Back Home - Kind of

Last time I left you, I was trying to get rid of my car. The car sale was a success, albeit I didn't get quite as much as I would've liked from it. I had two days to sell a car, and since I am the type of person that likes to take action when something needs to get done, I felt just hanging up fliers to sell the car wasn't active enough! So, instead I hung up fliers telling people that I was going to Auction the car off that night at 7:00. I figured the car was WAY cheaper than bussing around the country, so I didn't really care how much I got for it. So in that case I started the Auction at 10 dollars to see if I could get a lot of people to show up. It turns out only two people showed up at all. One of the guys, named Craig, decided to test drive it, at he immediately offered $500 for it. The other guy (we'll call him steve) was expecting to get a car for around $10, so he kind of was surprised, and immediately offered $1000 not knowing how he was going to get me the money. (Why, do I always run into these people?) Anyway, he kind of bailed in the end, and since an Auction didn't really occur because of this flake that showed up, I ended up just telling Craig that he could pay me whatever he thought was fair. He gave me $300. I'm happy!

Shortly after that, I said my goodbye's to Eric, and decided to go to the Pixar Museum that was visiting Melbourne for a few weeks. More or less, I was killing time till my long Bus ride. Finally, my bus left and for the next 12 hours I rode to Sydney. The Bus dropped me off right at the Airport and next thing I knew, I was in a plane coming home! On the way out, it was the first time that I actually got to see Sydney from the air, as the first time I flew in it was at night. And Sydney from the air just confirmed my opinions of this city. It is really quite incredible! (See if you can spot the opera house in the picture!)

12 hours after that I arrived in sunny southern California 3 hours before I left! (Yeah, weird how I arrived before I left. . .That dateline will get you every time!) I arrived to the shock and amazement of what I had left behind about 7 months ago. First thing I noticed (besides all the people being generally mean to one another) was a picture of Baseball on the wall. I didn't even realize it, but I missed that sport! I knew I was home at that minute! Baseball really is all American! A few minutes later I had met up with my brother and we were off!

The next day was the 4th, in which we just had a BBQ. And it was great! So simple, so easy, and I didn't have to worry where I was going to sleep that night.

The next day, Nick flew into town, and the three of us decided to enjoy the summer sun a little bit. Doing the L.A. thing, we took off the topper to the JEEP, and drove down to Santa Monica listening to "surfin' the U.S.A!" The sun stays up till about 7:30 down here, and I didn't get any jet lag!

That night Sean, Nick, David, and I all went to the Laugh Factory. It is a comedy club in the middle of Hollywood. And I know some of you will be jealous of who we saw. Yep, sure enough, Dane Cook was the headlining act that night! And wow, he IS funny!

So in a word or two, I'm happy to be home. My travels have been phenomenal, and after experiencing the little bit of world that I actually did experience, I'm excited to go back out there! But in the mean time I need to get back to Bozeman, make some money, and figure out what to do next. Wow. . .What now?

I guess, I'll keep posting till I get home, however I have a feeling that they are going to slow down a little from here on out. Being back in America, it doesn't seem like I need to talk about it all that much. Tonight, I'm going to a L.A. Dodgers game, which will be my first pro ball game that I've been to, so I'm pretty excited about that. Other than that, I guess I'll sign off for now!

P.S. Sean, MJ, Nick, and David are all doing great!

Melbourne - Getting Ready to Come Home

Ah, here I am again. Only about a month after my last attempt, and I am trying to sell a car again! Jeez, I need to stop doing this type of thing. It is way to much stress when you are in a limited time frame!

So, Just for a quick update of what I've done over the past few days. We more or less decided to Leave Adelaide right away. It wasn't all that fun there anyway. Parking is a pain and Eric and I, it seems, both hate large cities. So we decided to book it to Melbourne hoping that it would be easier to sell a car there, and then cheaper for me to Bus it over to Sydney to where I fly out.

On the way, we passed the giant Lobster. Australians seem to have a strange fascination with extraordinarily large objects. So far on my travels in Australia, I have passed the Giant Lobster, The Big Bannana, The Big Mango, The Big Pinapple, and another big Lobster (not quite as big as the one in the picture).

