor, the brother of a gal I used to compete with in bodyboarding, had written his editorial about Flame, a photographer from Orange County where I grew up. He had died in his 40s. I had seen him around when I lived in Cali, probably spoke to him on occasion. I think he was one of the first photographers to be serious about shooting bodyboarders. I read further in the magazine about him and his death, some kind of brain tumor or cancer. He had lived in Laguna Beach and left a family behind. His nickname was flame because of his red, red hair.

Australia is a long way to travel when looking for waves, and there aren't any, or, very few. Three days of decent waves in a three week period is not what one would call a successful surf trip. I made the best of it with the tours and such, but any of you who know me very well, sight-seeing isn't really my thing. I'll post more photos on another site and provide a link once that is done. I best be getting to bed now. 7 am tomorrow is going to feel like 2 am. Crikey.
-R

Although Fraser was cloudless the entire time with a beautiful blue sky, heading back to the mainland we could see the edge of a storm and it became very dark. Lightning was forming in the distance. By the time I got dropped back in Coolum Beach, it was windy and rainy and electrical. However with the winds, the waves had come up. I decided to get in a quick surf before the daylight ran out. The ray must have known it was coming, as he lept out of the air almost completely. The waves were a little mushy but it was better than it had been the past few days, with almost nothing showing on the island, unless you had a huge longboard. The wind wasn't messing the waves up bad. Lightning kept flashing but others were out, so I didn't worry too much. The wind and air and water all felt about the same. Perhaps the water felt slightly cooler than the air, but not much. It was a nice soupy warmth, not warm but not cold either.
I got out as darkness approached and the strikes grew closer. I saw one hit the water. I'd never seen that before, a bolt striking the ocean. Very dramatic. It was only raining lightly. I wanted to stay and watch it, but it was nearly 3 hours south to where my reservation was waiting for me in a place called Surfers Paradise (don't let the name fool you. It's Waikiki meets Vegas.) So I drove off.

At first it didn't seem bad but then the rains started. Rains so hard I couldn't see the road or the stripes on it. The windshield wipers would not go fast enough. The car in front of me nearly stopped, so I nearly stopped. We plodded on about 20 mph, and for once no one tailed me. I started getting scared. I saw bolts coming down on BOTH SIDES very close and was certain that with the luck I'd been having this trip, one would hit me. I lost the sight out of the windshield when it fogged up and had to pull over. I figured out that the air conditioning had to be on and hight. Brr.
I found a little mental relief when I realized that there was a slight delay between the visual of the lightning bolt and the sound of the clap, so for now I was probably alright. Still, I'd never seen anything like it. I now know what 7000 electric hits in one hour looks like. That's what the news reported the next day.
Gradually the rain lessened and I was on a major highway, but the horizon was like a flickering flourscent lamp. It was bright more than it was dark. A huge cloud spread across the sky that was still illuminated by what remained of the sunset. It emcompassed my full range of vision and more, hugging the sky like a giant pie crust. Suddenly, fingers of lightning bolts filled it, not going downwards and striking the earth, but spreading across the sky like a giant hand, the length of those clouds. It was about the most awesome thing I'd ever seen. If only I could have gotten it on film. But I was having enough trouble concentrating on the road.
It had hardly sprinkled in Surfers Paradise, and I found my hotel without too much trouble. It is right across from the beach. My room, although a bit run down, has a comfortable bed and a view of the ocean, which hasn't been much because of the haze.
Vegas of Oz?

Currumbin to Kirra, and not much surf.

I did manage a little surf in front of the hotel last night. The tide must have changed or something. There was something surfable at Currumbin yesterday. As soon as I change my domestic flight to Sydney earlier to leave enough time to get a new passport, I'm going to head down there. If it's not working, there's some nice rock pools nearby. Tomorrow I head home. Home. Comfort. Cats.

The first day we toured Lake Wobby (the green water lake), went back for lunch, then went to Lake Mackenzie. I had a hard time believing that our monstrous tour bus would make it on the sand roads. We almost got stuck a couple of times, but managed it. To give you an idea how big this thing was, the wheel wells came up to about 4 feet.

On the way back I encountered this guy. Gina, this one is for you:


Lake Mackenzie was nice but very busy. The white sand was the finest I'd ever seen, making a good exfolliant and was claimed to be useful for cleaning silver. I tried snorkeling but didn't see much, just sun rays. I got harrassed by a musk duck, who thought it was his lake and his only.

