Sunshine Coast

Hey everyone! Well we have uploaded a butt load of photo's for everyone to check out... got a bunch of surfers, and some we added today of our little trip up the sunshine coast and of the Australia Zoo. This is Erynns Asia Pose... long story.

This past week we have been looking for work around surfers (key word - looking as in none found yet). After a few days of that we rented a convertable for 3 days!! It was awesome!! I drove on the wrong side of the road and didnt even wreck anything, Erynn didnt want to attempt it yet... mostly cause we wouldnt have been covered if she did drive (thats what she says anyway).

So The first day we dropped off resume's all over then continued down the Gold coast to Byron bay. it was a nice place, but seemed a little small. The beach didnt even compare to Surfers.

The next day we went inland a bit to the Glass Mountains in the Hinterland region. It was so beautiful and made it a little difficult to keep my eye's on the road... Erynn helped with that. Once we got to the top of the range we went for a walk in a rainforest. That was really neat, the tree's were huge and the roots were so strange.

After that we came down the mountain and went to the Australia zoo and saw Steve Irwins memorial. It was nice to see all the things people had left behind. Plus I got to touch a camel - see photo. We were only there for about 20mins cause it was $43 each to get in and we still had lots of driving to do. We are going to hit that up another time when we can spend the whole day there.

From there we went back into the coast to Noosa Heads. Its a resort town full of rich people. Basically it was like Banff in the tropics. Nice to visit though. We went for a walk in the national park there. There were some awesome views, and I guess dolphins that come and feed every morning and evening... we were there in the afternoon... : (

So after that we drove down the Sunshine Coast and headed back home. Just before we got to Brisbane there was a freak storm with pouring rain and 90km/hr winds!! Fun stuff, so we drove another 150kms on a 4 lane highway. These Aussies drive crazy too!! everyone was going like 110 through that stuff!! Our little convertable made it though, safe and sound.

Well thats about it for now, we are going to go and apply for some more jobs today, then maybe hit up the beach and wait for some phone calls... hopefully. Dont forget to post comments too!!

Nate & Erynn

Surfers Paradise

Hello hello everyone!! We have been in Surfers Paradise for the past few days and it has been awesome!! This place is like Las Vegas, Miami and Venice all in one. It actually has more kms of canals than Venice. We have been here for 5 days so far and haven't even scratched the surface on all the things we can do here. They have "Dreamland'' - Crazy rollercoaster rides, Warner Brothers Movie World - like universal studios, Sea World, Wet 'n Wild water park, and the Australia Zoo is not too far away either. Did anyone see Steve Irwins memorial?? That was pretty sad stuff.

Our first hostel here was called trekkers and on Wednesday we went out on a Club Crawl with our hostel along with 3 others, and had a blast. Still recovering from that one. We have also decided to stay here a bit longer and explore the Gold coast and Sunshine coast, then we'll start making our way south and get to sydney around xmas. Today we were looking for our own place and one just became available today and its only a 5min walk from the beach!! So we snatched that up before the 3 other groups of people who were waiting to see it next did... haha suckers! Anywho, you read right, we are official residents of Surfers Paradise!!

Oh ya, I have also become an offical member of the Australian Poker League!! There was a tournament across the street from our hostel in Brisbane just before we left and I finished 13th out of over 50 ppl!! haha Booya! I could have finished higher but I got burned when I went all in. Long story... I won't bore you with the dramatics.

So ya, I think thats about it for now. I haven't found an internet cafe here when I can put pics up yet, but when I do, I'll let you know! The beach here is unbelievable!! the sand is like icing sugar and the color of the ocean is such a cool green. I think we may become a hard core surfers... We both love playing in the ocean and once we try surfing I think we'll be hooked. I know the football is gonna give it a go.

Hope all is well, and that the weather shapes up back home... cause it has here!! its been 28 everyday!

Miss you guys lots,
Nate and Erynn.

Lone Pine Koala Park

How ya Goin Mate?? - its a new phrase we just figured out. People have been saying it to us since we got here but had no F-ing clue what they were saying until last week. It sounds like "hagn mit" when they say it. Same with "No worries"... here it's pronounced "NowOryies". There are way more things that sound nothing like anything, but I will get into that another time.