After Passing the Big Lobster, we found our way to some cool caves. We got to play around in them for about 2 days and then once again decided it was time to hit the road.

Once Arriving in Melbourne, we have immediately been reminded of "big city syndrome" where you have to pay for parking and everything else you may want to do. In fact, I don't understand how people can stand driving in big cities at all! Usually public transportation is fantastic, and faster, and in the long run probably cheaper too! But oh well, People will be people.

So, not a whole lot to report on. Definately didn't take enough blog worthy pictures on this last jaunt. Sorry 'bout that! With that said, I'm kinda guessing my next post is going to be from the States! Looking forward to it!

The "real" outback

Oh where, oh where did I leave off? Oh yes. . .Alice Springs and Martin.

From Alice Springs, our plan was to head straight to Ayers Rock, known by the Aborigines as Uluru. But since Eric and I ran into Martin, we found out about a little side road that we should take as well. It only added about 300 kilometers of driving, and when you are in the outback, 300 km is nothing! It's all in a days drive! So, Eric and I decided to head to a place called Kings Canyon first.

Kings Canyon is a fascinating area. Here we are in the middle of nowhere with nothing but high gas prices all around us. As we near kings canyon, you notice the increase in tourist hustle bustle. Then you arrive in the parking lot and start your hike. The hike is a short 6 or 7 kilometers around the rim of a canyon that has been formed in the middle of nowhere. The landscape for 360 degrees around you is as flat as a pancake, yet there is a 600 foot canyon right there! Of course, all Eric and I could think about is climbing those fantastic wall, but alas, climbing apparently doesn't exist here in Australia. So we were confined to walk around the outside rim of the canyon. But that is O.K. anyway. We came across this pool of water near the top of the canyon that we couldn't resist taking some interesting pictures of. So we spent about 45 minutes looking at reflections and playing with the cold water.

Kings Canyon was indeed very cool, however our next site was far and away more amazing then Kings Canyon could ever dream of being! We headed another 300 kilometeres to what is called the Heart of Australia. Uluru. Uluru is unfortunately something that is not nearly as exciting when you read about it as when you see it in person. But that's why I've posted pictures! So, as you're driving along, you see nothing for hours upon hours. Every now and then a car will pass going the other way, but not often. Then all of a sudden you come around a bend and there is a rock that stands 300 or so meters above the ground! It is the oddest site. (A little like Devils tower in a way) But once again, we knew that Uluru was going to be the best site to see, so we passed that road to see something else in the area first!

Only 50 extra kilometers down the road, we came to a place called The Olgas. Like Uluru, the Olgas are a set of rocks that have withstood the weathering of time and stand out above the surrounding plains by a couple hundred meters. Eric and I went here first and did a couple walks around the boulders, and were very impressed. (I felt I should put this paragraph in more or less to explain these two pictures. They are of the Olgas, and not Uluru. Notice the little dot/blurry smudge in the first picture? That's Eric! But regardless, the Olgas are very impressive from up close as well as from far away. They are actually made of what looks like river rocks cemented together and then upheaved for 100's of meters. And yes, they were fun to climb around on!

Now, the real reason to see Uluru is to see it during sunrise and sunset. During these two times the rock changes colors. Now, I obviously can't post every one of the hundred or so odd photos I got of this rock during the sunset, but I think you'd like to know that not one of them is of the same rock! You literally take a picture every 10 seconds, and to the eye it appears that the rock is the same. But then as I am looking at the pictures here on the computer, every one is a different color. It starts as a red, goes to a bright red, it passes through orange and blue and purple! It is absolutely amazing! And was it worth driving over 3000 kilometers to see it? ABSOLUTELY!

Not only is this rock impressive from far away, it is stunning from up close! Luckily for Eric and I, the climb to the top of it was open. Albeit an easy climb with a chain to assist you going up, it allowed us to get "in touch" with the rock. And of course I had to do a handstand on top of the rock. I even got an applause for doing it! (Also, those are the Olgas in the background of the handstand picture) It's so incredible because every angle you look at Uluru, you see a different rock. Sometimes it appears HUGE, sometimes tiny. It has caves, and big blank faces. It has flakes, and trees growing out of it in places. It has water holes and ancient Aborginee paintings. Needless to say, a day at this rock was not enough! But we did get to watch the Sunset on it twice, and the Sunrise once! So with that said, I'm happy!