We made a stop along the way to the lake at one of the older trees, the Maoris said it was a spiritual place. They deemed everything spiritual in some degree or another.

We were offered another walk, it was through what I imagine Eden must have been like. We were allowed to take water into our bottles from the creek, students having tested it for purity and it was as pure as it gets. It tasted wonderful, like the expensive bottled water in the store, only better.
Along the path was an old Giant Fern, the plant spiecies dating back to dinosaurs fossil records. It takes a very special environment to grow these things. Their branches are filled with water, which is what keeps them upright somehow.




We stayed at Eurong Beach Resort in dorm-style accommodations. First I was in with three Swiss girls who barely acknowledged me when they came into the room. A staff came by and asked if I wanted to bunk with Kerry. I said yes, even though it ment a less comfortable (top) bunk. The rooms were not air conditioned. My little portable battery operated fan came in handy. One of the girls snored. Kerry woke her up and startled her and let Kerry know she didn't appreciate it. But they were on another tour and we didn't see her after the morning. Kerry was originally put in a room with three French boys that were on our tour. She joked that her christmas wish came true ;).
I thought the food was really good. It was buffet style so I had to watch it kind of. I hadn't had any sweets the whole trip except for one mars bar, but the custard and apple cumble was more than I could resist.
The second day we drove up the sand highway. There were some oyster catchers along the beach, birds with disproportionately long black beaks. The night before we saw a female Dingo. It was running around the resort. It was the only one we saw the whole trip. We drove up to a place called Indian Head, the most rocky point (an old volcano) on the island. It had a lovely view and you could see mantas and sharks swimming below. It was a long way down and unguarded, so a bit nerve wracking to sit by the edge.

After Indian Head we went to Eli Creek, a deeper freshwater creek that you can swim/wade in with a good swift current. It dumps something like 900 million liters of water a day onto the beach. And there's a draught here on the coast. There are hundreds of these creeks, spilling pure water from the aquifers beneath. Seems it could be harvested somehow. But I'm sure it's all part of the delicate ecosystem there.

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. In the 90s it was designated a World Heritage site. Natives have lived there for centuries, enjoying the abundant fresh spring water, and named the island Paradise. It wasn't long before I found out why. To get there, you drive up past Noosa Heads, to a town called Rainbow, then hop a ferry barge. The ferries are nothing like they are in Washington. First of all the distance is closer to going to Lummi than it is to Bainbridge, perhaps even shorter. There is no official dock, just a docking area. The beach is your road, and the road conditions vary with the tide.



This is our bus driver, Russel, a surfer who has spent time skiing in Utah and surfing all along the west coast of the States and Mexico down to Guatemala, naming off many places I've also been. Surfers are pretty single-minded folks with similar past history itineraries, if they are serious about it. He was the "rookie" and was thus working over the holiday.


Kerry was a god-send. A woman perhaps just a little older than myself, but on her own for the holidays, her fellow, as she called him, went to visit relatives and she didn't want to go, so booked this tour. We were inseperable. She's in the healing arts and was willing to listen to my mishaps with patience and understanding, and offer encouragement. Without her I would have been pretty lonely on the trip. Only one other guest, a daughter and mother, had English as their native tongue. She is the one who took the pictures of me in the Fraser Island postings.


We had to walk 1 kilometer across a stark but beautiful desert to get to this lake. I stopped for a bit of sun along the way.


The green water of a sand dune lake. We could see catfish swimming around but not much else.

My hotel in Coolum was the nicest yet, a self-contained apartment with bathtub jacuzzi in the room, nice tile flooring, tasteful decor and comfortable furniture. The only problem was being on the bottom floor. After the incident and remaining hysterical most of the day, the hotel folks moved me to the third floor. I still latched the door at night. This is the view from the room.


Although it was just across the street from the beach, the surf was not cooperating. They sky, however was, and one of the staff who seems to know everyone and everyone seems to know, pointed me out the southern cross. Simple thing really, only the necessary five points. I'd arrived pretty late, underestimating the amount of time it took to drive from the bird place to the Sunshine coast. I wanted a glass of wine. The bar was shutting down but some employees were finishing off some bottles. They let me join in and were too drunk to remember to charge me. Not having eaten all I needed was one glass.

