All Good Things Are Wild and Free... I'm back in Aus... Queensland now!

Dec 26, 2011 to Jul 1, 2012

I'm headed go the other side of the world on a 6 month adventure to live life to its fullest! I'm writing this blog so my family and friends can follow along as I embark on this great journey!

Te Anau, New Zealand

February 3, 2012

Again, this website is unable to find my actual location, so Te Anau is the closest to Milford Sound it could find...

Today was my last day in the Queenstown area.  Since Ash had to work today, and I've already done a lot of the main tourist attractions, I decided to take a tour bus to Milford Sound.  Milford Sound is a fjord in the south west of New Zealand's south island, right on the Tasman Sea.  It is acclaimed to be New Zealand's best tourist destination and the eighth wonder of the world. Milford Sound is known as the wettest inhabited place in New Zealand and one of the wettest in the world.  It rains about 200 days a year, but luckily I went on a dry day!  There are 5 permanent waterfalls, but hundreds of small waterfalls that become active for 2 hours after rainfall.  The tour included a 5 hour (very informative) bus trip from Queenstown to Milford Sound, stopping in Te Anau (small town on the lake) and many other sightseeing locations as well as a 2 hour boat cruise around the fjords.  On the way up, we stopped at Christy Falls to fill up our water bottles with super fresh drinking water.  There is also a huge tunnel built in the 1930's that takes you through a mountain on the way to Milford Sound.  Just before entering the tunnel, our driver stopped the bus and pointed out the leftover residue from an avalanche that had fallen last season.  Still quite a bit of snow around, not only at the top of the mountains!  Milford Sound is definitely a destination location.  There was nothing around for miles!  The boat cruise had great commentary and the captain drove us super close to some of the active waterfalls! He even put the nose of the ship underneath one of the falls! We also saw about 15 teenage seals, just beaches out on some rocks - they didn't move at all so I think they may have been sleeping.  I took many photos of the mountains and the falls, but unfortunately it became very cloudy in the afternoon so they aren't the best.  Tomorrow I'm leaving Queenstown and going north of the mountains to Wanaka where it is rumored to be better weather! I've got a couple fun days planned ahead!

Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia

February 11, 2012

First things first, Happy Birthday Lauryn!!

There are no squirrels in Australia...only hundreds of lizards everywhere! Outside the common area of my hostel there is a giant pond full of eels.  I've tried to see the eels everyday, but it's always too dark when I remember to have a look at them.  This morning I had to check out of my hostel, so I was sure to be awake early.  I went down to the pond to see the eels, looked down at my feet and saw about 10 lizards just hanging out around me! They are quite big, and they run really funny too! Peter wanted to try surfing again today (it's raining so I opted not to surf again) so Cait and I hung out at the surf shop while Peter caught some waves.  Once the rain cleared, Cait and I went down to the ocean and Peter was actually surfing! We were so proud of him!  My friend Tyler (I met him in college) lives in Surfers Paradise (about an hour north of Byron bay).  He and his friend Brandon drove to Byron to meet up with us.  The 5 of us went to the lighthouse and went on a walk that took us to the most easternly point of Australia.  We were looking for sharks and dolphins in the water, but no luck! The sun came out in full force, so we had one more quick beach session before heading to Surfers Paradise.  Brandon used to live in Byron Bay so he knows all the good spots that aren't too crowded to go swimming.  The waves were perfect for surfing at the beach he took us to, it was too bad Peter already returned his surf board!  We drove to Surfers Paradise and it's awesome here! These east coast towns and cities just keep getting better! Surfers Paradise isn't very big at all and it's very similar to Miami with all the tall buildings and the beach being so accessible.  There was a sand castle competition going on at the beach with the head of Pirates in Paradise.  I thought of Aunt Nathalie, Uncle Ian, Uncle Ross and Aunt Katie when I saw the sand castles. They were seriously incredible! I took a couple pictures...I can't believe someone made these pirates out of sand! We had a really fun night out with Tyler and Brandon, we even ended up meeting up with two other friends from Western (Mat and Kristin), who I plan on traveling up the east coast with! Having the time of my life, can't believe I leave Australia in 3 weeks! I definitely need to come back! 

Wanaka, New Zealand

February 4, 2012

Wanaka... Basically a smaller and more chilled out version of Queenstown! Not as much of a tourist destination normally, but today there was a music festival in town called Rippon.  I arrived in Wanaka at around 10:30am, too early to check into my hostel.  I went to a coffee shop not far from my hostel and waited to Skype with mom and dad for a while, then realized that the time change was off and I was 2.5 hours early for our Skype date! I left the coffee shop and walked for about 20 minutes to a place called Puzzling World.  It was sooooo cool! Basically, for those of you who have been to the Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa, it was the Krazy Kitchen times one thousand! The whole exhibit was nuts! The first portion was an illusion exhibit.  There were about 25 holographic photos that are created in a laboratory situation using a laser beam.  The "regular" wave length is fired at the object to be photographed.  The object disturbs the laser beam and the reflected beam is etched into the holographic plate.  I tried to take a few pictures of these images, but they don't come out the same on the camera as they do to the eye.  Next, there was the Hall of Following Faces. It is the only one in the world and it was pretty trippy! It was a room of inverted faces, but when you close one of your eyes it looks as though the faces are coming out of the wall and follow you around the room.  Kind of hard to explain but it was really neat! My favorite part of this exhibit was the "arc room". The room is so angled that one side of the room makes you feel like a giant, and the other side of the room makes you look like a midget.  I've got pictures, you will laugh! They use this effect in The Lord of the Rings.  The second half of the exhibit was a labyrinth maze.  It has 1.5 kilometers of confusing passages and most people walk between 3 and 5 kilometers.  I spend about 2 hours in the maze, completely lost, until I gave up and went through the emergency exit.  I walked back to town, stole wifi from the cafe I went to this morning to try and connect on Skype again (again no luck!) and then I could finally book into my hostel.  It's about 2 blocks from the beach.  This time I'm in an all girls dorm, but cabin style! We have our own kitchen and ensuite bathroom with 3 bunk beds.  I got the bottom bunk... Score! Ash ended up getting called off work again, so he and his friend Renee drove to Wanaka for the day to hang out with me.  So guess what they wanted to do? Yup, Puzzling World! So back I went for the second time today to take on the challenging labyrinth! We spent about another 2 hours getting lost in the maze before we threw on the towel again and took the emergency exit out.  I'm not sure if it's even possible to do, there must be some secret passage way somewhere! Anyways, I was told to check out the Rippon Winery, but unfortunately today was the only day of the year that it is closed due to the festival! Instead, we drove to a beach quite close to the festival to lay in the sun and listen to the music.  It was a bit hard hear over the motorboats and other music at the beach, but it was still a nice afternoon! 
New Zealand has barely any wildlife.  You can walk for hours in the forrest and not come across any animals.  But, one thing they do have are hedgehogs!  Tonight at my hostel, I was sitting outside with some kiwis and along ran a hedgehog, so we picked it up for pictures and then watched it run away! So cool! I remember when I used to want one as a pet, didn't realize that on the other side of world they are considered wildlife! Currently I am in a food comma.  I had to say goodbye to the boys because I ate way too much Indian food tonight, I needed to lie down! Plus, I have a big day ahead of me! 5 hour bus ride followed by a 4.5 hour glacier hike! 

Ottawa, Ontario , Canada

December 26, 2011

Leaving my hometown, with a quick stop over in Vancouver, and then the adventures begin!

Vancouver, British Columbia , Canada

December 27, 2011

Journey End

July 1, 2012

Vancouver, British Columbia , Canada

December 29, 2011

Soaking up as many caesars as I can!
My 16 hour flight to Sydney is delayed by an hour, so thank goodness for the wonderful Lindsay Wilson for keeping me company as we spend our last hour together sipping on Caesars and drinking wine! Let's start this trip off right! See you soon Brody Jones!

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

December 31, 2011

Arrived alive! After spending a 16 hour flight in the aisle seat beside an extremely overweight couple who pee a lot, it was nice to see a friendly face come pick me up from the airport.  Brody and I were all smiles once we were reunited again! Brody lives in Darlinghurst, which is about a 25 minute walk from 'The City' (the opera house & Harbor Bridge).  He lives with 3 friends in such a cute house with a beautiful terrace and a giant kiddy pool to lounge in if it gets too hot! On New Years Eve, Brody took me to the restaurant he used to work at called The Cut.  It is a steakhouse/french fusion mix menu ... Amazing food!! We shared a dozen rock oysters, chicken liver pâté, prime beef tartar, Sher Fi Wagyu Fillet and a couple sides.  I don't think I need to eat for another couple days!... Nor do I want to! Everyone in Sydney is in such great shape and so good looking! After dinner, Brody and I walked down to the harbor where there were seven barges shooting off fireworks.  We didn't have the best view, but it was still a spectacular show! 

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year tonight & a safe and healthy 2012! 

For family and friends who would like to contact me, my new phone number is +61 0410934072

Manly Beach, New South Wales, Australia

January 3, 2012

After far too many half price margaritas last night at El Loco, Brody and I thought the perfect way to spend today would be to lie on the beach.  We took a half hour ferry ride from Circular Quay to Manly Beach.  Manly Beach is the second most famous beach in Sydney and a definite tourist attraction.  It was packed!  The promenade is full of over priced coffee shops and surf shops.... And surfer babes! Although, the eye candy wasn't quite as good as the other day at Bondi Beach! The water at Manly had some of the biggest waves I've ever seen, the swimmers were only allowed to swim waist deep between two flags because the rifts were way too dangerous.  I hear every beach in Australia makes you swim between the red and yellow flags.  It makes swimming not as enjoyable because everyone is squished into one area of the beach... So I stay away from the water and just lay in the sand and bake! Brody and I had a great pizza dinner at Hugo's while we waited for the ferry to take us back to the city.  Later that night, Brody, his flatmates, and I went down to The Star Casino for some famous dumplings (which i cant remember the name of the stand) and a cocktail at Cherry Lounge.  No gambling for this lady, although I did get a bit tempted when I saw the 1 cent machines tucked away in the corner!

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

January 4, 2012

January 4th.... Hottest day of summer yet! So where do you think I spent the majority of my afternoon?... At the beach of course! Brody and his friend had  decided they wanted to do the Harbor Bridge climb before Brody leaves Sydney, but since we had just done the SkyWalk tour a couple of days ago, I opted out this round and headed for the beach!  I went to a beach in the city, Redleaf, with Brody's flatmates Doren and his friend Lara.  Redleaf is known for being either a gay beach or a family beach... It was def a family beach when we went.  There were kids everywhere!  It's summer holidays here so no one is in school yet.  The appeal of Redleaf is it's only a short cab ride from the city.  All the other beaches you have to make it a day event to go, whereas here you can just lounge for a couple hours and then head to work.  When Doren had to leave to go to work, I decided to spend the rest of my afternoon shopping down on Pitt Street while I waited for Brody to finish his climb.  Pitt Street is basically an outdoor mall, with an indoor mall (Westfield) really close by.  I was in the market for 3 things: sandals, not flip-flops (you can't get into any bar or restaurant after 6pm without wearing proper sandals), a beach bag (because I realize it's not cool to bring my backpack to the beach, the only other bag I have that will fit my beach towel), and a hair straightener (because I blew mine up on NYE when I plugged it into the outlet.. Ooops!). Anyways, shopping trip was a success! Later that night, Brody had some other plans, so Min (one of Brody's flatmates) and I checked out a couple of local bars.  The first bar was called Shady Pines.  It was down an alley off of Oxford Street with absolutely no signage.  It was just a white door with a small handwritten sign that said Shady Pines.  When we got in, it was packed!  It's basically a cowboy saloon with stuffed animals on the wall, peanuts everywhere, with really loud country music.  Not really my scene, but I heard it was one of the 'hip' bars to go to, and I guess the appeal is that it's so hard to find, that once you've found it you must know what's up! I only knew about it because Lara's boyfriend works there, and she described it as an 'American Bar'... I've never been to Texas, but it's what I'd imagine a Texas bar would be like!  Our next destination was just around the corner called Pocket.  It was packed too, but way quieter music so we could actually chat.  It was more of an older crowd, but I really liked it! In Sydney, all of the café's turn into pubs at night, as well as every hotel is also a pub.  Basically, there are hundred of pubs to choose from, and then there are the restaurants and nightclubs too!  No wonder people say Aussies know how to party... They have a lot of opportunity to practice!