From there Eric and I b-lined it to a small little town called Coober Pedy. We didn't spend too much time here due to the overwhelming prices of everything in town. However this little town has an incredible history to it. It was founded on a giant opal deposit. But it is absolutely smack dead center in an area with absolutely no water. So, they ship their water in along with everything else. It also gets so hot here that more than half its residents live underground! In fact, Eric and I ate at an Underground cafe, then checked out the tourist office which is also underground! It's quite a life style. Plus, surrounding the town there is over 200,000 mine shafts! Hence, the amusing warning sign!

Only about 100 kms outside Coober Pedy, Eric and I hit the big red. This is the part of the desert that you think about when you think of Australia. Funny that it only lasts for about 200 kilometers! But regardless, it is a mind trip. You can literally see to every horizon, completly unobstructed! If you wanted, you could drive your car out here, and probably wouldn't even know you were off the pavement! It was a pleasure to see, and I'm kind of sad that I've already left it behind! I've decided I like the desert!

And finally, on route to Adelaide (where I am typing this now) we happened across this lake. What a pleasant surprise that was! The lake looks like a mirage. You can't actually tell that it isn't a mirage until you are about 15 feet away from it! Then you decide to go swimming in it and find that it is only ankle deep. Plus it is a salt lake! So you get to walk around for miles if you'd like in ankle deep salt water in the middle of the desert. It was a surprisingly pleasant experiance! Once again, the little dot is Eric.

So, now I'm here in Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. (Did you know Australia has states? South Australia is a state!) I haven't had much time to do anything here but blog and shower (which I desperatly needed after all that outback travel, and swimming in salt lakes). With that said, I'm going to sign off now! Till next time!

P.S. Eric is also taking a lot of time on his blog today too, so be sure to check his out, for all the stories that I've already forgotten about! :)

Alice Springs and Everything in between

So, if you didn't know already, Australia is a BIG place. So much to do and so much to see! So, one of my goals while here in Australia was to do some scuba diving at the great barrier reef. I mean, it's world famous and everything, so why shouldn't I do it?

So I believe last I left was after Eric and I got back from Moreton Island. Wow, that seems so long ago! Well, in my defence, I haven't had a good opportunity to post since then until now, when I am about halfway around the country! Well, more or less Eric and I booked it up to the Whitsunday Islands from Moreton Island. This in itself was a couple days of driving. But we finally go there, and there is where we wanted to do our great barrier reef dive. Well, after doing a little research we found a company that would take us out for two dives. So, we waited in a little surfer town called Airlie Beach for a day waiting for the boat. After sleeping in the car due to intense rain, we awoke ecstatic to go on our dives. We showed up to the boat, signed our liability agreements and took off for the two hour journey out to the reef. Well, about 1 hour later, our divemaster came up to us and said that because of the rain and the crummy surface conditions, we actually wouldn't get to dive that day. Then he informed us that he would try to get us a refund. TRY! Well, to make a long story shorter, we did end up getting a refund and decided to continue up the coast to a town called townsville (I know, original name huh!) to get our dives in.

Once in townsville, we found another dive shop that had a surprisingly great deal to offer us! We even got $200 off because they wouldn't have gone if we hadn't signed up! So, it turns out that Eric and I hopped aboard a live aboard vessel call the "sea-esta." (Creative eh?) Turns out that they were leaving on a 3 night 3 day dive trip all inclusive with 10 dives! These 10 dives include 2 night dives, and 2 wreck dives! Doesn't get much better than that. So off Eric and I went. To live aboard a 17 meter boat for the next three days!

So, the first night was quite exciting. First time I've ever slept (or not slept for that matter) on a boat. If you don't know already, a 17 meter boat is not all that long. Well sure enough you can feel every wave that hits the side of it. And while attempting to sleep, you are actually bouncing in and out of bed, and sometimes hitting your head on the bunk above you! I think I like sleeping in the car better.