I really wanted to run home after the break-in incident. My heart was not into being there any more. I'd to the tour of Fraser Island and then just make my flights earlier and cancel my stay in Surfers Paradise. But there was a problem. The holiday. I was to go to Fraser Christmas eve, and be returned on Christmas day. That was a Sunday. The next two days were government holidays and the Consulate would not open again until the 28th. The day I was to leave. Timing. Is. Everything. I would have to suck it up and put it behind me.

Four-thirty in the morning sounds like a gruesome time to be up and about, especially in the pacific northwest in late December, or even in California, where such times are only reserved for catching flights or driving across the desert. Here in Queensland, which is much like Arizona in that it is an hour behind the rest of the country, it the most plpeasant part of the day, the horizon turning pink, the earth cooled from the night breezes. It is the only time to be out if you're a jogger, to beat the 100 degree heat, or a surfer, to beat the onshore winds. And unlike at night, visibility is great. I was up wandering about the sidewalks looking for something that had been taken from me but had no value to the thief. Although being a light sleeper has its drawbacks, last night it probably saved my camera and wallet. Unfortunately, my sleep was not light enough to save my cash, traveler checks and passport. It was 2:30 am and I woke wiht a start, seeing something that wasn't right at all- the feeling like evverything is wrong at that moment, but feeling powerless to change it. With my 20:800 vision my brain recognized the silohuette figure of a man, crouched down in the corner of my bedroom near the sliding glass door, the door I thought was latched, but apparently was not. I was sleeping in a t-shirt and underwear and nothing else, and the thought of giving chase in this condition did not enter my sleep fuzzy brain. I did manage a couple of HEY! HEY!s and started twoards him but it was too late; my little black Royal Robbins bag, a gift from a friend in Seattle, was gone. Along with it, essentials for returning home.

In a state of disbelief, mild panic, and shock, I tried calling the police from the button on the phone that says "POLICE", and nothing happened. I pulled on some shorts and ran barefoot around the block to a payphone. 15 minutes later an officer arived and I showed him what had happened. Too upset to go back asleep, I called the traveller's check company for a refund. I want to know how you are supposed to know how much of something you don't have. Again this call was from a payphone and they wanted all this information I didn't have on me; the hotel room was incapable of 800# calls. 4000 mgs of a non-aspirin pain reliever, I tried to sleep but was unable to. I gave up and discovered the pleasant pink sunrise, a $10 bill in the landscaping, but no passport.

One thing I must say about Byron Bay is it had the guts to stand up against a McDummy's moving in. I can only hope that they have as much guts against Starbucks when they try to invade. I haven't seen one yet, but I hear there's on in Noosa, (I'm staying south in Coolum and at the Maroochydore library writing this). McDeath is everywhere followed by Domino's and Baskin Robbins, KFC, Hugry Jacks (same as Burger King) and most disappointing of all, "Big W" with the slogan "We sell for less" so I know it's a Walmart. Sucks big time.
Also about my pics of Byron with the red fencing; it was gone the next day and workers were installing new plants around the sidewalks. The area looked much nicer, the heap of dung was gone and most of the plants were in the ground or just getting ready. The park behind it was still kind of sketchy looking, I think perhaps it's where indigents hang out.

Picture of a better bat, showing the wingspan. Came across another area where these things live. The first thing you hear is the chattering, rather like being in a parrot house. I heard it again in front of a Kmart.
I guess they're not that special except that they're unique to Oz.


These are called redneck flying foxes; the red shows up better in this picture. Now you know what a real redneck is!



Another cute bird picture:




I got another good day of surf two days ago near Byron Bay at a place called Tallows. I'd checked it the day before and it was just weak and strong offshore. But something moved in and pumped it up. It was at Cosy Corner, the south side of the headland which blocked the rediculously strong onshore winds, making it offshore there. There was a peaky, wedging wave and there were a dozen or so bodyboarders and one surfer on it.
It was probably 6 feet and crunching hard. On my way out to the water a guy was carrying a broken surfboard. I found the channel out, right next to the rocks you didn't even have to paddle. Brought you right into the line-up. I managed a few good waves in spite of the crowd; they felt like gifts, and I yelled loud so no one would drop in on me. The only incident I had was I wanted to go left on a wave, the guy on my left was also going and he wanted to go right, and as soon as I realized that I was half way into the wave and so cut right as to avoid him then tried to pull up. I found him and apologize he said no big deal, just a bit dangerous. I laughed and said I was trying to go left. After a while all the bodyboarders left and I was out there with really good surfers. Now it was breaking pretty shallow on the sand, which means that if you're in the wrong spot, you're facing a huge wave about to break on your head and there's not the much water to dive into. Previously I'd gotten the snot knocked out of me pretty hard, even trying to go for a tube and just getting slammed into the sand on my back. Even ducking under was tough. But this one wave, I thought for sure it would give me a hassle, because it was just crunching down a mere foot or two from where I was floating. It was big, too. I dove deep and I didn't even feel it; I just simply surfaced afterwards not even feeling the upthrust of the back of the wave.. It was strange. I stayed out there for three hours, exhausting myself. I wanted to sleep well that night. I did. It was only the second day of really decent surf I've had on this whole adventure. Next time, come here in April when it gets up to 20'. More my style.