Bondi Beach, New South Wales, Australia

January 1, 2012

"You must be the new girl" is what I kept being addressed as on New Years Day! All of Brody's flatmates had to work on NYE so their party started at 4:30am and kept going throughout the morning!  Thank goodness for the jet lag, I didn't wake up once.  Once I rolled out of bed, I walked out to the terrace to find 20 people excited to meet the new Canadian! Five of us decided that we were going to spend the day at the famous bondi beach.  Unless you flag down a MaxiTaxi, you can only fit four people in the cab.  As two of us distracted the driver, one of brody's friends jumped in the 'boot' (trunk) for the 25 minute taxi ride. Bondi Beach is amazing and I found it the most perfect way to spend new years day! We stopped at a beach bar on Campbell Parade in South Bondi called Archor and Brody and I were so happy they served Caesars there! My first official day in Australia and I already can find a caesar! 

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

January 2, 2012

Today was a LONG day! Brody and I walked through Kings Cross, saw the famous Coca-Cola sign, down to Potts Point, down to Woolloomooloo Wharf and then over to the Royal Botanical Gardens.  The garden was massive with gorgeous flowers, huge trees, and a bunch of birds flying around that I've never seen before in Canada! Then we walked up to the Opera House, had a drink at Opera Bar, with a wonderful view of the Harbor Bridge. After our drink, we walked over to Circular Quay (this is where you can get a ferry over to Manly) and then up to the Rocks on George Street (this is where we watched the fireworks on NYE).   Brody and I went to his old restaurant, Felix, for lunch, where I ate the biggest shrimp I've ever seen! If you know my love for prawns, I was in heaven! After lunch, we went to The Sydney Tower Eye in Westfield Sydney (the big tower downtown) and took the SkyWalk around the tower.  We were harnessed in at 280 meters above sea level! It was really cool to see Sydney from that view, and it really helped me get my bearings for when Brody leaves me in a week.  Before you get up to the top of the tower, they make everyone do a breathalyzer test to make sure no one is drunk when they go up.  Brody and I were laughing because we had already had a couple of drinks throughout the day... How embarrassing would it have been to be denied entry! After the SkyWalk we walked down to Darling Harbor, a very touristy sight with not much to look at!  It just has a bunch of restaurants and sharks in the water!  The weather has been incredible since I've arrived! People keep saying I brought the good weather with me, I hope it stays this way!

Bronte, New South Wales, Australia

January 5, 2012

Since I got to Sydney, I've spent pretty much everyday at a beach because it's been beautiful hot weather with clear blue skies! Today it was overcast, so I decided that instead of laying on the beach, I would walk along many beaches that are connected (kind of like the seawall in Vancouver).  Brody I took the bus from Taylor Square to Coogee Beach to start our beach tour.  It's about a 2 kilometer walk from Coogee to our destination Bondi.  Along the way we walked by Gordon's Bay, Clovelly Beach (which is a beach with no sand, only pavement... It looked kind of weird seeing people suntanning on pavement!), Bronte, Tamarama (also known as 'glamarama' because all the swim suit modeling photos are taken here), and then Bondi beach.  We walked along crazy cliffs and the ocean looked beautiful! Between Bronte and Bondi, there are mini workout areas with bench press bars and many other bars to work out other parts of your body.  I guess it's a good way to stay in shape, just a weird place to have gym equipment! After our beach tour, Brody showed me a couple neat pubs in the city.  We went to The Baxter Inn, which is the same owners as the pub I went to yesterday, Shady Pines.  Again, it was an unmarked bar where we had to go down an alley, through a random door, down some stairs and then there is a bar packed full of people!  I guess this is the new(ish) trend for bars in Sydney.  The more hidden it is, the better of a bar it is.  Then we went to another bar called Stitch, which was alright, nothing to write home about... And then onto a famous bar called Eau-De-Vie.  This bar is hidden inside the Kirketon hotel in Darlinghurst.  It has won numerous awards in the Gourmet Traveler for best cocktail bar, best bar of the year and best new bar.  They had some fancy fancy cocktails made with liquid nitrogen.  It was amazing to watch the bartenders at this location!   To end this note... If I have one piece of advice for people traveling to Australia, even on overcast days - WEAR SUNSCREEN!  

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

January 10, 2012

Just landed in Perth and it is HOT! My last couple of days in Sydney were super chill... Sunday was supposed to be Brody's last day, as he was scheduled to fly out at 10pm.  A large group of people got together at The Tilburry to have some drinks and say farewell.  The party ended at about 6pm, so Min, Doron, Sam and I all went home for an amazing roast of lamb dinner that Min made.  There was a huge thunder and lightning storm on Sunday evening, so Brody's flight was cancelled and he was able to spend an extra night in town! Turns out he got two DID NOT DEPART from Australia stamps on his passport over the last couple days, so here's to hoping he gets on his plane today! Yesterday I met up with my friend Johnny who I met at coachella last year - he is good mates with Brenton and Grant (my friends that I'm staying with in Perth). We had a nice lunch at the opera bar with a great view of the harbor bridge and then walked around the city for a while.  Just as I was beginning to find my way around Sydney without any problem, I leave the city and fly across the country! Well, now I'm in Perth... Writing while I'm on the shuttle that takes me from the airport into the city. I'm meeting my friend Taryn who I went to Western with for a quick beach session before I meet up with the boys.  Who knows what this week will have in store! I'm excited to take on Western Australia!

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

January 7, 2012

I've been here a week now, and starting to get used to Sydney's backward traffic laws! It's still a bit strange when getting into a car or crossing the road, but it's becoming a little bit more natural to me to look right instead of left.  I've done all the major touristy things to do already, so the last couple days I've been hanging out with Brody's roomies doing local things.  I hit the Sydney gym, went for a run around the city (didn't even get lost!) and just been hanging out at home.  On Friday it was 'Brody's last Friday Night' so a few of us went on a pub crawl around Darlinghurst and Kings Cross.  I still can't get over how many bars there are in this city!  I swear, every single cafe, laudrymat, hotel, and restaurant turn into a bar at night... And they are all busy! Today was a beautiful day once again, so I decided to take a walk around the city and find an aquatic center where I could just lounge by a pool all day.  I walked down to Wooloomooloo Wharf (about a half hour walk from Brody's place) and found a lovely pool by the ocean so I could just listen to music and watch all the boats cruise by.  Today was the first day of Sydney Festival, it runs for 3 weeks and highlights different artists around the city.  Min and I went down to the festival grounds in Hyde Park and listened to a variety of musicians and djs.  We popped into the art gallery and saw an awesome Polka band and so many old people were dancing about.  Loved it! Later on, Min got a phone call from a friend saying she had 2 extra tickets to see Calvin Harris... We jumped on that boat! Free concert tickets, yes please! 

Gibbston, New Zealand

February 1, 2012

Again, I'm actually in Queenstown but this website can't seem to find it on a map...

Note to self... Never wear shorts while doing an extreme sport.  

I had a really chilled out morning today, skyped with a few girlfriends from home and just relaxed.  I received some amazing news from one of the girls, but I can't say just yet as the information has not gone public, but I'm sure it will be out very soon! Anyways, another windy day today so Ash was called off work mid day and we decided to go fishing.  Well, he went fishing, as there was only one rod, and I found a nice spot out of the wind to lay and tan.  I don't want to lose my Aussie tan while I'm in New Zealand!! At around dinner time, we went ROCK CLIMBING! I guess rock climbing wouldn't exactly be considered an extreme sport, but it's the most extreme thing I think I've ever done! (other than crazy snowboarding with Kurt!)  We went to a nice spot out of the wind, where there were 3 surfaces to climb.  There were 6 of us in the group, 3 of which were taking a course, and 3 of us who were newbies (I was the only one who's never done it before).  It looks a lot easier than it actually is.  All the equipment was provided for us (special shoes, harnesses, ropes...) and we climbed for 2.5 hours for just $20! Ash went up first and made it look simple...but he's been before in England so he knew what was in store.  I went up next and had a full fledge panic attack! I got about halfway up the climb when my whole body started shaking.  I was trying to climb with my knees instead of my fingers and toes (my legs are so torn up now!) I'm pretty sure I was so scared I forgot to breathe! It's so weird what your body will do in a state of panic! I didn't realize that since I was harnessed in, nothing would happen to me.  It felt as though if I were to let go of the wall I would fall to the ground and die.  I wimped out on my first climb, but the instructor was great and taught me how to climb small areas while the others were doing their climbs.  I finally got the courage to do the first climb again and I killed it! In the end, I made it to the top of all 3 climbs without fail, ready to take on more! Hoping for good weather tomorrow, skydiving is on the brain! New Zealand just keeps getting better!

Kalbarri, Western Australia, Australia

January 11, 2012

Kalbarri is about a 6.5 hour drive north from Perth.  We drove for hours without seeing anything but bush and dead kangaroos along a desert highway.  Actually, that's a lie.... I saw my first Emu (two of them) prancing about! I'm determined to see a live kangaroo on this trip, and I may even leave just a little bit of food out on our campground so I can see a Dingo too! Kalbarri is a little town of 1,800 people on the Indian Ocean.  There were beautiful gorges and white sandy beaches.  I saw my first Australian sunset since I'm in Western Australia now!  The only downside to the heat and the desert are the flies.  There were flies everywhere! I've learned to just let them crawl all over me or else I'm spending my whole day waving my arms around in the air swatting them off me. Our campsite was very clean and cute, right across the street from the beach.  Thank you Aunt Gay for taking me camping all those years ago... It came in handy when putting up and taking down our campsite!  Another early night, had to be up early to drive another 3 hours north to Monkey Mia and Shark Bay to feed the dolphins!

