Farewell to Australia

Well we are on our last week here in Australia!! We say goodbye to the land down under on July 15^th. What a ride this has been – definitely has had its ups and downs. I’m still in amazement as to how fast these months have come and gone. Seems like just yesterday Nathan and I were back and forth on the phone reminding each other to bring this and that before we left our houses back home for the last time. And especially for me… wondering how the heck I was going to carry this 40 lbs pack on my back for 1 year. Well we both managed to do so – but unfortunately for us they only got heavier!!

It’s going to be a bittersweet departure for sure. We’re ready to leave in the sense that we have definitely had enough of the hostel scene. Other than the 3 1/2 months we lived in Sydney we’ve been sharing a room with at least 2-8 other people. No privacy and no peace and quiet. I’m looking forward to not having to wear my flip-flops in the shower and no longer worrying about what sort of cooties are growing on the toilet. *L* And probably the main one… no more inspecting the beds for bugs!!

However; we are definitely going to miss the freedom we’ve had here. It’s like this is not reality so we can do as we please. If we want to do absolutely nothing all day… than we will. If we’ve had enough of this place then we’ll pack up our bags and leave – try somewhere new. We’re going to miss having the ocean so close that if we feel like lying on the beach all day we can. And we’re really going to miss the weather!! I like it hot and Australia has lots of that to offer. I mean come on – their winter really is a joke. We’re in the dead of it right now… and it’s still +14!!

On the other hand though we are so excited to see some familiar faces again!! Our friends, family and especially… Misty and Casey. I can’t wait to grab my little fur ball and give her a hug!! I know Nathan is going nuts not being able to play with Casey!! Having our own beds again seems like a dream!! And ladies – try wearing the same 5 outfits for a year – it sucks!! You all don’t even know how excited I am to just have my wardrobe back!! *L*

So we’re going to end this post with some of our best and funniest memories from our time here. They will definitely bring smiles to our faces for years to come…

- Seeing the Sydney Opera House for the first time in person and realizing that we finally made it here.
- Booking our first hostel online in Canada and realizing once we arrived in Australia that it was in the middle of the Red Light District – King’s Cross.
- Staying at “The Victoria Court” and the continental breakfast.
- Nathan getting bit by an Ibis on his first day in Australia.
- Holding Gandalph – the Koala at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.
- Laughing so hard at the Kangaroo who held the footy and receiving glares from people near us thinking we were tormenting the poor thing.
- Being so excited that our first real address in Australia was called “Sunrise Boulevard” in Surfers Paradise.
- Cruising around the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast in the Ford Capri convertible.
- The drive up to O’Reilly’s Rainforest – was it ever going to end and why did Nathan have to drive like he was in the Indy 500?
- Finding a new family and home in Lane Cove, Sydney.
- Rocking out with The Fumes @ Bondi Beach Hotel!! And for Erynn – meeting them!!
- Erynn frantically paddling the kayak through the jellyfish and Nathan praying she wouldn’t flick one up onto his lap.
- Steve & Toni’s TV smoking and nearly exploding on us the day after they leave on holidays.
- 3 weeks with no TV so instead we download movies - only ending up with internet being slowed down to dial-up speed. Great – we broke their internet too!!
- Sitting down to a Christmas meal by ourselves and watching How The Grinch Stole Christmas (on the computer!!)
- Spending Christmas Day at Bondi Beach.
- New Years Eve 06/07

• Crossing Sydney Harbour Bridge as the 9 pm fireworks exploded all around us.
• Being sardined in the crowd of over 1 million people at the midnight fireworks and sadly smelling of their sweat afterwards.
• Passing out on the bus on the way home and having the bus driver kick us off. Then not knowing where the hell we were.

• Nathan walking home in socks because he gave Erynn his shoes since her feet were hurting.

- Front row seats for the Australia Day fireworks.
- Mulgas Rock Tour

• Neisha sending us on 3 hour hikes at Kings Canyon, Kata Tjuta & Uluru in +40 and over heat.
• The flies… oh the flies!!
• Reaching the Garden of Eden waterhole in Kings Canyon
• Laughing at Dan & the Asian tourists descend Uluru. We were waiting for one of them to come crashing down.
• Sleeping under the stars in swags.
• Seeing wild camels in the desert…then eating one for dinner.