But that only lasted for about 12 hours! After that, we got to get into the water at a bright and early time of 7 am! But it couldn't have been better! As soon as you get into the warm water, and take your first look under, you immediately realize why you do what you do. The first spot that we dove in had 26 meter visibility, and the most beautiful corals and fish you could ever imagine. There was one peice of marine life that looks exactly like a miniature christmas tree. It lives on a coral, and there are several different types of this tree looking thing. It is only about 2 inches tall, and ranges in colors from the brightest blue you can imagine to the brightest reds! Well, as I was pointing one of these fellas out to Eric, and admiring its beauty, I put my finger quite close to the little bugger. Now, imagine this scene. Eric and I have our faces about 6 inches away from one of these trees, then I put my finger up to it, and it vanishes from sight! It sucks itself so quickly into the coral that it grows from that it must be powered by some type of hydraulic motor! Then Eric and I, not knowing what has just happened, look at each other faster than a jack rabbit on a pogo stick, both wide eyed and in disbelief. Sure enough, you start laughing at the sight of the other person, and sure enough, when you laugh under12 meters of water it starts leaking into your mask. I guess that is why I had to go through Scuba training! For all the times you laugh underwater! :)

Then we went on a night dive, which I don't have a ton to write about except for the fact that everyone should do one of these sometime in their lives! It was incredible swimming in the black and all you could see was the glow sticks attached to your buddies tank. We had flashlights with us, but the moon was shining just enough to give the bottom an eerie feeling that was much better appreciated without the lights. Unfortunately, Eric and I didn't see any amazing night marine life.

Whew! This is getting long!

So, we were then supposed to do a wreck dive. Well, the divemaster got us all stoked to do it and said it was on for the next day. However, at about 1 in the morning, when we were about to leave to get to the wreck, the winds picked up along with the rain again. So, once again long story short, we didn't actually get to dive the wreck, but that was O.K. because we ended up diving the reef two more times! Can't go wrong there!

After our experience in Townsville, Eric and I immediately headed inland to get out of the rain that had been following us around since last week. "Ah, the outback will be sunny!" I say. "Let's do it!" Eric says. We then drove all night, all the next day and night, all the next day and night, and I think we are up to today being all day now. Whew! Lots and lots of driving! And the outback is something else too! It is actually a lot like driving through North Dakota. I know, sounds fun doesn't it! But you do get to see some classic signs such as the "Beware of the car eating cow" sign! But nowhere else, even in North Dakota, can you look infront of you and see no cars and a straight road all the way to the vanishing point, then look behind you and see no cars and a straight road all the way to the vanishing point. It is something else!

In fact, the roads are so straight that we just decided to take a nap while driving really quickly. As you can see, we fashioned a rope to Eric's belt and tied it off to the steering wheel. That's all you need to do to get a few hours of rest! And you wake up almost at your destination! It's incredible!

Well, I guess there was one thing to see in the 3 days of driving through the outback that we've done. We stopped at a great bouldering location called the Devil's Marbles. Considering it is 400 kilometeres away from the nearest decent sized town, there are actually no climbers here. But Eric and I did some climbing. At least we did what we could considering the rain that was still falling on our heads. Oh yeah! I forgot to mention. . .it is STILL raining on us. Here we are, in the middle of the outback, and we haven't seen the sun yet! I don't think I believe people when they say it is hot and sunny here. I'm writing this wearing my polar fleece right now! It's not hot! I guess you can see the rain in the Eric picture above. Yep, that's the middle of the outback!

So, finally, more or less because I am getting a little tired of writing right now, we are in Alice Springs. And you'll never believe what just happened. Do you remember Martin from my journey's in New Zealand? Well, sure enough, he just walked in the door to the Internet Cafe that I am sitting in! It sounds like we are headed opposite directions, but I think we'll at least go get a drink tonight or something! Wow. Small World!

Yay for Cameras and things!

See that! A picture on my post! Yes, its official. I've received the camera that my mother shipped to me. So I finally have pictures on this post! Never mind the fact that it has taken me nearly 5 days to find the time to use the internet, then once we've decided to use the internet, another few hours to find a cafe with card readers. Apparently the card readers aren't as popular here as they were in New Zealand. Oh well.