So as you may have seen we put some more pics in the Manly Album and added a few new ones. On Thursday we went to the Lone Pine Koala Park!! It was AWESOME!! We got to go right in to the kangaroo reserve where there are about 80 Roo's running around and we could walk right up to them and feed them. I even played catch with the football with one of them. We were laughing our asses off when we were taking the pic when the roo had the ball in its hands... everyone was staring at us wondering why we were harassing the kangaroo when he was trying to sleep. And what the hell we were shoving in its face.

So after doing that for a while we wandered over to the Koala area, there were tons of them there!! 130 or something like that. About 20 of them were just babies, some no bigger than my hand. I thought they were a good size to smuggle out in my pockets but the moms put up a heck of a fight... those little buggers have sharp claws!! So I wasnt able to get any out... sorry guys, I'll keep trying. NowOrryies.
They also had lots of reptiles - 5 of the most poisonous snakes in the world, lizards and frogs. We could have held a 2m boa constrictor but we got there about 10mins to late and missed it. MomK and MomW are prolly relieved we missed it... dont worry, there will be more chances to hold one... maybe even a wild one - you know the kind that have those cute rattle things on the tails!

So last night it was one of the Irish guys, Chris, birthday. We had some drinks at the hostel and the hotel across the street. They were giving away free pint size samples of Guiness!!! They must have known it was his bday. Anywho, we were there for 15mins and he pounded 4 of these "samples" and two pints of the beers he already bought!! We took pics to prove it too! (coming soon) Then we took a 45min train down to the 'Valley' where all the clubs and strip joints are kept. There was some kind of festival going on, so there were all the bar stars out dressed to the 9's, and us in our tshirts. We stood out a tid bit. Seriously though, all the chicks were dressed up as if they were going to grad or a fancy gala. Most of them dress up just to go shopping!! It's crazy. We ended up going to the Shamrock (did we mention they are Irish?)

Alrighty... so tomorrow we are going to try and go out to Moreton Bay Island. I guess there are lots of whales and dolphins that swim around there every evening. You can actually feed the wild dolphins. There is a part of the island that is made up of sand dunes and you can go sand tobogganing, so hopefully that works out, because we only have 1 more day here in Brisbane.

Monday we are NOT heading to Townsville anymore... we booked a hostel in Surfers Paradise for 3 days. Can we change our minds anymore?? It's just to keep everyone at home in suspense : ) Surfers is close and cheap to get there so we are going to check it out. From there we'll decide where to go next, or maybe even settle there for a bit. Who knows!!! Check in next week! dum dum dum...

Goodbye Manly.... Hello Manly...?

Um ya, So we left Manly, Sydney on Monday and our new hostel is in Manly, Brisbane... I guess they ran out of ideas for suburbs. All the good ones like woolloomoolloo and bundaburg were taken.
Anywho, Our Hostel in Brisbane is awesome!! Tis the best one yet. I can't upload any pics on this comp so if you want to check it out go here - http://www.moretonbaylodge.com.au/
They have lots of free stuff we can do, they even have a power boat, and a 9 foot projector screen with surround sound in the living room. We were going to go sailing today but it was too windy and none of the captains would take out inexperienced crew in the rough waters... So I guess that will have to wait for another day. The weather has been much better here, but the wind has been like 40kms/h everyday since we've been here. Oh ya, there are 7 other Canadians at our hostel, 2 Irish lads, 5 English chaps and 1 American... hahaha. We have all been picking on the american guy quite a bit, good times. Actually he left today... :P

Our last few days in Sydney were actually a lot of fun... The ferry rides from Manly back to sydney harbour were crazy!!! Because of the wind and rain for 5 days straight the sea was kicking up some huge ass waves!! They even closed the Ferries down because it was too dangerous for a while. We were getting thrown around pretty good, erynn didnt like part so much, but I was having a good time. I took video of it on the digi cam so you can see how much the boat was gettting thrown around - you can even hear the locals screaming and moaning too hahaha...
So ya after we recovered from that we wandered over to the Chineese gardens and the real China Town - that was pretty cool to see. We also found a HUGE market - called Paddy's Market. Anywho there was tons and tons of stuff there, from souveniers to clothes, shoes, even food. They had billabong hoodies for $15 and all the souveniers were half price than what we had checked out before... so we dropped a few coins there and lugged our haul back to manly. I dont know how we managed to fit everything in our packs after that - they were already bursting at the seems.