- Grape picking in Dunsborough.
- Nathan and his Boonie ‘stash in Perth.
- Learning to surf in Lancelin.
- Drinking our 42 Below New Zealand (kiwi flavored) vodka.
- Taka, our favorite Japanese restaurant in Perth.
- Red Earth Safari from Perth – Exmouth

• Sleeping at the Outback Sheep Station
• Singing and dancing around the campfire
• Going to the Whaleshark Festival

- Coral Bay and the Ningaloo Reef

• A day on the ocean in search of the Whaleshark and finally getting to swim with it!!
• Snorkeling on the reef with Manta Rays, Reef Sharks & Turtles.
• Being able to walk out to the Ningaloo Reef.
• Seeing a pod of 100+ dolphins while in search of our Whaleshark.

- Melbourne & the helicopter ride over The Twelve Apostles.
- Diving the Great Barrier Reef and finding Nemo.
- Being hunted by a huge spider in The Daintree Rainforest.
- Rafting the Tully River from Mission Beach.
- Trying to forget our Magnetic Island experience.
- Sailing around the Whitsunday Islands and seeing Whitehaven Beach for the first time.
- Being stalked by a pack of 6 dingoes around our camp on Fraser Island.
- Playing with all the animals at Australia Zoo.
- Making hundreds of new friends from all over the world!!
- Getting smashed all over Australia with The Irish!!
So as you can see this past year has been one hell of an adventure!! We’re going to miss it!!

E&N

p/s Hawaii… here we come!!!

Australia Zoo and a Craptastic Fraser Island Weekend!!

Hi guys. So Nathan and I are spending our last day in Noosa. It's absolutely freezing here!! It is winter now so what can I expect really?? I shouldn't complain because I know our winter at home will be alot worse. I doubt there will be anymore warm weather for us here in Oz as we are moving south where it just keeps getting colder. I can't wait to get to Hawaii where it will be nice and hot.

So we did the whole Fraser Island 4x4 camping thing but both Nathan and I have left with disappoinment. We had a couple of wankers from England in our group that caused the whole weekend to be absolute crap. When we were loading up the truck in the morning both of us were very excited because of the atmosphere of everyone and just looking forward of what was to come. It was a self drive weekend (with no guides) and within the first 5 minutes of departure, England guy #1 decided to drive our vehicle as though he was in the Indy 500. These are giant 4x4's that can carry at least 11 people... and they are top heavy as we load our gear on the top of them. When you take corners that fast with something like this they are bound to roll. There definitely were a couple close calls just on the way to the ferry and when we stopped for our final check, Aidan (the shopkeeper of all the 4x4's - he lead us to the ferry) told England guy #1 to stop driving like an idiot because as soon as we hit sand driving like that all of us are going to be rushed to the hospital. So from there all of us in the back were on edge. We were hoping that our driver decided to cool down from there but no way!! He drove the exact same on the island. After politely asking him 3 times to slow down, Nathan finally called us to vote for a new driver. England guy #1 put up a huge fight telling us we needed to stop being 'backseat drivers' and constantly told us to 'shut up'. He finally decided to stop by slamming on the breaks. That wasn't before he pulled us into deep sand first to get us stuck. So from that point on he wasn't allowed to drive anymore - which caused there to be major tension the whole weekend.

Besides the crap with all the driving the island was ok. We definitely got lucky with the weather as it turned out to be super hot and sunny the whole time. They were calling for rain and clouds so we were happy how that turned out. We saw some cool things... but like I said... it was hard to really enjoy ourselves when there was such tension between everybody.

We left for Noosa the day after we returned from Fraser Island. We spent about 3 days here in total I think. Yesterday we went to Australia Zoo for the day. It's a big place... took us from approximately 9 am - 5 pm just to see everything. This is Steve Irwin's zoo... so it was nice to say we got to enjoy it. Saw everything from Tigers to Crocodiles and even fed elephants and petted Wombats. I was bound and determined to smuggle a Wombat home for myself and they are definitely the cutest thing here in Oz!! I guess though that I'll have to settle for a stuffed animal. It was a good day though. The memorial they had for Steve Irwin brought a tear to my eye... it was pretty sad stuff.

Ok all - well for now that's all I have. We're headed tomorrow for Maroochydore - which is only approximately 20 minutes south. So hopefully it's a good time.

Til next time,
E&N

Rafting the Tully - Racing the Whitsundays

Hello all!! Well this is our last day here in Airlie Beach. It's a cool little place. Very touristy though... there are tons of backpackers. We are headed for Rainbow Beach on the overnight bus later on. It's about a 12 hour ride so we're not looking forword to that.