Anyway, things are still going well down here on the under part of this crazy world we live in. Pat left Brisbane a few days ago, just a few hours after we met up with Eric. It was sad to see Pat go, but at the same time, I was extremely happy that Eric had showed up before Pat took off. Otherwise I would've had a lot of driving to do to meet up with Eric. Anyway, after pat took off, Eric and I prepared ourselves for the adventures that awaited. First stop, Moreton Island.

Moreton Island was a holiday get away Island just a little north of Brisbane. To get to the island, you take a vehicle ferry that travels at about the speed you might have a leisurly stroll at. Two hours later, and about 2 miles out to sea, you arive at a very pretty pristine white sand beach that stretches for nearly 20 km south of you! Of course, Eric and I couldn't see this beach because we arrived at about 7 in the evening, and considering it's "winter" here, it gets dark at about 5:30. According to the guy that sold us the ferry ticket, "It's so dark out there, you won't be able to see your hands in front of your face!"

Of course he was wrong though. The Stars alone were bright enough to be able to walk by. I don't know if any of you have seen the stars in the Southern Hemisphere, away from any city lights, but if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend it! The Center of the Milky Way Galaxy is in the direction of the constellation Saggitarius, which in Bozeman is directly on the southern horizon in the summer months. Well down here, this constellation is directly over head, and therefore you can look at the center of our galaxy through less atmosphere. And boy does it ever make a difference! You more or less just see a cloud in the sky. That's how bright it truly is. So, this first night, Eric and I just slept in the middle of a helipad landing area, gazing at the stars! Pretty cool stuff!

Well, on the next day, we walked to the eastern beach. Not a whole lot to write about on that particular day, but the day after that is when disappointment ensued. (Kind of). We went for a nice day long stroll down the beach. On the way to a lighthouse at the end of the island, we ran into some people that drove up next to us, stuck a pointed PVC pipe in the ground, threw some sand in a bucket, then drove to the next place to do it again! We were wondering what they were doing when Eric so daftly realized that they were digging up Clams! We learned by trial and error (not much error mind you) how to find Clams on the beach. So we dug up about 20 of the suckers and decided to stay on the Island for an extra day because we'd have dinner that night. So we stashed the Clams in the frisbee that you see Eric Playing with in this picture. We then wrapped the frisbee clam combination up in my towel, and stashed the whole thing on the beach to be picked up on our way back. After walking for another 5 hours or so and skipping lunch entirely, we were pretty excited to get back to the clams. Well, sure enough by the time we got back to the clams, they had been stolen! Along with the towel and frisbee too! Needless to say, we were bummed, and I have decided to start a list of things that I've somehow lost on my trip. (Camera, Towel, USB Cord, Hat, etc. etc.) The list is getting quite ridicoulosly long now! :)

Well, on our way out from Moreton Island, we saw some really cool mountains in the distant horizon. "It'd be cool to climb those" Says I! Eric replies, "Exactly what I was thinking!"

So our journey continued to the glasshous Mountains. The Glasshouse Mountains are a set of about 7 to 9 mountains that are forming the same way Devils Tower in Wyoming has formed. The remnant of volcanoe cores. Most of the mountains are still quite "slopey" but the one in the picture here was the one that stuck out to both Eric and I the most. Very Devil's Towerish. Not quite as large though. Well, it became our quest to climb this mountain, which we are still on right now. The problem is, we don't have all our own climbing gear, and apparently no one in Australia really knows all that much about rock climbing. You'd think a monolith of this size would be littered with climbers, but when we enquired at the visiters center, the lady gave us a pamphlet that called "Rock Climbing" the same thing that we'd call "A day hike." She said you could only "Rock Climb" on a few particular Mountains.

Well, Eric and I ended up Hiking the tallest of the Glasshouse Mountains, and just incase we ran into other climbers, we brought our shoes and harnesses. Alas, there were no other climbers. But that doesn't mean the hike wasn't a blast! The Hike actually consisted of some easy rock scrambling. If you fell, you'd be in a world of hurt, but at least it was easy enough to climb without ropes.