Alright, so our plan of action has changed... um, again. We were thinking since we are so close to the Great barrier reef we might as well get all that done now instead of backtracking in the winter time. So now we are planning on heading up to Townsville and see if we can find a flat and jobs and make that a home base for a few months and kindof explore the area around it - The Whitsunday islands, Fraser Island, Magnetic Island, the rainforrest and the Great barrier reef.

So thats what we are thinking right now, we are just looking for flights/bus/train prices to see what kind of a deal we can get and then go. Alright, I think thats about it for now... We'll upload some more pics we have once we can find a computer that will take it...

Cheers,
Nate & Erynn

What's Going On?!?!

What's going on with the weather down here?!?! Nate and I have had just about enough of this rain. Did you know that the Blue Mountains (just west of Sydney) actually got snow?!!? How crazy is that?? I mean one of the reasons we left Sask was to be rid of the snow for awhile. Haha - at least it hasn't found us yet. The rain however has. I think for the past 2 days it's been raining more than anything. The news is saying this is the most rain they have ever got in 123 years!! They had to close the subways down because they flooded and the ferries were stopped because the waters were just too dangerous for them to transport people across the harbour. Hmm - we picked a good time to enjoy Sydney. Haha. As cooped up as Nate and I feel we're still in good spirits and trying to make the best of everything.

Yesterday we went to Oceanworld Manly. It was pretty cool. Saw lots of neat fish... Nemo and Dori were there. Saw a baby crocodile and learned not to trust any waters. The tour guide said that just because the name of the Croc is Freshwater or Saltwater doesn't mean that that's the only kind of Croc you'll find in those waters. Each type can inhabit both waters. My red flags are up... haha - Nathan's not allowed to swim in any waters except in a paddling pool now.

We both held Sea Urchin's as well. They are quite prickly... but harmless. I wouldn't want to step on one accidentally. That might hurt a bit. There was an underwater sea tunnel that was the coolest of the cool. We walked through this tunnel while giant Stingrays, huge Turtles and Nurse Sharks of all sizes swam beside and above our heads. We were the only ones down there at the time so when the power gave out as we were underneath the shark tank I must admit I was a bit frightened. Haha - I bolted for the emergency light I could see in the distance. It's funny now to think back as to how we reacted. A good laugh for sure.

Upstairs however I decided I would check out the different species of Spiders that Australia has to offer. Now if anybody knows me this was a huge mistake on my behalf. What was I thinking?? I'm always looking at every little spec I see now to make sure it's not one of those nasty things creeping up behind me. They were so gross. I really hope I don't see one because I tell you its life will be over in no time. I mean I don't just swat the things. I give 'em a good pounding to make sure they don't ever see the light of day again. I hope it doesn't come to this though. They are alot bigger here and I'm just dreading the first one I see.

Well I'm afraid I haven't got much else to talk about. As I said earlier the weather hasn't cooperated much with us and unfortunately most things we want to do take place outside. So hopefully we can have one last tour of Sydney tomorrow before we take off to Brisbane on Monday night. Can't wait to get there. We have a nice little hostel booked for a couple nights. Moreton Bay Backpackers... looks like a good place to crash and make some grub. Other than that we're doing well and missing you all back home.

Cheers Mate!!

Manly Beach

Hey everybody! I am sure by now everyone has heard that the Crocodile Hunter - Steve Irwin was killed the other day... pretty sad, he was quite a character. Its the only thing on the news here. We are planning on heading up north to Brisbane, near his Zoo... its too bad we wont get a chance to meet him.

The weather in Syndey has been ok... mid 20's or so... but we are craving something a bit more.... tropical. The breeze from the ocean is still a bit chilly, and it gets dark at like 6pm, then the temp drops to 12 degrees or so - not nearly hot enough for us, so we are moving on. Our original plan was to go south to Melbourne... but its only gonna get colder that way. The Sunshine coast and Surfers paradise sounds a bit more appealing to us, especially if we are going to get a flat and jobs.