Anyway - we've done a couple things since our last blog. After Cairns we had gone to Mission Beach for a couple days to test our skills at Whitewater Rafting. This was not the first time rafting for both Nate & I... but it definitely was the most intense one!! We rafted the Tully River for over 5 hours and took on approximately 45 rapids over about 17 kms!! That's pretty crazy if you ask me. I can't say we all managed to stay in the raft... at one point our raft flipped right up from below us leaving the 6 of us having to swim to the other side of the river!! There was a point along the river that we rafted and then pulled ashore. Everybody followed the guides back to the beginning of the rapid we just did and told us to jump in and swim it!!! Didn't look to bad but I was definitely in for a shock when I swore I was going to drown!! Haha - that was something else as you couldn't catch your breath from all the water slamming into you face and body. Don't know if I would do that again. Did some cliff jumping off the rock they call 'Jabba The Hut'. The riverside BBQ filled our bellies at noon before we took off down the river again. Hard to describe what we were experiencing so check out the pictures and I'm sure they'll do all the talking for me!! It was a long tiring day but definitely one of the highlights of my trip!!

From Mission Beach we went to Magnetic Island. Nathan won a TNT magazine contest 6 months ago where we won two nights accommodation, ferry transfers and a meal for each of us!! The tickets expired the day after we used them... nothing like waiting til the last minute!! How were we so lucky to show up on the island and it was raining. The locals said this was the first time it has rained on the island in 3 months!! Lucky us!! Anyway - we didn't get to explore too much because of the rain and the cold winds coming off the ocean. So we enjoyed it the best we could and visited the local rock wallabies for awhile. Nothing too exciting compared to the rafting and what was coming up!!! When we left the island it was a gorgeous sunny day... surprise surprise. We were now headed for Airlie Beach.

Last Saturday (June 9) Nathan and I departed from Airlie Beach on the ex-racing yacht "Southern Cross" for our 3 day/2 night sailing adventure around the Whitsunday Islands. I'll admit I was definitely nervous for this one as I have a tendancy of getting seasick. We must have picked the perfect weekend for it though as the weather cooperated for us 100%. Over 3 days we sailed, suntanned and snorkelled nonstop. The party would begin later on at night after our dinner and would go to all hours of the morning!! Early mornings had us waking up to the sunrise over the islands. Can't really complain about that!! One of the island highlights for me was when we went to Whitehaven Beach. It was definitely something I have never seen before. I felt as though I had just walked into paradise!! The sand was so white and the water so blue/green!! Again - hopefully you'll get the idea when you check out the pictures!!

We had a smaller group of 16 in total including Josh & Cat, our crew. It was a good size as we all became pretty close by the end of the 3 days. We were very lucky in that our last day heading home we got some really good winds and we put our yacht to the test!! The boat was literally on it's side slicing through the waters. Haha - that was cool... but hard to find a seat as it was like trying to sit on a steep slide and not go down. Challenging but we managed to keep all 16 of us on the boat!! That was the sailing highlight for me... and probably for Nathan as well.

Well that's about it for my updates. Like I said before we are leaving for Rainbow Beach tonight where on Friday we are going to Fraser Island for 3 days to do some camping and 4x4ing. It's supposed to be gorgeous there as it is the largest sand island in the world I'm told!! Can't wait to get there!!

E&N

Cairns, Cape Tribulation and The Great Barrier Reef

Hi everyone!! Well our time in Cairns has come to an end. We were here for a total of 10 days and it rained every single day!! Both Nate and I were getting antsy to get out of here so we booked a tour up to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest.

The tour left on Thursday and we made some stops along the way at look-out points, a crocodile cruise on the river and a walk through the oldest living rainforest in the world - The Daintree Rainforest. We arrived in Cape Tribulation shortly after noon, settled into our accommodation and then headed out for a day of adventure.

We were warned before heading out not to cross any waters unless there was a bridge because they are infested with crocodiles!! So I made sure Nathan kept his distance from all bodies of water!! We walked to the beach and felt like we were in an episode of 'Lost'. There were mountains of green all around us and palms trees galore. It was gorgeous!! Everything just seemed so untouched from humans which made it that much better!!

On Friday we had booked a day out to the Great Barrier Reef for snorkelling and our first ever Scuba Dive out at Mackay Reef!! We departed early morning only to find it raining and windy. The swells were massive. I had prepared myself for the ocean by buying a couple remedies for seasickness and was praying that they'd work!! We headed out and I was fine but I swear I though the boat was going to flip over a couple times. Our divemaster, Brooke, began to prep us for the dive and as I was watching her and reading over some of basic skills... I completely lost all my bearing and bolted to the back of the boat to once again be sick. Ugh!! I was hoping that wouldn't happen. I was definitely not the first to get sick on this ride as 3 others visited the back of the boat with me!! Even Nathan said he almost lost his breakfast a couple times!! I was fine for the rest of the ride though - so lucky for me!!