Shark Bay, Western Australia, Australia

January 12, 2012

Shark bay... Hmmm... I wonder how it got it's name! Today's drive seemed a lot faster than yesterday because Grant and I stopped at a lot of different sites on our way to Francois Peron National Park.  Our first stop was at Hamelin Pool to see the Stromatolites.  They are rocky looking lumps in the water resembling the oldest and simplest forms of life on earth dating back 3.5 billions years.  It was cool to see, although it was soooo hot and swimming wasn't permitted so we left there quickly.  I didn't want to go in the water at Shark Bay so we just did a quick drive by and stopped at Shell Beach for a swim.  As you can probably guess, there was no sand on this beach, just a ton of little white shells.  We went in the water and could walk really far before it started getting deep.  While I was swimming I came across a massive black and yellow snake at my feet.  It was about a meter and a half long with yellow stripes.  I didn't stay in the water much longer after I saw that... creeped me out so much! It was a beautiful beach though... It looked like the beach had transformed into a palette of the most intense greens and blues.  Our next stop was at the Little Lagoon, a calm and secluded little beach just off the main trail.  On our trip we've been driving a Toyata LandCruiser with 4WD.... So we've been able to drive along sandy beaches without getting bogged.  I've never done this before so it was great! Once we got into the national park and reduced our tyre pressure, we were able to drive down all the sandy (red sand) and bumpy roads full of lizards, rabbits and emus trying to get out of our way! We stopped at a beach/campsite called Gregories because we heard there was a great reef - perfect for snorkeling.  The water was pretty rough and it was about 5pm so the water wasn't as clear as we had hoped.  I still saw some pretty cool fish and even a sting ray! Sting rays are not small creatures! I need to get over my fear of sea animals before I go diving at the Great Barrier Reef in a few weeks! As we we driving away from Gregories, we drove past what Grant calls a 'whirly whirly' - I call it a cyclone or a tornado. Apparently they get them here all the time.   Grant and I found an awesome place to set up camp right on the beach at Herald Bight.  It was a very windy set up and take down, but it was worth it because I saw the most beautiful sunrise :)

Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia

January 13, 2012

The two finger Aussie wave... Such a weird thing.  When driving in the outback every time one car passes another, the drivers give each other a wave that somewhat resembles a peace sign. It's a bit strange, but I don't ask questions!  Today we drove about an hour north up to Monkey Mia -a dolphin national park.  They feed the dolphins three times a day between 8-12pm, whenever the dolphins choose to come and get food.  Grant and I saw two feedings and we got chosen out of the group to feed one of the dolphins on the second feeding! With the amount of teeth they have (about 104), they are surprisingly gentle! After the feeding, we did a bit of snorkeling in the area but again the water was too foggy we didn't get to see much.  About 11 Emus graced us with their presence that afternoon.  You know it's hot in Australia when the emus are getting into the ocean! They are rated the biggest bird on the planet... I'd say they are the skinniest bird when wet!  We stayed there long enough to get pretty red on the shoulders then drove to Ellendale Pool to get a campsite for the night.  Very misleading... This is not a swimming pool.  It was a river that had warning signs all over not to swim or else you'll get some super infectious disease. (can't remember what it was called). Had a nice steak dinner that night with an enormous side of beets root.  I am now obsessed with beets root! 

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

January 10, 2012

After taking the 45 minute shuttle from the Perth Airport into the city, I hopped on the city train to meet Taryn and her boyfriend Marty in Karrakatta.  This suburb is beautiful and very close to the beaches.  We spent a few hours at Cottesloe beach while we waited for Grant to fly in from work up north.  Taryn and Marty left soon after Grant arrived because Taryn had to fly back to Canada.  I keep meeting up with my friends just as soon as they need to head back to Canada! That night Brenton, Grant and I went into Leederville for some dinner and a catchup.  We ate at Little Caesars Pizza... Which is totally different from our Little Caesars in Canada! This pizza shop had won tons of awards for their various kinds of pizzas.  Sweet, savory, salty... They had everything imaginable! After dinner we went to Kings Park and had an outstanding view of the city all lit up.  There were tons of little walking trails to explore, and lookout areas.  Early to bed that night, Grant and I had to be up at 5:30am to start our camping adventures!

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

January 14, 2012

Drive thru bottle shops. A concept I believe to be foreign in Canada.  Two lanes... Express (someone walks up to your car and takes your order) and regular (you have go walk into the shop yourself to get your own cases of beer).  It's such a cool concept and I've seen them all over Perth. Didn't notice them so much in Sydney, but now I've got my eyes open for one!  Camping trip came to an end today. Grant and I drove back to his house to find about 15 friends helping his room mate tearing up the garden.  We all had a nice swim when the boys were done and a big BBQ.  It was a very relaxing day! Just what I needed after a relaxing camping trip :)

Scarborough Beach, Western Australia, Australia

January 15, 2012

Basically there are four main beaches along the coast near Perth.  Fremantle is the most south, then Cottesloe (where I went my first day in Perth), Scarborough Beach and City Beach.  Today Brenton picked me up from Grant's house with his friend Scott and took me to Scarborough beach. There was a huge surfing competition, as well as a beach volleyball competition going on today. We could see a bit of the competitions from where we had set up our towels, but we spent the majority of our time in the ocean battling the waves. They really kicked my butt! Pretty intense waves with big rips but we all survived! Later that day the three of us met two of Brenton's other friends at restaurant called The Windsor.  It had a cute little patio outside where we sat and enjoyed some pita and hummus.  I spent the night at Brenton's in a suburb about half an hour south of the city.  He has an awesome house with a pool (and swim up bar!), pool table and his backyard is covered with frangipani trees! His sister was house sitting so I got to stay in her room and had a big huge bed to myself tonight! Glorious!

Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia

January 16, 2012

It's Monday, which means back to work for Brenton.  His sister, Chloe, had the day off so she and her friend Tamara took me down to Fremantle. Fremantle kind of resembles a fishing town with many restaurants specializing in fish and chips.  There was a huge ferris wheel by the water and a nice walk along the coastline.  It would have been better for me to go to Fremantle on the weekend, as there are normally markets and venders on the streets, but I was a day too late! It was a bit too windy on the beaches in Fremantle, so we drove up the coast to Cottesloe and had a quick swim and suntan session there. Chloe dropped me off in the city, where Grant picked me up a bit later.  It was a very low key evening, as Grant has to be back up north for work so we just had a nice dinner at home and watched a movie. I started to plan my travels from Adelaide to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road tonight, but soon realized I had buggered up the dates and had missed the bus tour that I was planning on taking.  The Australian version of craiglist or kijiji is called 'gumtree' so I looked all night for people who were driving from Adelaide to Melbourne.  I found a couple people who are driving around the same time I would like to leave, so let's hope they write back soon!

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

January 17, 2012

Grant and his room mate both went back to work today so I had the house to myself for the morning.  Thank goodness for their lovely pool, I went a nice swim in the morning and had the weirdest breakfast.  I guess it is really common here to have canned spaghetti on toast? Anyways, I tried it.  Nothing special. Kind of a weird taste to be honest, but I guess it's better than eating vegamite on toast! (a very common breakfast for Australians - it's a very salty paste full of vitamins... If you listen to the song 'I come from a land down under', you will hear them talk about vegamite). I ended up hearing back from a few of the people I wrote to on gumtree about getting a lift from Adelaide to Melbourne, and one of them offered to pick me up from the airport when I land in Adelaide.  Brenton picked me up in the afternoon from Grant's house to drive me to the airport. The Perth airport is quite small, with only 11 gates, which makes the airport more confusing than it needs to be! They had about 4 different flights departing through the same gate as me, all at the same time! You really need to pay attention to which plane you're getting on! I arrived in adelaide safely, and this guy named Daniel gave me a ride to my hostel.  He is driving to melbourne via the great ocean road on the same days that I would like to go, so I think I will drive with him and split on fuel to save some moulah.  My hostel is pretty nice.  I'm staying in a 7 bed mixed dorm with some pretty friendly people.  One guy is actually from New Market and went to Guelph University.  Another guy is from France, and a girl from Holland.  I also met a group from Ireland who have been living in this hostel for a couple of months now.  I think I'll go to the beach with them tomorrow because it seems like they know their way around the city!  Haven't slept in a bunk bed, let alone the top bunk, since first year university... I hope I get a good sleep tonight! Actually, come to think of it, I didn't sleep in a bunk bed then... It was a single bed! This should be interesting...

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

January 18, 2012

Adelaide isn't as bad as people had told me! I kept hearing there isn't anything to do here and to get out quickly. I had so much fun the first night I was here, I decided to stay for a second night and I'm so happy I did! During the day I went to Glenelg with this boy from Ireland.  Glenelg was actually pretty cool! There's a permanent amusement/water park there, right next to the beach.  Garry and I went down all the water slides with the kids, it was pretty hilarious.  We were by far the oldest people there!  We spent a little bit of time at the beach and in the ocean and then went for lunch.  Garry had never tried sushi before so I made him try it - but he was not a fan! I must admit, I think I take Vancouver sushi for granted because nothing here is even comparable and I miss it so much! After Glenelg, I came back to the hostel and met up with the girl from Holland, Anna.  She was meeting some friends from Texas who she met along the Great Ocean Road a couple weeks ago, so I tagged along! They were really cute!... And it was nice to hear an accent that sounds similar to mine! There was a free BBQ tonight at my hostel, followed by a game of 'killer pool'.  I didn't win, however, I was the last girl still in the game! It was nice to socialize with people from all over the world. I did meet a hippy guy from Vancouver, he and I stuck together for the night and decided to meet the guys from Texas at their hostel and go out on the town.  Well, there's not many bars in this little city, so it wasn't hard to choose where to go! One bar named Sugar. Five guys to one girl ratio... I got a lot of looks! I wasn't really feeling the bar and all the staring so I came back to the hostel to find many people still awake drinking Goon.  Goon is similar to wine, except it's not made with grapes.  I think it's made with eggs or something, and you buy it in a box.  Anyways, I've heard it's a backpackers drink because it is super cheap and after you drink it, you can blow up the bag and use it as a pillow for your travels! It's really awful tasting, so let's hope my funds keep me afloat and I don't need to sacrifice my pallet the whole time I'm in Australia! 

Stawell, Victoria, Australia

January 19, 2012

One way or another I will make it to Melbourne! When I arrived in Adelaide I met that guy Daniel who said he would drive me to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road, but I really didn't feel comfortable being alone in a car with him.  Thankfully, when I got back to my hostel yesterday after Glenelg, I met this nice British girl named Kimmy who said she and her friend Matt were driving to Melbourne via The Grampians National Park.  They were super nice and really funny so I decided I would ride along with them instead.  Once I'm in Melbourne, I can take a day trip towards the Great Ocean Road and see the highlights then.  Kimi and Matt picked me up this morning and away we went! We drove for about 4 hours, arrived just outside the Grampians, and found a free campsite for us to spend the night.  There was another camper van with three young people from France on the same campsite as us. The 6 of us hung out for the night - yes mom, I did speak to them in French! I was the only one out of the six of us who hasn't worked in Australia.  In order to apply for a second year visa, you must work at least 90 days on a farm picking various types of fruit. I'm not sure if that's my sort of job!  I think I'd rather get sponsored by a company rather than spend 3 months up in a tree! 

Grampians, Victoria, Australia

January 20, 2012

I SAW A KANGAROO! Finally! Or maybe it was a wallaby, I'm not really sure how to tell the difference, but either way, I finally saw a jumping creature that resembled a kangaroo! Their tails are way longer than I imagined, and they swing their arms quite a bit! This morning we packed up our campsite and drove the rest of the way on really bumpy roads to the Grampians.  The Grampians are the richest indigenous rock art site in southern Australia and is located about 235km west of Melbourne. There are tons of hiking trails and amazing scenery.  We walk a long trail down to the base of a couple waterfalls. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to swim in the water, but I dunked my head in anyways! It was way too hot, I needed to be refreshed! We only stopped once along the way because the car we were driving was not built for roads that bumpy - Our exhaust almost came off! We drove to Melbourne and I said goodbye to Matt and Kimi.  I may be meeting them again in Sydney next week, and if not, then I'm sure they'll be coming to Canada for a visit! Those two love to travel!  The hostel I'm staying at in Melbourne (Hotel Discovery) is way bigger than the hostel I stayed at in Adelaide.  It used to be an old high school, so it's multi-leveled with giant rooms and the washrooms are huge as well.  My dorm has 5 bunk beds - I was lucky to get the bottom bunk this time! After I got settled I met up with my friend Tim who lives in Vancouver, but is from Melbourne.  He hasn't been home in 3 years, and just so happens he decided to take a trip when I'm in the city!  He took me to a party for the magazine 'zinc'... It was in a warehouse and was Mexican themed.  Sponsored by El Jimador, all the booze and food was free!  I'm not the biggest fan of tequila, but there was nothing else to drink so I couldn't be picky! It was a very artsy party, various artists from the city painting the walls, and many different styles were there!  Pretty cool party! I left Tim and met up with a girl named Hillary (from Ottawa, met her at my hostel) at Croft Institute.  This is a bar that used to be an insane asylum... It had pretty cool decor - even had a hospital bed in the washroom! 