For Christmas I've booked a tour that's picking me up Christmas eve to Fraser Island. Supposed to be a special place. http://www.fraserexplorertours.com.au/

The suspended walking bridge through the rainforest canopy:


Climbing up a metal ladder in a cage. Kinda scarey if you don't like heights.


Afraid or not, the view was worth it.





Some trees along the drive, befor the denser rainforest.


Mountainous area.

Yesterday I drove through what they call the hinterlands around here (anywhere more than 10K inland from the coast) to go and see some birds that will eat out of your hand. It's called O'Reilly's guest house.


The drive was quite a gut-wrencher; switchbacks all the way up this mountainside, 33 kilometers and it took an entire hour. The scenery was nice, if only I didn't have to watch the road! Blind corners and one-lane sections every five minutes or so. The forest went from eucalyptus trees with the sounds of cycades almost deafening to a denser kind of fig tree with the really wide trunks that have four or five sections, and the canopy covered the road. I saw my first bright blue parrot just off the road, yes alive and flying, two of them. The sound changed to the sounds of birds chirping. I was getting closer. The insect noises are duplicated by those Nature Store items that sell the rainforest sticks- you turn them over and hear all these seeds falling. Imagine about 50 people turning those sticks over at the same time in an echo chamber; that's what you hear in an Australian eucalyptus forest!

The O'Reilly's Guest House was really nice, perched at the top of the hill it has day and overnight hiking available. I just did the treetop walk, which is literally walking through the treetops. They acheived this by constructing a suspended bridge that goes 60' off the ground, and then you can climb higher into a perch up one of the trees for a look over the canopy. They also had a botanical garden that was nice.


Feeding the birds was quite a joy. As soon as they see a new tourist, with seed or not, they start landing on you, all over your head (wear a hat!) and arms.
But the bush turkeys were even more agressive, running fast at the little parrots and scaring them off. One even took an entire bag of seed in its beak and ran off with it, a Japanese tourist running after it! He managed to get the bag back, and all of us standing around agreed that the bird was very naughty.

No one was paying much attention to these guys, who came out around sunset around the resort. They were respected a bit like rabbits I suppose, cute and lots of them.


On the way down the hill I saw my first full size kangaroos in the wild, a mother and baby.

There are certain things that happen when one gets out of their comfort bubble. I have discovered that I am rather easily annoyed by many human characteristics one is more likely to encounter when travelling, and even moreso when travelling on the cheap. Campgrounds and backpacker/shared accommodations leave one to being exposed to such elements as I have carefully designed my life around not to have to put up with these things. One night I payed an exhorbitant amount of money to tent camp on dirt in a nature reserve. It was far from the town of Byron Bay and no lights on the beach, and a clear night. Once the sun went down I walked to the beach to gaze at the upside-down universe. I wasn't there long enough for my eyes to even adjust when four children and two adults, all with flashlights more powerful than the high beam of a car, started scanning the beach, hitting my eyes every few seconds, only made more annoying with piercing screams and shouts of the younger units. They ran with these lights flashing every which way out to the sea and I was secretly hoping a rogue wave would take them out. Instead they picked up what I can only guess was crabs and started chasing each other with them in hand, poor critters, with their flashlight glaring in the other one, screaming at the tops of their lungs, now granted this is over 200 yards away and I could hear them like they were right behind me. It seemed like an eternity before they headed back to the campground, never once turning off the beams and looking at the stars. I could only think, embiciles leading oblivions, these are the people who will one day own sea-doos.