Since I missed most of the prep I wasn't able to participate in the first dive. There would be 2 all together. So Nathan decided to wait for me and we went snorkelling for what seemed like hours!! We swam with a turtle, saw a huge Maori Wrasse and numerous other tropical fish and rays. The coral was so much more vibrant and colorful than the Ningaloo Reef on the West Coast. After lunch and a quick run-through of all the fish and coral we were looking at, Nathan and I were suited up for our dive. We were the only 2 people who wanted to go diving so it was just us and our divemaster!! It was amazing and such a feeling to be able to breath underwater and not worry about rising to the surface. Our dive lasted 30 minutes and we became familiar with all sorts of things you can't see at the top of the surface by just snorkelling. Even Nemo and his friends came out to say hi!! I'm hooked for sure and definitely will take up the opportunity to do it again as we head down the East Coast.

Well, we're back here in Cairns now and leave for Mission Beach tomorrow. We are going White Water Rafting on the Tully River on Tuesday and we hear they have the best rapids in Australia!! From there we leave for Airlie Beach where we'll leave for 3 days on "The Southern Cross" racing yacht as we sail around the Whitsunday Islands. So make sure to keep checking the blog because we'll have a lot of stories to tell this leg of the trip.

See you soon!!

E&N

PS - Check out all the new video's and pictures we added!!

Melbourne & The Great Ocean Road

Melbourne Rocks!! Just thought I'd get that out there first off. What a great city!! It's buzzing with life and culture. Both Nathan and I agree that this has been the best city in Australia we've yet to visit!! We had only 8 days here in Melbourne but are hoping to make it back one more time before we go home. It's pretty cold here though, being winter and all. I think the average temperature all week has been +18 or so. Seems reasonable right?? Add on the rain and winds and that makes for a cold city!!

Well you can't come to Melbourne and not visit The Great Ocean Road... so that's exactly what we did with a tour company called Otway Discovery. We were picked up at our hostel early morning because we had one full (and long) day ahead of us. We had about an hour's driving to do before we reached our first stop... Bell's Beach. This is one of Australia's most famous surfing beaches. I mean I'm no surfing expert but the waves would come in and break so perfectly and peacefully. There were tons of surfers out there and they just made their sport look so simple that even I thought I would be able to master the art in no time. Ya right... Nathan probably could but I doubt I'd be able to. This beach was also featured in the final scene of the movie "Point Break"... how cool is that??

The remainder of the day consisted of short stops and look-outs points all along this scenic coastal drive. We made a stop at Kennet River to see the wild koalas roaming about and feed the lorikeets. It didn't take long before we were on the road again heading towards the Twelve Apostles - probably the main attraction for this drive. Once we finally arrived here we had the option of either going to the look-out point or taking a helicopter flight over them. There was absolutely no hesitation for Nathan and I as we instantly decided on viewing these from the air. I've never been in a helicopter before and I must say this was way cooler than flying in any plane!! I got front seat beside the pilot and it's really trippy because the front windshield (?? is it called that ??) comes right down to about your feet so it feels like you're just being propelled through the air in nothing!! Our flight was approximately 10 minutes and it was pretty spectacular!! Hard to describe so I'll let the pictures do the talking. Make sure you all check them out!!

After we were back on the ground our bus headed towards our final look-out... Loch Ard Gorge. We spent approximately half an hour here before heading home. It was going to take us approximately 3 hours to return to Melbourne via the inland highway. Sunset had come and gone and I believe we didn't return to the city until 8:30 pm or so. It was a great day that just kept getting better!!

So on Saturday night Nathan and I went to our first AFL (Australian Football League) game held at The Melbourne Cricket Grounds. It was a different experience... cool because of the energy from the crowd and seeing how much Australians love this sport. Not cool though because both Nate and I think it's a stupid sport. Rugby is much better.... AFL is basically a bunch of 'pretty boys' running around all over the field kicking the ball to each other and then trying to kick it between a couple goal posts. There is absolutely no skill or logic to the game!! It's surprising to us that this sport is so popular over here.

Anyway... our time in Melbourne is up. We fly to Cairns tomorrow morning but I can say we're both excited to get there. We'll once again be in hot weather and have no need for the 2 layers of clothing we've been sporting all week. If we see everything we need to see before this trip is finished I think we'll be visiting Melbourne again.

That's about it for now... until next time...

E&N