So, for now, I think that is a decent post. Right now Eric and I are in a little surf town called Harvey Bay. Today has been dedicated to catching up with Laundry, Showers, and Internet. From here we are working our way up north to get to the Great Barrier Reef to do some more Scuba Diving! Who knows if we'll ever get there though! There's just so much to do and see!

Oh, finally I've gotten a request to post Eric's Blog on my site too, so here is another link that may be easier to follow than my last one. (I'm also going to play around with settings on my blog a little, so If I figure it out, there might be a list on the right hand side with some links. Take a look to see if I succeeded or not!)

Find Eric By Clicking Here

Brisbane and the Gold Coast

I now sit here in an internet Cafe about 3 weeks from the start of my travels in Australia. I have been having a blast! I think too, that we have been making really good time on traveling around as well. Seeing lots of things and doing all kinds of fun stuff! Then I look at a map of all of Australia, and notice that we haven't even begun to touch the surface of this country!

So, I just wanted to write really quickly about our experience going up the gold coast. Before I came here, I thought the gold coast referred to the east coast of Australia. Boy was I ever wrong! The gold coast is actually a section of highway that is only about 30km long. It more or less follows a section of beach that isn't broken anywhere. And it is a section of city that has only high rise apartments and congestion for traffic. We were planning on stopping in a city called Tweed Heads, and before we knew where we were, we had passed it and already drove to the next ENTIRE CITY! We were now in the city Surfers Paradise.

We finally found a parking spot in Surfers Paradise, and walked around for about 2 hours before we decided not to spend a moment longer there. It is urban beyond belief, only has high rise apartments instead of buisness buildings, and the entire city thrives on tourists. I don't think we saw a single local infact! But they do have something cool called Meter Maids there. The meter maids are really cute girls that walk around the city streets in gold bikinis and they put money into the parking meters for cars that have had their parking expire! It's quite funny actually. The first time I saw them, I thought they were the ones that actually wrote the tickets!

But needless to say, we got out of surfers paradise like a bat out of hell! It was hideous there! So we drove our way up to Brisbane, and have barely gotten a taste of this city yet. So I'll write more on it later. However, my camera is supposed to be here but I went to the post office today and they said it wasn't. Maybe tomorrow it'll actually show up in the system or something. So I'm working on it!

Finally, I just realized that I haven't given any of you my new phone number yet! I got a new number once I arrived in Sydney, so if any of you feel like giving me a call, feel free!

If you're dialing from the States: 061 44 901 2795
If you're dialing from Australia: 044 901 2795

See ya!

Byron Bay - Enter Hippyville

So, here I am in Byron Bay, and it is wonderful here! Although touristy, there is a very strange vibe to the city that I am digging! Byron bay is a "small" city of about 6,000 residents, but probably just as many tourists. It is surrounded by about 15 miles of white sand beaches and warm water! So needless to say, there is a very hippy/surfer vibe that goes along with the city. Infact, on the first day here, many amusing things happened.

First of all, as we were driving around, we found out that we showed up on the one day of the month that a local market is going on. So, like any upstanding citizens, we finagled our way into what probably was an illeagal parking spot so that we could check out the happenings. As soon as we walked into the market we witnessed some fascinating people. My favorite was a mother of about 30 years old who wore her hair in dredlocks down to her waist. She was carrying a 2 year old. (Couldn't have been older than two.) This 2 year old was in a backpack fashioned out of a peice of neon green cloth. Silky type stuff. You know, like a really large handkercheif. And here's the thing. The two year old ALSO had dredlocks down to her waist! It was incredible! In addition to that, we saw some booths that had magical healing crystals, some booths with total hippy attire, didgeridoo shops, and a kid playing with devil sticks and trying to sell lessons for $10 an hour. There also was a one man band playing a didgeridoo, a drum, a guitar and singing. He was actually pretty good!