Lorne, Victoria, Australia

January 21, 2012

Last night at The Croft Institute I met two guys from Toronto who mentioned they were going to drive the Great Ocean Road tomorrow (as in today), so I asked them if I could tag along and come for the ride since I missed it on my original route to Melbourne.  A group of us put some money together to hire (rent) a car and set off early in the morning.  We stopped at Erskin Falls, a beautiful waterfall that made us feel like we were in the rainforest.  It was amazing!  We all got into our bathing suites and took photos of us under the waterfall.  Unfortunately my camera died halfway through the day so I didn't get many pictures. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention... I thought I lost my camera yesterday when I left my rideshare and got to my hostel.  Thank goodness Matt was still in Melbourne, he was nice enough to drive across town and drop it off to me this morning.  This is why it wasn't charged enough for all the pictures being taken today.  After the waterfall we carried along the GOR towards the 12 Apostles.  I took on role as navigator (scary) with no maps and managed to get us there...eventually! No one believed me when I kept saying I thought we were going the right way.  Sure enough we made it there, only took us about 4 hours! Never realized how far along the road it actually is! The pictures I took can't even describe how amazing of a feeling it was to be there (I used the camera on my iPad - handy little thing!) They kind of resemble the flowerpot rocks in the Maritimes, except they weren't red.  So it was me, two guys from Toronto, a guy from the Netherlands, another guy from London and a girl from Germany.  Yup, 6 of us in a car... Which means someone had to ride in the boot the whole way - you probably guessed it, we got pulled over.  Not too sure why, because Buckley was hidden pretty well, but we figured some guy we stopped and asked for directions told the cops we had an extra person in the car.  The aussie cop was really nice and let us off with no fine at all! He just said he would keep his mouth shut if we got out of his town right away! I've learned my lesson - in Australia, as well as every other country in the world, it is illegal to have a passenger ride in the boot! Today has been quite a journey to say the least!

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

January 22, 2012

Melbourne is known to have the worst and most unpredictable weather in all of Australia.  It can be 40 degrees in Perth, and be 19 degrees in Melbourne the same day.  Sure enough, yesterday was a crummy overcast day, but as soon as we left Melbourne and got on the GOR it was sunny and beautiful! Today was a different story... Sunny sunny sunny, and 32 degrees! I walked around the city today with a guy named Des from Rotterdam.  We went to Federation Square, it's an area in the city where most things revolve around.  The Australian Open is going on right now, so there are screens all over the city playing tennis, and everyone sits on the ground and watches.  We walked over to the front gates of the Australian Open and contemplating going in to watch a couple games, but it was far too expensive to pay for a sport that, in my opinion, isn't all that exciting! It was really cool to be around all the action, kind of felt a bit like the playoffs all over again because everyone is so into it! In Federation Square we checked out 'acmi' (Australian center for the moving image).  It was a free museum all about television, video games, and movies.  My favorite part was the 3D box, where they have 80 small cameras around you to tape your every move when you're in the box.  The movement resembles Trinity from the movie The Matrix when she is in mid air, slow motion, doing a kick.  Pretty cool, I emailed myself the footage! (kind of hard to describe if you've never seen the matrix!). I also got to play really old video games, including the classic nintendo that I kick butt at! Walking down the street, I ran into this guy named Spandy Andy.  He is from Vancouver and famous for his street performances.  I always see him dancing at the beach, wearing spandex and grinning ear to ear.  I heard he was going to be in Melbourne, but didn't think in a million years I would see him! It kind of felt like I was back in Vancouver for a few minutes! Melbourne is known for it's arcades and lanes.  I grabbed a brochure and did a 2.5 kilometer walk around the city, going down alleyways and little streets that are full of street art, coffee shops and little stores.  The tour took me back to my hostel, where I met the guys from Toronto to go to the Royal Botanical Gardens.  I'd have to say, they weren't as impressive as the gardens in Sydney, but it was still a beautiful walk.  Came across the Shrine for Remembrance where the boys got pretty creative with their pictures, and then walked back to the hostel.  I met up with Des again for a BBQ on the roof of the hostel, and he cooked me kangaroo burgers.  I was expecting them to taste CRAZY, but no, they taste just like a normal burger! Anyways, feet are sore from all the walking today and I've gotta check out of my hostel tomorrow morning.  I'm currently homeless tomorrow night, as all the hostels are booked up for the Australian Open - but I may be able to sneak into a hostel for a couple hours to lay my head! 

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

January 23, 2012

Today I took on Melbourne all alone! The friends that I've made at my hostels all work during the week, and I had to check out of my hostel this morning so there wasn't much opportunity to meet new people to do adventures with! I hopped on the free city tourist bus and went around the city.  The bus has commentary, which I found to be extremely helpful.  My first stop was at Harbour Town - here I saw the docklands, did some shopping (huge outdoor shopping mall) and had a coffee at New Quay Promenade.  It was a very cute area, but I didn't have much time because the bus comes to the stops every half hour.  I didn't make it to the Medibank Icehouse, but it has two Olympic sized ice rinks for hockey and curling. I didn't think Aussies did those sports!   I hopped back on the bus and rode past a couple stops until I got to the Crown Entertainment Complex.  In this building there is a huge casino and very high end shops.  I started chatting with the security guard and he suggested a few things I check out around town.  I went across the street to the Melbourne Aquarium where I saw tons of crazy looking fish, PENGUINS, sharks and much more.  This aquarium is the only aquarium that houses fresh water sharks in the world.  The cutest creature I saw was a leafy sea dragon - males can give birth to up to 250 babies in their lifetime! I also learned that the octopus has 9 brains, 3 hearts and blue or green blood!  I was by far the oldest person in there (that wasn't a parent), but I still had a really good time! After the aquarium I took the tram from the city to St. Kilda.  St. Kilda is a beach town just outside the city of Melbourne, with a man made beach and an amusement park.  I didn't go in the amusement park, but it sure looked like fun! I spent a couple hours sun tanning on the beach, then walked down Acland Street where you can find tons of little pubs, restaurants and shops out on the sidewalk.  I took the tram back to the city, and met the boys from Toronto at my hostel.  They were nice enough to let me stay the night at their hostel down the road for free! We had to sneak me in though, but it all worked out! Unfortunately I didn't get to finish the free bus tour today, but I'll probably hop back on tomorrow to check out Chinatown, Lygon (Italian area) and the arts center.  Oh yes, another exciting thing today... I booked my trip to New Zealand! 

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

January 24, 2012

I may fall asleep halfway through this post, but here goes nothing!  Last night I had to sneak into the hostel down the street because there were no beds available anywhere else in town since the Australian Open is on.  Buckley and Brent (the two guys from Toronto) had a doubles room (just two beds in one room) so it was easy to sneak me in without anyone noticing.  I offered to sleep on the ground, but they were real gentlemen and decided to push both single beds together to make one giant bed.  Since I lost at rock-paper-scissors, I had to sleep in the middle... Which was not the most pleasant.  The beds were basically on wheels and halfway through the night they separated and I went straight to the floor. Lovely! Not the best sleep of my life, but I guess it was better than being on the streets! In the morning, the three of us went over a huge plan of things to do and see around the city.  We had every intention of each hiring a bike and riding around the second half of Melbourne that I missed yesterday, beginning at the Queen Victoria Market.  Well, we spent about 3 hours at the market! It was full of small vendors selling fruit & vegetables, clothing, shoes, souvenirs and anything else you can imagine an Asian person selling!  We mostly did browsing, as my bag already weighs about 13kg and I don't want to spend the next 5 months breaking my back.  Anyways, the market was fantastic but since we took so long there we had no time to rent bikes.  We decided to walk around chinatown to get some cheap lunch and have a look around.  Got back to the hostel to find out that their friends were having a big BBQ on the rooftop so we all joined in.  About 15 of us from all around - Canada, USA, France, Japan, Netherlands, and Germany shared some laughs and good times :) The boys have to be up early for work tomorrow, so I said my goodbyes to everyone and brought my bags back to my original hostel where I'm going to wait in the lobby until 3am to catch a bus to the airport.  I'm flying out of the Avalon Airport in Melbourne, and let me warn you (because no one told me), this airport isn't actually IN Melbourne.  It is about an hours drive west of Melbourne.  So even though the flights are cheaper, I'm debating if the bus ride will be worth the money I saved! Back to Sydney I go where I'll have my own bed again for the next couple of days!

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

January 25, 2012

I'm sorry if I scared anyone yesterday about all the homeless talk. I wasn't entirely homeless, I just didn't have a bed - but I was in a sheltered place! Not exactly on the streets! Anyways, I made my bus on time, got to the airport, flew to Sydney, arrived at Brody's old house and SLEPT! Boy did I need it! This whole week is supposed to be rainy in Sydney, so I'm not too upset that I spent the majority of my day dozing in and out of sleep.  Also, this gave me time to catch up on a bunch of tv shows that I've missed this past month! I know, I know, I'm traveling so I shouldn't be concerned about The Bachelor... But I can't help my obsession with that show!  Min has a friend named Jackie visiting from Singapore, so the three of us hung out for a bit at home and then went to The Argyle for a 40th birthday.  I saw quite a few people tonight that I met the last time I was in Sydney. It was great to catch up! Everyone was asking about all the places I've been the past three and a half weeks, and it turns out I've already seen a lot more of Australia than most people who live here! I've got the whole east coast left to do as well!  Tomorrow is Australia Day - basically the same as Canada Day - where people dress up with flags and temporary tattoos and cause a rukus around town! I bought an Australian bikini when I was in Melbourne for the occasion, but I didn't know it's supposed to rain tomorrow... So we'll see if I end up wearing it after all! 

Gibbston, New Zealand

January 31, 2012

I don't know what it is about New Zealand, but it is WIIIIINDY!! Today I got woken up by the wind crashing against the glass railing! Ash had the day off today because of the weather - high risk of westerly winds - so I had someone to enjoy the day with! We went for a nice and cheap breakfast in town, and then hit the road to do a wine tour.  Most the wineries in the region are in a place called Gibbston.  Unlike the Okanagan or Naramata, they are all on the same road which makes it really easy to find them all.  That being said, there aren't nearly as many as in the Okanagan. We checked out about 5 different places, all with delicious wines.  I always feel bad when a winery has free tastings and I don't buy anything, but luckily this time I could use "I'm traveling and don't have anywhere to store it" as an excuse! I ended up buying 2 bottles of wine... A Sauvignon Blanc (my fav) from Mt Rosa Winery - It's an amazing wine, but the entertainment alone at that winery is what sold me.  The guy who runs it was so funny and so personable (he was most likely drunk) we just had such a good time with him! I also got a nice Riesling from Brennan Winery, only because rieslings aren't normally my thing and this one blew my mind! Along the same road there was the Gibbston Cheese Factory, where they had quite a large variety of cheese to sample, and I've got an unhealthy obsession with cheese so I obviously bought some! On our way back to Queenstown, we passed A.J. Hackette Bungy... The first bungy jump in the world! I was surprised they were still letting people jump because the wind was insane!  It was pretty tempting, but at $180 a jump I'd rather spend my money on a 15,000ft skydive.  (yes, I will be doing one while I'm here, eeeeek!!) Just outside of Queenstown there is a ski hill called Remarkables, we drove up a dirt road to get pretty high up the mountain for a spectacular view! It was a pretty scary ride up... If you don't have complete control of your car, you may go over the edge! While Ash and I were at Peregrine Winery, I met a really nice girl named Kristy from Minnisota who is now living in Queenstown.  She invited me to do a Zumba class with her later on, so of course I went! Mom, you've always raved about Zumba, so why not do my first class in NZ!  All I can say is it's a whole lotta butt shaking! The rain came in during the evening, but I'm not too disappointed...a night to relax with one of my bottles of wine would be amazing!