After a few mintues of peaceful stargazing I went back to the tent and tried to sleep but the lady next to me got a phone call on her cell. 20 minutes later she hung up but then someone put on some am-radio sounding music. I screamed as loud as I could TURN YOUR MUSIC OFF PLEASE! Crikey sakes, what does someone have to do to get a little sleep? At a place with shared accommodations the window to the bedroom went right out to where this danish couple smoked and talked and drank about 24/7, and then watched tv loudly when they didn't.

So what does it take to get away from these annoyances? I'm at a luxury four star resort paying heaps of money from now til the end of my trip (moving to another one after a tour of Faser Island) and all I can hear at night is the low din of the airconditioning and the ceiling fan. There are no character building elements here. I have my own kitchen and even a jaccuzi-bath tub, across the street from the sand (not much surf thought), walking to all the stores and such. But for my own sanity and the escape of second hand smoke, late night noise and other irritations, I'm finding the money well spent.

I also watched the movie version of Hitch hikers guide to the galaxy. Complete rubbish. WEll it was okay til they changed the ending completely. Ghastly.

More pictures, one of the tree that should have uploaded to the other post. The others are koalas in trees, dear little things, and an Australian Osprey, as rare here as they are in the states, and my tour guide, Mark Richardson, who runs http://www.byronbaywildlifetours.com. Can you see the baby in the first koala picture? It blends in well with the mom but look for the nose.

Got the pictures off the card and burned a cd. The card had movies on it now so it probably just didn't like it on the hard drive.


Here are flying foxes, like big bats but they only eat fruit. Then there are pademelons and podarus, which are endangered, and live in a park that is a protected area with signs to keep dogs and cats out, yet one of them may have succombed to a dog. My guide was quite unhappy seeing that and spoke to two rangers about it. Looked pretty freshly killed. They need to set traps, they can do this with meat, as the native animals don't eat meat. The blurry animals are difficult to shoot because they live in the shadows and are very flighty. The podarus are worse, I think these are all pademelons. We were on an elevated wooden track. The pademelons make loud thumping noises when they run. We got good viewings of them, as Mark would walk on the track and flush them out, and they would go running. Sometimes they seemed curious and would stare at us. They are oblivious to dangers from other animals but are shy of humans. The park is across the way from where Olivia Newton John has an estate. I have to start a new post because it only takes so many images here.

Took some excellent wildlife shots yesterday, pademelons, podarus, flying foxes, and koalas in the wild. The card on my camera says it is corrupted. I'm hoping that it can be resolved without having to lose the images. At least now that I know where the animals are, I can go back and take more...

Photographing mammals in the wild is a patience-demanding task. I spotted my lens prey in Byron while trying to find a new battery for my watch. There they were, in all their glory: matching tshirts, waistlines, and even their name on the back of the shirt. It was the Griswolds. Like wildlife, it is nearly impossible to get a clear shot of all the family element faces at the same time. As I waited crouched upon a rock outside of a gift shop that sold surf-board shaped toilet paper holders for $59, and waited, I spied the littler one near the door, but no she turned and headed back in... finally, they emerged, and just as my shutter went, the alpha male raised his elbow to block the face of the female! I followed them a little further and managed a backside composition, but the lighting isn't all that great.






These are sites of lovely Byron Bay that you will never see in a tourist brochure. Now you understand why I'm glad I didn't stay here?

Tourist information: if you can make it past the boundary fence.

Environmental center???


These clowns saw me taking a picture towards them and posed.



Got to know where your toilets are...



Toilet and a telephone, what more does a nappy backpacker need?


Literary institute. Hm, it has pictures of people enjoying the beach. All learning institutes should take such an approach.


I had a converstation with a local who is going to give me a wildlife tour this afternoon and lives at the hotel I stayed at. We talked about the riots at the beach and what the issues are. Sure is different hearing it from an Ozzie than listening to the news. The Lebanese have moved here and have not assimilated and are the most likely to land in jail. A gang rape conviction got some 60 years in jail, and now they taunt the scantily dressed beachgoer girls with "I'd take you and rape you but you're not worth the 50 years." The only excuse they had in court was that they didn't know it was wrong. No wonder the australians lost it. They'd just had enough.

The tour guide also said he's sick of backpackers. They'll go to Limbin to spend money on drugs and booze but won't spend the same money on seeing wildlife. The ones I've encountered just seem to like to sit on their rears all day and smoke cigarettes and drink beer.

Radio here is spotty. There is one station. Have you ever watched Cricket on tv? Boring, right? Imagine the excited announcers going on and on and on and on about it on the radio! And it's the only station!