I added another photo album with pics we've taken this week... there arent too many because we have been hanging out at the beach quite a bit and you guys dont want to see any of that. : )

Yesterday we explored Bondi Beach and the Olympic park grounds. Bondi is really nice, but it looks a lot like Manly beach, so we are gonna save that for when Mike gets here **HINT HINT** - get your ass down here!! Oh ya - Shazna and Nadine there are TONS of shopping here, you guys would go crazy!! (perhaps another reason to come here... hmmm??)

Oh ya! They have ton's of different kinds of food choices down here. There arent really any large restaurant chains, mostly a million different cafe and eatery's. So we had our first sample of some Ocean Fish - OH man was it tasty!!!!! We are definitely hitting that up before we leave. I even convinced Erynn to try Mongolian Lamb (it was my first too... but dont tell her that) That was really good too! I honestly dont know how all these Aussies keep their rock hard golden bodies - there are fast food joints and pastry shops, candy stores, cake's and pies everywhere!! It seems like we get hungry every 20mins because we walk by these stores and it smells soooo good! We did indulge and try the made fresh daily Copenhagen ice cream - we nearly died it was so good. We had Rum and Raisin and I swear there was real rum in it cause Erynn was all over me after we had that... mmmm hmmmm.

Well thats about all I can think of for now... I'll try and update once more before we head to the sunshine coast, but I think we are just gonna laze around for the next 4 days - lay on the beach, bask in the sun (when its not cold) get fat eating all this food and sweets, and drink some aussie beer. Hope everyone else is having as much fun as we are back home!

And thanks for all the posts!! thats awesome! we love hearing from you all!

Nate & Erynn

Australia's Newest Beach Bums??

Finally it's my turn to write something. Nate likes to take the reigns and think this is "his" blog. Anyway - We're finally out of Sydney's inner city!! You all don't know how great that feels. I can almost compare it to sleeping a night at the Barry back home. Ya - not so great. We've moved along to Manly Beach. Much nicer here. The ocean is approximately 80 m from our room. Are you all jealous yet?? I would be if I were you. Haha. It was quite the experience moving over here though. We have to cross the harbour so it's approximately a 1/2 hour ferry ride each way. We also had to take the subway to King's Cross since we weren't about to trek the 4-5 km on foot with our 30lb bags strapped to our backs. Anyway - taking the subway to our hostel in King's Cross was easy... but we got a little lost on our way back to the ferry. Thinking I know it all, I said that we needed to get on the same train as we took the first time. Umm, no. We luckily got off when we realized we were completely going in the wrong direction. It was pitch black outside and here were are stuck in China Town!! Creepyville!! There was some strange music coming from gawd knows where so I was in a bit of a panic. Luckily we got off approximately 10 minutes before the very last train to Circle Quay (where the ferries are) left. What would we have done if we missed it?? I don't even want to know!!

Regardless of all that... we finally made it to Manly Beach safe and sound. It took approximately 4 hours to get from Manly Beach to King's Cross (to get our bags) back to Manly Beach. I'm glad that trek is done. We just booked in for the next week at Manly Backpacker Beachouse. Seems to be a nice little place. So far Nate and I are the only ones in our room. There's a bed for one more person but hopefully it stays vacant. We were at Boardriders Beachouse the past 2 nights. Last night some retard decided it would be quite funny to play with the fire extinguisher so somewhere around 12am the fire alarm went off. I wasn't really sure what it was because it sounds nothing like the ones do back home. Half awake I asked Nate what was going on and he said it was the fire alarm and we had to leave the room. For some reason I thought he was blaming me for the stupid alarm going off so I was a bit cranky with him. Haha. He had to pop a "Grouch Pill" into my water.

So now here we are ready to relax and do whatever we want for the next week. I think we're going to start looking for a flat when Saturday's paper comes out. That way it might feel a bit more like 'home' to us (a new one of course).

Take care all - we're missing you like crazy.