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

January 27, 2012

I'm heading to New Zealand tonight, so I'm trying to downsize my belongings a little bit.  After sending about 10 articles of clothing back to Vancouver via sea mail, I don't understand how my bag can STILL weight 12kg (that's like 26lbs).  I even threw some stuff out too! Thank goodness I'm in no rush to send anything home, it take 2-3 months to send anything by sea! I had a pretty mellow day today... Free booze all night doesn't lead to a clear head in the morning! I met up with Dad's friend Bill for lunch.  They grew up in St. Bruno together and he's lived in Sydney since 1981.  We went to a chinese restaurant where the waiters roll around carts full of food and you just take what you want to eat off the cart and enjoy!  It was tasty! After lunch I thanked him and said goodbye, and went home to finish the last of my packing.  With all the back and forth from the airport, I've got the Sydney transit system figured out and made it to the airport with plenty of time to hit up duty free! 

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

January 26, 2012

Happy Australia Day mate! I reckon we will have HEAPS of fun this arvo! Haha I'm basically Australian, right? Starting to get the lingo down, but I refuse to speak with a fake Australian accent.  Partially because I suck at it, and well, I guess that's the only reason actually... To avoid embarrassing myself!  This australia day wasn't as crazy as last year.  Last year I spent it up in Whistler, where you are hard pressed to find a Canadian in the winter months.  It was a huge party, everyone was decked out in their Aussie gear and I had tattoos allllll over me! This year started out a little more calm.  I went for a nice breakfast with Min and Jackie at Forbes&Bourke... A cute little cafe where you can sit outside (the rain held up a little bit) and eat in the fresh air.  Ps... I'm loving all the Forbes signs all over the place!  After breakfast, the girls had to go out of town for a road trip, so I said my goodbyes to them and hung out at home for the afternoon.  Sam and Doron (the two guys that live in the house I'm staying at) both had to work so I messaged a few people to see what options I had to choose from for the day! I ended up meeting with Lara (one of Doron's friends I met in my first week here) and we went to her work Xmas party.  It was sci-Fi themed and there were some intense costumes! I ended up just wrapping myself in tin foil, wore a hot pink wig, covered my legs and arms with Australian tattoos, wore a flag as a cape, and went as the 'Australian Alien/superhero'.  I didn't stay in costume for too long... I don't recommend wrapping your body in tin foil, it becomes quite itchy and as soon as you move a bit, it starts to rip! We had an amazing dinner... Like amazing! All free food and booze all night long.  I think I spent $5 the whole day, and that was on a taxi.  Cheapest Australia Day ever! There were magicians and dancers performing after dinner, who later mingled with the crowd - I obviously followed the magician around trying to figure out his tricks... No luck! 

Christchurch, New Zealand

January 28, 2012

Arrived in Christchurch at 1am this morning. Got off the airplane, and into the most chaotic airport I've ever seen.  I'm not sure if it's because so many Asians who don't speak english were on my flight, or what, but it took over an hour to get through customs. My friend Ashley who I met in whistler last season, was there to meet me at the airport.  He lives in Queenstown, but came to Christchurch for a birthday party.  We're staying at a hostel that used to be a jailhouse.  It's pretty cool! Our room is an old jail cell, with a legit cell bathroom attached.  After the worst sleep of my life (once again on the top bunk!) we decided to drive around Christchurch (or what's left of it). The main city center was totally destroyed by the earthquake, but life goes on.  There was a big fence around what used to be the shopping center, now there are little pop up shops everywhere.  Maybe that's not the right word, but they were basically massive shipping containers that had the sign of the store on the front and all the merchandise inside.  The temporary stores are placed on the original parking lots, and the new parking lots are placed where old buildings had fallen down.  Pretty cool to see. Afterwards we went to Brighton Beach where there was a big kite festival.  Tons of people were around, flying thousands of kites.  We originally went because we heard people talking about a kite festival and we thought it would be a kite surfing thing, so when we arrived we were a little confused as to what was going on! We grabbed a case of beer and hung out on the beach - watching all the different kites, from batman, to squid and jellyfish, to a kite with the New Zealand phrase "Beached As Bro." We stayed at the beach for a couple of hours, but we decided to leave after getting covered with sand by all the kids kicking their feet or grabbing hand fulls of sand and throwing them in the air.  Sometimes I don't understand children! After having a MASSIVE dinner at Speights Pub, I mean massive (Ash ordered the large size of ribs and it came out on a platter... Enough ribs for about 4 people to share), we went back to hostel to get ready for the birthday party.  In New Zealand and Australia, a 21st birthday is a massive deal.  Sure, we celebrate it in Canada because you are now legal in the states, but here people celebrate it as becoming an adult. As dad would say, "you invite 100 of your closest friends", rent out a venue (she rented out a place called Joe's Garage) with open bar and when the parents feel like cutting off the tab, everyone moves to party all night at someone's house.  I felt really old at this house party, it was like a high school reunion for everyone - which I knew no one but Ash and two other guys from Whistler.  All I have to say, is I'm happy the party wasn't at my house!

Mount Cook National Park, New Zealand

January 29, 2012

So apparently since I've been in Christchurch, there has been about 5 mini earthquakes.  I didn't feel any of them, as they were only 4 point something, but I heard you can only feel them if you're doing certain things. Back in February 2011, Christchurch suffered a 6.3 magnitude earthquake and they are still in the process of rebuilding the city.  Certain areas are flagged off as unsafe to be in, and they are no longer allowed to construct buildings taller than 5 stories.  On the way back to Queenstown, we were going to drive down by Sumner Beach to see all the houses along the coast that were destroyed by the earthquake, but we didn't have enough time.  Instead, we drove around Hagley Park - the world's third largest city central park behind Central Park in New York and Stanley Park in Vancouver.  Today was the last day of the busking festival going on in the park.  Anyways, we 'escaped from jail' (checked out of our hostel), picked up the other Whistler boys coming back to Queenstown with us, and hit the road.  It's about a 5/6 hour drive from Christchurch to Queenstown.  On the way we passed Lake Tekapo, where you can take a dip in the hot pools nearby.  We just stopped quickly to take a look at the turquoise water, as we were on a mission to get to Mount Cook.  On the way, we passed Mount Cook Salmon Farm where I had the most expensive salmon sashimi of my life! Apparently it's super famous, and it was delicious, but very pricey! The Mount Cook National Park is New Zealand's highest alpine region.  Only three of its peaks aren't over 3000 meters. I've never done the drive across Canada, but approaching this region of New Zealand is what I think it would be like to drive from the Prairies to the Rockies... Flat flat flat and then BOOM, mountain range! I've never seen water so blue and calm in my life as I did at Lake Pukaki.  So peaceful! There are 22 mountains that are over 3050 meters high in this area. The Tasman Glacier is also there.  At 27 kilometers in length, and three kilometers wide in parts, this is the largest glacier in the world outside of the Himalayan region (yes, I quoted that from my tour book...thought you'd find that interesting information!) Anyways, got back in the car and drove down to Queenstown - mountains at our side the whole time! Queenstown is a cute little town, with a lot of opportunity for adventure! It reminds me of whistler in the sense there are mountains everywhere, a ton of tourists, ski hills, hostels, restaurants and pubs.  I ate at the famous Fergburger for dinner and boy was it delicious! We grabbed it to go and ate it by the water, with a great view of the mountains.  Ash lives just up the hill from Queenstown, in a really nice house with an outdoor hot tub! I'm pretty jealous of his crib!

Wanaka, New Zealand

January 30, 2012

Before I write this blog, I just wanted to let you know I'm not actually in Wanaka (yet), but this website doesn't seem to know where the Adventure Capital of the World is, so just wanted to let you know I'm actually in Queenstown.... Here we go!

So, one thing I can say about Kiwi's so far, and yes, this is only being based on the two towns I've visited, but nobody seems to wear shoes here! I walked around town today while Ash was at work and so many people were in bare feet! I get it if you've been at the beach all day and you're grabbing a quick snack from a vendor, but today was WAY too windy to be a full on beach day and so many people were shoeless.  So weird.  To each their own I guess!  Anyways, I woke up today with the most beautiful view ever.  Ash lives at the top of a mountain overlooking Lake Wakatipu and a gorgeous mountain range.  It was a beautiful day today... A little bit windy later on but the morning was perfect and sunny.  I walked into town (about a 25 minute walk downhill) and grabbed breakfast and a latte.  Ate my breakfast in the park and just people watched.  Afterwards, I went to a couple tourist locations to figure out how I was gonna spend my day.  I decided on hiking up the local mountain (not a ski hill) and going for a luge ride at the top.  Before I set off for my hike, I wandered into a couple hostels to meet some new friends who may wanna join me on my adventure, but I reckon (hehe I said reckon) I went too late and most people had already set off on their day because the hostels were empty.  So I went alll by myself! I started on the Tiki hike - about an hour to the top (similar to the Grouse Grind) got about 1/4 of the way up with no water and not the appropriate footwear so I turned around and decided to take the Skyline Gondola up instead.  The view was crazy up there! I got 2 luge rides at the top - the first one was pretty lame, but it's mandatory to get the stop and go's down pat, but the second ride was SO MUCH FUN!  I was airborne at one point during the second run - freaked me out a bit - but then I saw that little kids were doing it too so I figured I would (wo)man up, go for it and put the pedal to the medal! Afterwards I spent about an hour at the top of the mountain chatting with a local about things to do in town while sipping on a corona.  I can't tell if I'm wind burnt or sun burnt, but I'm a bit red now! Oh well, it'll turn brown eventually!  Ash was done work early today because of the wind (he works at nzone - a skydiving company about half an hour from town) and they can't fly if the wind is too strong.  It's supposed to be pretty windy the next couple days which means Ash will have the days off to hang out with me, but it's too bad it won't be the best weather! We went for sushi tonight, although the only sushi restaurant that wasn't crazy expensive was out of tuna and tofu... So it didn't leave much for us to chose from! It was tasty nonetheless, did a little walk around town afterwards, stuck my head into a couple cheesy bars and then came home.  I'm keen for another hot tub session before bed! May as well take advantage of it while I've got it, right? 