From there Pat and I headed to the main street and attempted to park our car. Well, it turns out that the curbs here are awefully tall. So as we parked, we scraped our trailer hitch on the sidewalk. A passerby saw this and he looked at me kind of funny. Knowing that we were in a cheap hunk of junk car, I shrugged, and more or less gave him a face that said we didn't really care what damage we may have done to the car. As he was looking at me, and continuing to walk forward, he totally missed the fact that we was walking headlong into a pole. Sure enough, he walks right into the pole and just like a cartoon charachter, arms and legs more or less wrap around it. Of course I couldn't contain myself and just started cracking up! He then walked away in shame. It's too bad he didn't laugh it off like he should've!

Finally there was a french guy (or I assume he was french) who was mumbling quite loudly behind us. We turned and let him pass us. He yelled some words in french at us, who knows what he said, then turned his head and spat right in front of where we were walking! It was hilarious. I just laughed at him! I think he was trying to insult me, but whatever it was it didn't work. His loss I guess.

So, some comments on Australia. First of all, I LOVE it here! The people are so nice, and I think, in all fairness, when you talk with general people at help desks or tourist info places, they are much more friendly here than they are in New Zealand. Also it doesn't seem so small here. Well, that's obvious I guess. But all the stores don't necessarily close at 5 like in NZ. And the roads are less windy. And there are just more paths to take! Plus you meet other travelers that are much more diverse instead of meeting mostly germans like you do in NZ. So, in a sense, I've fallen in love with Australia! This place is good and I really do want to come back to spend more time here someday!

On another note, I have had a camera sent to me from the states, so I'll be back up and posting pictures in a few more days! Thanks for bearing with me everyone!

That's all I have time for now. See ya!

Swimming with the Fishes. . .SEA?

Yeah, sorry about the terrible title to this blog. But I'll keep the blog short and sweet.

Today, I went diving here in Coffs Harbour, Australia. And let me tell you how phenomenol it is! The visibility was about 20 meters! And here is some of the things I got to swim with today!

-A Sea turtle. (he was just at 20 meters away though so it was tough to see)
-A couple Moray Eels
-A lion fish. . .By far my favorite fish. They are most beautiful.
-A couple Eagle Rays, or rays of some sort for that matter.
-On the boat ride out and back we saw some humpback whales!
-Oh yeah, how could I forget. . .I also swam not more than 5 meters away from 5 grey nurse sharks! And let me tell you, it is a very humbling experiance, although not very scary at all. Sharks, I think, are much scarier in an aquarium. But here, they just minded their own buisiness, as I minded mine. They are very graceful creatures, and were quite fun to look at!

So, just thought I'd brag a little bit about the awesome Scuba dives I've just completed, and now, I need to go eat!

P.S. Eric and I are getting closer!

Coff's Harbour

Well, here it is on the 30th, and Eric has officialy flown into this country to meet up with me. Well, this is quite a big country as we didn't entirely understand when we were making our plans to meet. Well, do to a little miscommunication (or lack of communication) between Pat, Eric, and me, Eric is now about a 20 hour drive north of Pat and I, and we were not able to pick him up from the Airport like I had originally planned to do. So, thus begins the adventure of trying to meet up! I think that'll be fun in itself!

In the mean time, Pat has been trying to figure out what to do with his remaining days here. He's constantly hitting himself for not spending more time here, as 3 weeks just wasn't enough! Like I said, Australia is a big country! Anyway, pat and I have been debating whether or not to B-line it up to Cairns to meet Eric, or if we should continue our "slower" pace up the coast. Then we stopped in Coffs Harbour, where it has all begun to spiral out of control!

Coffs Harbour is a really fun city with loads of Ocean things to do! Well, pat and I went into a dive shop to see if we could get a dive in. One Discover Scuba course for Pat turned into a full fledged open water certification for the next 4 days. So, while I was trying to convince pat of going further north so we could meet eric, it has turned into being stuck here for 4 days! But we do have a dive planned for friday which I'm pretty excited about!

In the meantime, Pat and I drove through Dorrigo natl. Park and saw some really intersting things. When one thinks of Australia, they generally think of the Outback. Well, as I recently found out, Australia is home to many other climates then just Desert. In fact, we spent two full days exploring Rain forest! The Flora and Fauna was unlike I have ever seen! Giant Eucalyptus trees being strangled by vines. Birds with beaks as long as my forearm. Ants with pincers the size of my fingernail. And spiders that would give anybody a spook! (In fact, we tried feeding one of the spiders with one of the ants! They fought a lot, and it turns out that the Ant won! Kind of, it just didn't get eaten, but it was still stuck in a web!)

