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