Gibbston, New Zealand

February 2, 2012

Ohhh Myyyy Godddd!!! Today was by far the BEST day of my trip!! I woke up to a super cloudy day in town, but I got a phone call from Ash saying it was sunny around his work and they were operating all day with skydiving. I didn't flinch for a second... I had a huge urge of courage and decided to book a skydive right there on the spot. 11:30am... booked in to jump out of a plane! Ash lives with three other people, two of whom work at nzone (skydiving company) with him, and the 4th is Bonnie (she works for a bungee company). Ash worked out a deal at work that if I only paid for a 9,000ft jump, I could get a 15,000ft jump, and his roommate Fiji is a camera man so I could get all the videos and pictures for free. Totally worth it! A $700 jump for $200... great deal! I got to the jumping zone and had to be super sneaky because I wasn't actually doing the jump that I had signed up for. Luckily, Ash filled everyone in on what was going on and I ended up getting a really awesome tandem master named Nicky and she made my jump a lot of fun! Loaded the plane and was feeling pretty good about everything! it was only when I saw on the dial that we were only at 4,000ft that I got pretty nervous. We were already SO high I couldn't believe that we still had 11,000ft to go before jumping. Everything happened so quickly. As soon as the first camera person opens the door of the plane, you jump right out. I was the third jumper in my plane... Fiji (my free camera man!) went first and just hung out on the side of the plane and video taped us while we are about to jump. All I had to do was hang on by the door, with my feet hooked under the plane while my tandem master rocked us back and forth until we fell out. It was the craziest feeling of my life! Just dropping in mid air, my chubby cheeks just flapping all around and you forget how to breath! It was pretty cold above the clouds. but I had written "sweet as" (a kiwi term) on my hands, so I couldn't wear gloves. You're so high in the air you don't even think about the temperature though! We were free falling for a couple of minutes before we pulled the shoot. Nicky let me control the parachute once we were gliding in the air which was really awesome! I flew us around in circles all around the mountains, with a crazy view of the town! We had a super smooth landing - we basically put our feet up and landed on out bums... not exactly how I thought a landing would be but it was super comfy! Anyways, after my jump, the nzone bus drove me back to town and i HITCH HIKED back to Ash's house... hitch hiking is really common around here... I actually did it twice today! Why would I ever pay for a ride again?! I've got a video of the skydive that I've been trying to upload, but facebook keeps deleting it because of copywrite so I'll do my best to upload it again because I think you'd LOVE it!!

Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand

February 5, 2012

Franz Josef is a really small town on the west of the south island.  I'm talking, two streets for the whole town.  Basically, just restaurants and motel/backpacker accommodations, and that's it! The main tourist attraction of this town is the glacier.  There are only 3 glaciers in the world of this sort...two are in New Zealand (side by side) and the other is in Argentina.  What makes these glaciers different from others is the fact that it is right in the middle of the rainforest.  It's super weird! I took a 5 hour guided hike this afternoon.  It started with about 40 minutes trekking through the rainforest, really humid and sweaty.  Then we walked another 2km uphill on what I thought was a mountain of rocks, but it was actually the beginning of the glacier just covered with rocks that had fallen from the mountains above.  We stopped before we got to the really icy bits and put crampons on our shoes (picks - they really helped a lot!) Our guide was very informative and I tried to remember most of the info she gave us... Unfortunately, I didn't :(. I do remember her telling us that it snows over 40 meters a year on the top of the glacier, making it the second biggest snowfall next to the himalayans! Franz Josef Glacier is also the steepest guided glacier in the world! Since I only had time to do the half day hike, our tour didn't go to the highest point of the glacier, but we did get high enough to walk through a cave.  It was pretty wet inside from all the ice that was melting, but it was definitely the best part of the whole hike! What really surprised me was the colour of the glacier.  The only really clean part was at the top where no one has ever walked.  Otherwise most of the ice was pretty dirty, like muddy dirty.  I was expecting it to be crystal clear but the water streaming under the glacier was dirty as well! On the way down the mountain, we stopped at a waterfall to drink some glacier water.  It seems like a lot of places in New Zealand have amazing drinking water! I've felt really Eco-friendly this trip, I keep reusing the same water bottle and the water is better than what you get in store! On my hike I met a nice girl from Vegas (Carolyn) who has been living and traveling around New Zealand this past year by herself.  She and I went to the hot pools in town after our hike (pools were included in the price of the hike) and they were fantastic! Four pools in the rainforest between 36-40 degrees... It's really nice to relax in them after a long hike!  She and I arranged to meet up later on in the evening for a beer, so we went to the only bar on the town and met the most hilarious kiwis.  I haven't seen a kiwi (animal) yet, but I have met some pretty interesting kiwis! OH! I did see a live possum today! I thought it was a pig!

Hokitika, New Zealand

February 6, 2012

My travel journey in New Zealand is coming to an end soon.  I need go get from Franz Josef Glacier to Christchurch, but unfortunately there are no busses that do a direct route from point A to point B.  Another option would be to take a very scenic train, but that is the most expensive form of transit because there are no other trains in New Zealand.  Since my options are very limited, I decided to take a 2.5 hour bus ride north of Franz Josef to a small town called Hokitika.  Hokitika is a big town compared to Franz Josef, but it is still tiny.  Only about 3,000 people live here...and most people only stop in town for a quick pit stop on their journey up the west coast.  There are a lot of jade and greenstone shops in town, a lot of museums, and not as many restaurants as the other towns I've visited so far - which is good because this means tonight I can actually cook at the hostel!  I'm staying at a very cute hostel about 3km from town, right on the Tasman Sea.  Once again I scored the bottom bunk because of my early check in, so I'm guaranteed a good sleep tonight!  I decided to spend my afternoon walking along the beach into town and seeing what there is to check out.  It took me about half an hour to walk, but the clouds came in quickly so I wasn't able to go for a swim in the ocean.  I put my feet in and it was freezing! The average temperature in Hokitika in February (its hottest month) is only 20 degrees, so no wonder the water doesn't heat up at all!  Today is a New Zealand holiday called Waitangi Day, which is basically like Canada Day.  Unlike Canada Day and Australia Day, I haven't seen anyone really celebrate it! I only noticed it was a holiday because a lot of the shops in town were closed, and then later found out about the holiday.  One place in town that looked cool (that was open) was The National Kiwi Centre.  Here they have two kiwis (a male and a female), as well as tons of eels!  At the beginning of the exhibit, there were a bunch of baby eels - which were still pretty big!- but it wasn't until I got further into the aquarium did I see the ginormous eels! They were seriously huge! Most of them just lie there, but I was told if I come back in the morning when they are fed I will see more action...so I may go back!  These eels were between 15-100 years old and the 'grandma eel' was 140 years old! I couldn't tell the difference between any of them, but they assured me the grandma was in there! They also had two tuataras.  The tuatara is a reptile endemic to New Zealand which, though it resembles most lizards, is actually part of a distinct lineage, order Sphenodontia.  The two species of tuatara are the only surviving members of its order, which flourished around 200 million years ago.  Their most recent common ancestor with any other extant group is with the squamates (lizards and snakes).  I got to watch a feeding which was neat, but tuataras are actually pretty stupid!  They each got fed two crickets, but neither tuatara could actually see their dinner (even though they have a third eye on the top of their head!).  They have no external ears, but can somehow hear their prey, and only run for it when they can hear and see them moving.  At one point, the male tuatara missed its prey but kept chewing thinking it was in his mouth.  Their dentition, in which two rows of teeth in the upper jaw overlap one row on the lower jaw, is unique among living species.  Anyways, enough about lizards, but they were pretty cool!  The main reason I went to the exhibit was to see the KIWI! They are nocturnal, so their sanctuary is kept dark throughout the day so people walking through can see them.  Kiwi eggs can weigh up to one quarter the weight of the female and usually only one egg is laid per season. The kiwi lays the biggest egg in proportion to its size of any bird in the world, so even though the kiwi is about the size of a domestic chicken, it is able to lay eggs that are about six times the size of a chicken's egg.  Unfortunately the kiwi were stubborn so I only got to see the nose (more the size of an enormous beak) of the female so I'll most likely go back in the morning as I was informed they are awake at 9am on the dot! May as well see them in action and watch the eels move at the same time!  The exhibit was pretty small so I went through quickly and didn't have much else to see in town.  Here goes another 3km walk back to the hostel, but this time it was in the rain! I decided to walk down the highway, as it was getting pretty cold and the wind from the ocean wasn't helping! A nice guy driving down the street offered me a lift to my hostel....I didn't even need to stick my thumb out this time! People in New Zealand are so nice to hitchhikers! I'm back at my hostel now, and most likely to stay in by the fire tonight.  There are a nice group of people here - one girl from Burlington actually!  Back to Christchurch tomorrow for a quick stop over before I head back to hot and sunny Australia! 

Hope you all enjoyed Madonna's performance at the super bowl! I didn't get to see it, but I hear she's still got it!

Christchurch, New Zealand

February 7, 2012

Well, my last full day in New Zealand has come.  Woke up this morning with the sun shining over the Tasman Sea! Of course, the sun finally decided to come out on my last day here and I'll be spending the majority of my day on a bus! Last night I went on a journey with a couple other travelers staying at my hostel to find the famous New Zealand glow worms.  Luckily they weren't too far from our hostel.  They were really neat! We walked into a Dell (a part of the forest that is a dead end with a sheer stone wall covered in shrubs) and they were covered with glow worms! It kind of reminded me of fire flies, except they didn't move at all.  Once my eyes adjusted, it looked like a bunch of stars on a clear night right in front of me.  Very cool! Anyways, just felt like adding that in, but back to today!  My bus didn't leave until mid day and I had to check out of my hostel by 10am, so I paid my "late check-out fare" by taking the hostel dog for a walk down the beach.  I know, me walking a dog seems kind of foreign, but this dog was actually very well behaved! He stuck right close to me the whole time! My bus came to pick me up from my hostel (which saved me a 3km walk into town) and off to Christchurch we went.  We took a very scenic route through Arthur's Pass - a gorgeous mountain range you must drive through to get from the west coast to the east coast.  It was actually pretty beautiful and some of the mountains still had snow on the peaks!  I got to Christchurch and was planning on sleeping at the airport to save money on accommodation since my flight leaves super early in the morning.  Ash's friend, Olivia (the girl who celebrated her 21st birthday last week when I was in Christchurch), couldn't believe I was planning on crashing at the airport and invited me over to hang out and have a quick nap before my flight!  We grabbed some Indian food and a case of New Zealand cider and just hung out and caught up on some tv shows.  (television in New Zealand is just terrible - they are about 2 seasons behind in everything!) It was nice to relax a bit before what I know will be a very hectic day tomorrow! 6:15am flight to Brisbane! You know what that means, I have to be at the airport 2 hours early for my international departure... I've really got to start booking later flights! 

All in all, I found New Zealand to be quite similar to Canada in regards to the landscape.  Mostly Western Canada with all the mountains, lakes and ocean.  12 days was JUST enough time to see the majority of the South Island (although I did miss some of the winery towns up north!)  I'm really happy I came, and if I ever come back, I'll make sure to check out the North Island - I hear Auckland and Wellington are wonderful places to visit! 

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

February 8, 2012

This morning was my ideal flight.  The negative side to flying with the cheap airline Jetstar is there are no TVs to make your trip fly by, but who needs TVs when you've got a whole row of seats to yourself! I sprawled out along all three seats and slept the entire way to Brisbane!  Queensland is one of the only states that doesn't believe in daylight savings, so currently I am 21 hours time difference from Ottawa, and 18 hours from Vancouver (for those of you who are planning to Skype with me the next few weeks). I arrived in Brisbane this morning at around 8am and it was already 25 degrees.  Bring on the heat! I missed it while I was in New Zealand! I'm staying at a hostel right in the city, with a rooftop pool, bar, pool tables, and a great view of the city!  I chose this hostel because my friend Peter from high school and his girlfriend have been staying here and they said it was cool.  A bit of miscommunication between the two of us, they planned to head to Byron Bay today, while I already booked a night in Brisbane! No worries though, I'll just meet them in Byron tomorrow!  After they got on their bus, I took a stroll across the bridge into an area called Southbank.  In this area there is a man made pool/beach which is pretty awesome! It's the first time in 5 weeks that I went swimming and didn't have the salt water burning my eyes! Just as I dried off and started to walk back to the city, a huge black cloud swept in and it started to down pour! Good thing I was still wearing my bathing suit! I'm back at my hostel now, where everyone is crowded in the same area to get out of the rain!  Brisbane has the nickname 'Brisvegas'... So this gives me the opportunity to meet up with another Whistler friend tonight (JD) and he can show me around town tonight! For those of you who know my love for Vegas, I have a feeling I'm going to really like this city at night! 