Another great thing is the amount of camping we've been doing! Sure enough, it is car camping, but nontheless great fun! And a whole lot cheaper than paying for Hostels every night. If you've been reading eric's blog at all, then you'll see that he found it was cheaper to drive 10 mins to a place where no one is there, and just camp! Well, pat and I have found the same thing, except here, we just find beaches or beautiful lookouts, pitch a tent and call it good! It is quite an experiance, literally living out of a car!

And once again, my excuse. I haven't found my camera yet, but went camera shopping today. Didn't find anything to my liking quite yet, but trust me I'm working on it! What is terrible is all the pictures from Sydney with Pat and me, are gone! Plus a few extras from New Zealand. So sad.

Till next time! Miss you all!

The New England Highway - Good times and Bad

So Pat and I have decided to get out of Sydney. Sydney was a fantastic city with lots and lots to do. Well, we looked into the best way to travel up the coast, and by comparing buses to renting cars to buying cars to trains to hitching, the obvious solution presented itself. Buying a car IS the cheapest option. Buying a car cost exactly the same amount as renting it would've been. And it only cost a little more than taking a train or a bus, but now we have the option of going where ever we please. It is quite nice! And no, we haven't given this car a name yet. We're working on it though.

So, instead of going all the way up the coast to Brisbane, we decided to go inland a little bit and check out some of the "off the beaten track" areas of Australia. We started off by going to the blue mountains which are an absolutely gorgeous national park. There are sandstone cliffs that are hundreds of feet tall and perfectly vertical. And lookouts all over the place! I wish I could show you! (That story a little later. . .)

So from the Blue Mountains we traveled up the Old Western highway, and turned onto the New England Highway. These highways pass through some really fun small towns as well as some larger Bozeman sized towns. Right now we are in Armidale which is about the size of Bozeman, and has the University of New England. So really, it has a Bozeman feel to it.

Plus, by getting out of the city, we've been able to save quite a bit of money on sleeping costs! In fact, we have become "vagrants" over the past few days. Living in the car, and when we need to sleep, we've just been finding rest areas to pitch the tent in. It has been quite fun! The problem is finding showers though! :) Oh yeah, and it's been really cold. For Pat at least. He didn't bring a sleeping bag with him so we've been fashioning sleeping bags out of blankets, switching sleeping pads, and slept in the car. Finally we went shopping for a bag!

Also on the New England Highway we saw our first kangaroos! Funny little creatures and surprisingly agile. Instead of jumping over a wire fence, they'd jump through it! Quite impressive.

The Kangaroos were in wine country, so we stopped and did some wine tasting. We went to a GREAT winery called cruikshanks, that makes the best port wine I've had. (In fact the only port I've had until now) I suggest you look them up if you want wine, and maybe order some!

And finally, that day we drove to Tamworth and looked at a giant 12 meter tall golden guitar. Of course it was such a tacky touristy thing that I had to take a picture. Well, that is the point that I found out that I couldn't find my camera. I had thought I left it in my polar fleece. Not there. Maybe in the pants I changed from at the first winery. Not there. We tore apart the car. Not there! So I tried calling the first winery we went to to see if I had dropped it there. Well, I ran out of credit on my phone. So I had to go top up and buy a new sim card for Australia. Well, after stopping at about 10 different electronics stores and gas stations, I finally found the sim card I needed. So I tried calling the winery, but had to activate my sim card to use my phone. And guess what! When I tried activating the card, the phone companies system was down. So I tried on the Internet. System still down. Everything I did from that golden guitar onwards went terribly awry! And I still don't know where my camera is!

So, I only have a couple minutes left, so I should get going. But as soon as my camera reappears (hopefully) I'll get some pictures up that I've been promising for about the last month now! See ya!

(And I only got 2 comments on my last post. . .you all are slacking as much as I am! Thanks though to the two people that did comment. ;) )