Ballina, New South Wales, Australia

February 9, 2012

Brisvegas... Such a good time!  It was great to catch up with JD...and to my surprise he invited another mate (mate... I'm turning aussie) named MJ who is also a whistler friend.  It was great to catch up with the two of them.  We went to a local university pub, but it was quite far from my hostel.  Luckily MJ had to work in the morning so I jumped in and got a lift back to my hostel with him.  There was a bar right beside my 14 bed female dorm room tonight that had some great karaoke going on, so after MJ dropped me off I may or may not have sang a song on the mic! Well yes I did, and I actually got complimented by a few people on my singing! Maybe I should have stayed in Brisbane and gone somewhere with this voice! Just kidding! Anyways, this morning I left nice and early for Byron Bay (about a 2 hour drive south of Brisbane) and arrived during a terrible rain storm!  There was a free shuttle to my hostel - it was my saviour!  Torrential downpour on a vacation...the WORST!  As the rain started fading we took a walk around town.  Byron is an amazing town! If I were to have to choose right now out of all the places I've visited and where I'd like to live if I ever came back, Byron would be the winner!  Peter, Cait and I took a 4 hour surf lesson this afternoon at Flat Rock beach in Ballina (about a half hour drive from Byron). The waves were insane! It was pretty frustrating in the beginning when I couldn't even get out deep because the waves kept pulling me in, but in the end I got the hang of it! This surfing was WAY harder than the surfing I did with Devon in Hawaii... There was no way to keep any of us on our boards this time! Surfing is a lot of work, so obviously we were starving after our lesson...nothing better than American pizza... Dominos!  The hostel we are staying at tonight is out of this world!  It's called Art Factory and it is so amazing.  It's in the woods, and you have the option of camping, staying in a tipi or staying in a normal dorm.  Staying in a tipi would have been cool, but rumor has it they leak a lot so we are just staying in a normal dorm.  They have so many workshops - from yoga to juggling, you can even learn how to make a didgeridoo! It is a very hippie and laid back place, kind of out of this world!  Tonight was Peter and Cait's first time drinking goon! We masked the awful taste with some cheap orange punch we found in the hostel and it turned out tasting amazing! Night on the town with those two was so much fun! We went to a backpackers bar called Cheeky Monkey... Packed with foreigners dancing on tables... It was such a fun night! 

Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia

February 10, 2012

First things first. I am in love with Byron Bay! I wish I had more time here to explore, but I always try to jam as much as I can into one day.  This morning we all woke up stoked to surf again today!  Unfortunately there weren't many boards left to hire (that means rent) so Peter took the board out while we all hung out on the beach and watched.  When I say we, I mean Me, Cait and two other people we met from Toronto who are in my room at the hostel.  The waves were huge again today, it was a lot of fun to play in the water and body surf!  When Peter was worn out from surfing, we all had a nice lunch in the shade while we watched a guy from Germany 'slack line'.  This is similar to tight rope, except way more stretchy and buoyant.  Feeling pretty confident, Peter and I decided to ask if we could give it a shot (the German guy made it look so easy!) ... Well, it is not easy at all! I could barely stand on it without holding someone's hand, let alone walk, run or jump on the rope! This guys got a serious talent! - he said it's a very common sport in Europe - that must be why I wasn't so good!  We spent another couple of hours in the sun because today is meant to be the only nice day in Byron Bay for the week (luckily I'm leaving tomorrow, I hope it's better weather in Surfers Paradise), and then made it back to our hostel in time for happy hour! Since we did a lesson at Soul Surf School yesterday, we got a few coupons for free dinner at Cheeky Monkey available any night.  We decided to use it tonight because who doesn't like a free dinner! It was kind of disgusting...pasta with red sauce...very plain.  Oh well, it was free so it's hard to turn that down! We had every intention on going out again tonight (as I had from friend Western arrive in Byron bay today) but the food made us all feel extremely ill and we all passed out!  I guess free food isn't so good after all!

Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia

February 12, 2012

There is no weather man in Surfers Paradise.  The weather is never the same as predicted, and it really worked out in our favor today!  Tyler (my friend from Fanshawe College) lives in a gorgeous apartment in the heart of Surfers.  It's not a very big city, so everything is pretty close to each other.  It's his friend Brandon's birthday today, so a large group of us rented out two pontoon boats to take out on the Nerang River (a salt water river that connects to the pacific ocean).  The forecast was for rain, but we had beautiful blue skies all day long! There were 10 people per boat, but I feel as though that was pushing it a bit! At one point the nose of our boat was underwater and it felt like we were sinking! Oh well, just adds to the adventure! Both boats had a BBQ and a cooler full of beer and wine.  We had a ball! We anchored the boats for a few hours right by an island, went for a long swim and had some lunch.  I met a nice girl named Courtney (also went to Fanshawe) who is interested in doing part of my Asia adventure with me. We had a great afternoon together, so I feel like she will be great to travel with! After a few too many glasses of Sauvignon Blanc, Tyler, Cait, Peter and I grabbed some fish n' chips and headed home.  Peter and Cait had to catch a bus back to Brisbane, so we said our goodbyes, but I'll most likely see them again in the next couple days as I'm heading back to Brisbane on my route up the coast.  Early night to bed because Tyler has to fly to work up north tomorrow, and I may have another big day ahead of me.  The plan is to rent a car with Mat and Kristin and start our journey together! 

Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia

February 13, 2012

It feels so great to be reunited with some fun and loving people! I hadn't seen Peter in a couple years, so it was great to see him again and meet his awesome girlfriend Cait.  Also, it was so fun seeing Tyler (I've seen him more recently than Peter, but we still had a blast) and I'm so excited for my next journey with Mat and Kristin.  Mat was one of my first friends when I got to Western. He lived in Saugeen with me and introduced me to one of my favorite beverages - beer! (or at least a beer I could actually enjoy!)  Kristin and I tried out for a hip hop group together while we were in first year university, neither of us made it but we still had a lovely time! She also lived in Saugeen so that year the three of us had tons of fun together!  Since university Mat moved to Toronto and opened up his own painting company, and Kristin danced on a cruise ship for a year and has been practicing yoga - her aim is to become a yoga instructor! Her energy has been so great and it's really rubbed off on me the last couple days!  The three of us decided to spend our last say in Surfers Paradise at the Wet n' Wild water park, before leaving to Brisbane.  As I mentioned in an earlier note, there is no weatherman in Surfers Paradise, so of course was a beautiful day when we got to the water park, went down one slide, and then a thunderstorm rolled in and the park in temporarily shut down.  Just our luck! Kristin kept everyone very positive the whole time, and sure enough the sun came out again! We were the first ones in line for the 'scariest ride'... It's an enclosed tube where you stand in the beginning and the floor falls out from under you, sending you free falling down a tube for enough momentum to shoot you around in a couple circles and then the ride ends.  Well just my luck, I got STUCK in the slide! Talk about claustrophobia! I wasn't exactly sure what was going on (since I've never been on the ride before) but all of a sudden I was going backwards and a bunch of steam was getting shot in my face! In a bit of a panic, I started to push myself down the slide, and then I looked up there was a trap door and someone ready to rescue me! Oh thank god! Meanwhile the others were waiting at the bottom of the slide all concerned because the girl in the orange tube never came out! Anyways, I'm safe, and the rest of the day at the water park was so much fun! We grabbed our bags and took the cheapest way back to Brisbane - a city bus, then a city train. We saved $12 each! Our hostel in Brisbane isn't as nice as the one I stayed at last time I was here, but it's in a different area so we will have the chance to explore this part of Brisbane in the next couple of days.  Bottom bunk again... I'm on a roll!

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

February 14, 2012

Happy birthday to Lindsay Wilson! Such a great gal to be born on such a romantic day!

Roses, roses, everywhere.. and I've got three valentines! Mat, Kristin, Liz (a girl we met in surfers who is at our new hostel in Brisbane) and I had such a great day exploring today!  I'm staying at a different hostel than the one I stayed at last time I was in town, but I'm happy about it because this gives me the chance to explore a different side of the city! We are staying in Chinatown, which isn't really that far from the city center, but it gave us the chance to walk through the Botanical Gardens to get to Southbank this afternoon (refresher...Southbank is the manmade beach in the center of Brisbane). This morning Mat, Kristin and I planned our whole trip up the east coast.  We had a lot that we wanted to do in a short amount of time, so we spoke to a travel agent about the best possible routes to take.  I feel like we got a great packaged deal - busses, accomodation, food and excursions along the way! After we got all our travel stuff sorted out, we went for a wonderful $4 breakfast at a cafe near our hostel and it was probably the second best breakfast I've had my whole trip! (first one being at Forbes & Burton in Sydney, but that one was definitely not $4!) While our food was digesting, we went for a beautiful walk through the Botanical Gardens.  We felt a bit slummy because so many people were taking part in bootcamps in the gardens!  Such a nice place to excersize - large gardens and big open lawns with enormous shady trees so you don't get too hot.  The trees were crazy though! The roots were all coming out from the ground, so they were interesting to look at, but great for photo ops! Quite a bit of bamboo too!  We had a nice swim at Southbank, followed by a romantic chocolate snack at Max Brennan (a famous chocolate store in Australia).  The four of us shared a 'chocolate fondue for two' and a banana chocolate crepe... Ohhhh my it was tasty! We literally licked the fondue pot clean! Not even joking.  Long walk back to our hostel... Stopped by the library (we heard it's really cool, but it looks more like a book store than a library), Queenstreet Mall (an outdoor mall that runs a couple blocks downtown), and the scenic tour of Chinatown.  We had a nice $5 mexican dinner at our hostel, followed by a love themed trivia game. The winner won a $100 bar tab, but unfortunately we came second.  I bet it was rigged...three girls on a team clearly know more about love than a team full of boys!  Wait...maybe that's why we're all still single! Valentines day is the best day to go out all year because most people at the bar are single and ready to mingle, so our plan was to go out on the town tonight, but our bus to Noose leaves at 7am tomorrow, so no mingling for us!  We will just have to have a Canadian Valentines Day celebration tomorrow night at the bar in Noose instead! 

Noosa, Queensland, Australia

February 15, 2012

Up at 5am to leave Brisbane and catch our bus to Noosa.  Noosa is the first stop on our journey up the east coast.  It's a surfer town, similar to Byron Bay, except less tourist shops and it's really tiny.  Mat, Kristin and I are staying at a cool Nomads hostel right in town (with a pool!) - in a 20 person shared dorm - and only about 15 minute walk to the beach.  Every Saturday and Wednesday there is a hippie marked about half an hour out of town, so we thought we'd check it out, but we ran out of time :( Instead we rented a couple surf boards and hit the beach!  The first board I rented was awful!  It was so wobbly and too advanced for my skills, so I felt a little discouraged when I couldn't get up on the board and ride the waves like everyone else.  I was going to return it when a nice (sexy) surfer offered to give me some pointers (for free)! So I got a bigger board and hit the waves again.  I got up every time! It was such a good feeling to be out in the water surrounded by other surfers and have them watch me ride the waves!  I think I've found my new favorite sport... But practice makes perfect! After surfing for a few hours, we were pooped and hungry, so we had a nice lunch with a few of Kristin's friends she met at her yoga teacher training course.  They were very positive, mellow people!  Nice group though! Got back to the hostel and had a fun volleyball session in the pool with some guys from Denmark.  Kristin and I love it because we both have been traveling with boys for our entire trip and now we have another girl to go and mingle with! And it's the best because when people ask us our names, we just have to say we're both Kristin from Canada... Easy! We made a delicious pasta dinner in the most crowded kitchen I've ever cooked in and got a free 'welcome' glass of wine (it tasted like gasoline - nice gesture, but 'goon' (cheap wine in a box) tasted pretty good afterwards!) After listening to a great band in our hostel bar, our entire hostel went out to a local bar and had such a great time! Kristin and I decided to show off our gymnastic skills (I have none) and started to do back bridges inside the bar! It was pretty funny until I fell on my shoulder - it'll be a nice bruise in the morning! 

Beerwah, Queensland, Australia

February 16, 2012

The Australian Zoo... Home of the Crocodile Hunter! Steve Irwin did an incredible job with this venue it was probably the best and coolest zoo I've ever been to! The animals all looked so happy (except for one little wombat) and the zoo itself was so beautiful.  We entered South East Asia and visited the elephants! We all got to feed an elephant - it was so so so cool! There were three elephants and they all ate differently. Some of them wrap their trunk around the food and then put it in their mouth, and others sucked the food into their trunk and then put it in their mouth.  Really neat! I could pet majority of the animals - kangaroos, koalas, camels... I really wanted to hold a koala, but they charged $25 to hold one so I thought I'd save my money and just pet one instead! In Africa there were the most beautiful tigers.  About 100 years ago there were around 100,000 tigers in the wild, and now there are only about 4,000. We watched a tiger show and the tiger was having a ball! Doing tricks and jumping in the water, such a great show! There was another show at the 'Crocoseum' that blew my mind! Watching beautiful birds flying overhead and interacting with the audience was one thing, but it was another when they brought out the most massive crocodile I've ever seen! (not that I've seen any other crocodiles up close before today, but you know what I mean!) We had a great day followed by the most ridiculous evening.  We grabbed some pizza with other people staying at our hostel who bought a live chicken when they got to Australia.  So there were about 15 of us drinking goon together in the company of a chicken! Haha! 

Noosa, Queensland, Australia

February 17, 2012

Again, this site doesnt recognize Rainbow Beach...

Another early morning... Off to Rainbow Beach today! We almost missed our bus though! I was the first one at the bus stop about 20 minutes before our bus was supposed to leave.  I saw a Greyhound bus in the station but just figured it wasn't ours because it was so early! Well, after 15 minutes no other busses arrived, so we decided to check where the other bus was headed and it turns out it was our bus the entire time!  Unfortunately, we didn't have the greatest seats, but that's alright because Coyote Ugly was playing and it brought back some awesome memories! It's about a 3 hour drive north from Noosa to Rainbow Beach.  There isn't much in Rainbow, only a couple stores and a couple hostels.  The only reason people come here is to go on the Fraser Island tour, which makes it a great place to stay because people are either coming from the tour or leaving to go on it so the vibes here are amazing! We had a tour breifing in the afternoon which kept us from going and exploring the beaches, but it's alright because we had a beautiful pool in the center of the hostel where everyone was hanging out around.  There are a ton of Canadians at our hostel tonight - even a few girls who think I served them at the Keg I'm Vancouver! Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world - and apparently infested with dingos! I saw a few dingos at the zoo yesterday, but finally I'll get to see some in the wild! Since it's an island, everything there is so expensive so we picked up our alcohol in town to save some money.  5 boxes of goon and a 24 case of beer for the 3 of us... I hope we grabbed enough!   Our tour leaves at 7am so we are all deciding whether we should get to bed early, or have a couple glasses of goon to get the adventure started!

Fraser Island, Queensland, Australia

February 18, 2012

Maybe the dingo ate your baby! (that was a Seinfeld quote for those of you who don't get it!) And yes, I did see real dingos that weren't at the zoo!  They are skinny little things... Hanging around our campsite trying to eat our leftovers! 

But wow, what a great 3 days! Fraser Island is truly a magical place! It's only about a 20 minute ferry ride from Rainbow Beach and you're in pure paradise!  Our trip had 32 people (8 Canadians!) so we were put into 4 groups to ride together.  Each car had 8 people, and anyone can drive if they have a liscense and know how to drive manual.  We let the boys drive first because they were so keen on driving in the sand, but I got my turn on the second day! (which turned out to be way more difficult driving than the first day!) Our guide got the hard hikes out of the way first.  The first stop we made was on the beach right beside a rainforest.  We had to do a 40 minute hike through the forest to get to our destination.  Oh man, it was worth it!  All of a sudden the trees opened up and there were huge sand dunes that led to a beautiful lake.  It reminded me of what I think the middle east would look like, the only thing missing were the camels! We swam there for about an hour and got back into the car to head to a fast flowing river.  We emptied our water jugs and all took turns floating down the river with beers in hand! The water was really fresh, so we were able to refill our jugs at the top of the river to have water for the evening.  Our tour was organized through Dingos, so they provided all the camping equipment and food - and it was good food! For dinner the first night we had steak and potatoes (hard potatoes because the water took WAY too long to boil!) and lots of goon! All of the coolers were packed with silver bags full of gross wine! The first night was so much fun - huge dance parties with all different countries. We had Scotish, Irish, Canadian, German, and Sweedish all showing each other classic dance moves from each country.  I shared a fun dance with a Scotish lad that was basically a lot of spinning and skipping! And of course we all sang our national anthems for each other.  Everyone was very impressed with the Canadian national anthem because we had everyone singing together and half of us sang in French while the other half sang in English.  I learned the first night that Canadians are apparently natural born campers!  We were the only ones who didn't have the instructions out trying to set up our tent!  We ended up setting up everyone else's tents for them to save time! After our dance party, Kristin and I thought it would be a good idea to go for a walk and find our guide to party with him (he was really cute!)  So we set off on our journey down the beach, making a sand dune and a stick our landmarks to find our campsite again.  Well, we walked for about 5 minutes down the beach and realized that where we thought our guides campsite was was actually really far away, so we turned around to go back to camp.  We ended up passing our campsite, walked another 10 minutes in the other directions (with coconuts in hand) when we started to panic.  We turned around again and started discussing how we would sleep in shifts so we don't get attacked by the dingos if we had to sleep on the beach!  Thank goodness we found our campsite - Mat was starting to organize a search party for us because he didn't know where we went! 
The next morning we got woken up at 7am by our guide and everyone got attacked by these enormous flies (similar to horse flies) that infest the island.  This was my time to shine behind the wheel! Of course I got stuck as we were leaving the campsite, and I had a bunch of backseat drivers trying to tell me how to drive. It was pretty annoying! Driving is deep sand is a lot harder than it looks.  I ended up reversing the car and getting out of the sand and had a great drive for the rest of the day!  We stopped by a giant shipwreck and took some fun photos, and then drove along to the "champagne pools". These pools were amazing!  Natural rock pools right beside the ocean with the waves crashing over the rocks onto you - spectacular! We had a long swim there and a nice lunch, and then hopped back into the car and went back to the river to wash the salt water off of us.  It's a good thing there are a lot of lakes on Fraser Island because you can swim in the ocean.  The current is way too strong, and the water is infested with jelly fish and multiple kinds of sharks.  The next lake location was a natural tea tree lake.  When we arrived at the docks there were so many turtles hanging out on land - we got to hold them! I never knew that if you turn a turtle on it's back it will die.  The water made our hair and skin feel so amazing.  The water was pretty dark (like tea) and very warm. On the drive back to camp, we stopped on the ocean to pick up salt water mussels burried in the sand.  You can only eat the males, so we had to put some of them back in the ocean, but we brought quite a few back to camp and cooled them up for dinner.  All you need to do is boil them in goon with garlic and you're all set!  We paired the mussels with a delicious Asian stir fry.  Gourmet camping meals!  Kristin and I treated ourselves and had some nice boxed red wine to accompany our meal.  People weren't really up for partying too much tonight, except for the Canadians!  So only a few of us stayed up to hang out together with the dingos roaming around out campsite!
Another 7am wakeup call on our last morning, and another morning of being attacked by the giant flies.  We took down our campsite and set off for Lake Mackenzie.  The water at this lake was the clearest water I've ever seen in my life.  It was so blue and you could see the bottom of the lake the whole way across.  White sand and clear water - how does this not exist everywhere! We got to spend about 3 hours at the lake before we left the island.  I got to drive again, and this time it was on the main roads in town!  I panicked a little bit when I had to put on my signal, as everything in the car is reversed and I didn't want to accidentally hit the wipers when trying to signal! We had a great night at the hostel - after spending 3 days straight with people, (no showers or toilets) they start to feel like family! 

Cairns, Queensland, Australia

February 21, 2012

Im not quite in Cairns yet, this website just doesn't recognize the little towns between Fraser Island and Cairns.

Today was a day of goodbyes.  Kristin and I spent morning at the beach in Rainbow Beach.  Rainbow Beach got it's name because it's supposed to have many different colors of sand.  Unfortunately the tide was high so we didn't see many colours, but it was still nice to splash in waves for one last time with Kristin.  Mat, Kristin and I said goodbye to all the cool people we met on Fraser Island and started our 15 hour bus ride to Airlie Beach.  We had a 3 hour stop over in Harvey Bay, where Kristin left us to stay and meet a friend.  We had a nice lunch with her and a walk on the beach before getting back on the bus.  Harvey Bay is another gateway to Fraser Island, but it's a bit farther away from the island so that's why we decided to stay in Rainbow Beach.  We got back on the bus at 5:15pm and didn't arrive in Airlie Beach until 7:30am the next day.  That was my longest bus ride since I've been on vacation - and it was a full bus...which means we didn't have much room to sprawl out! Thank goodness for my partial narcolepsy - I can sleep just about anywhere - so I woke up in Airlie Beach well rested, other people did not! 

Cairns, Queensland, Australia

February 22, 2012

So, we got to Airlie Beach this morning at 7am - too early to check in - but luckily they were nice enough to let us use the facilities and have a shower since we just got off a 15 hour bus ride.  Mat and I booked a day tour around the Whitsunday Islands for today because we don't have much time left in Australia and want to do as much as we can on route to Cairns before we leave.  Most tours around the Whitsundays are 3 days/2 nights, where people sleep on their boats and really explore the islands.  It would have been a lot of fun to do one of those tours, but this was faster and saved us some money as well.  The Whitsundays were outstanding! They consist of 74 islands - we cruised by several of them in our blow up boat, but only stopped on 3 islands. Our first stop was at an island where we went snorkeling for about an hour and half.  We swam in so many schools of beautiful fish and very colorful coral.  It was amazing! Mat and I ended up being on the same boat as a girl we met in Surfers Paradise (Liz) and we had a great day with her! The three of us sat on the side of the boat while it was cruising to get a bumpy ride! The next stop was at a lookout point where we could see Whitehaven Beach (whitest beach in the world) in it's entirety.  7km long - whitest sand against the bluest water. Gorgeous :) After our hike to the lookout, we ended up having a buffet lunch on Whitehaven Beach that was provided from the tour company.  It was amazing - cold meat sandwiches, mussels (yum!), potato salad and many more delicious treats! Our tour guides were absolutely hilarious too, which made the day trip even better!  Once we got back to our hostel, we checked into our room and enjoyed happy hour with two guys we met in Noosa from Whales.  As we were enjoying $8 jugs of beer, two girls from Toronto that we met in Rainbow Beach came and sat at our table! It's amazing how many familiar faces you see when traveling up the coast.  Most people are going in the same direction (not normally as fast as Mat and I are) but it's likely we will run into more friends on our journey up.  We played some fun games of life sized Jenga and Connect 4 at the pub before heading to bed. Mat and I have one more long day of bus rides ahead of us before we can chill out a few days! See you in Cairns tomorrow!

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