Here are some shots of magnificent Fraser Island







Happy Halloween! I didn't participate in the local beach partay that went on for halloween here on the weekend. I am currently in the town of 1770 and Agnes Waters, 2 tiny towns, pop 600. I spent a couple days doing some surfing and lounging on the beach. I am heading into the outback to spend a night at a ranch in a few days, to do some mechanical bull riding, goat roaping, clay pigeon shooting, and whatever else they have planned for us, should be interesting. The hostel here is beautiful, very well kept, and brand new. A typical day here involves rolling out of bed at 10ish, walking down to the beach, surfing/laying on the beach until 4ish, coming home, stopping at the grocery store for dinner ingredients, jumping in the shower, cooking dinner, often as a group, sitting around with a few boxes of wine until midnight just B.S.'ing, then going to bed. Very exhausting days here. Actually they are because it is just so hard to move or do anything in the heat. it will be hard to go back to the real world after this.

Surf's up dude! Yes, i am a pro by now. I just got back from my 3 day camping trip to Faser Island, it was a ton of fun. There were 10 of us, 6 of my buddies, and 3 others, and we rented a 4x4 truck to burn around the island on. It is really different driving on the wrong side of the road, and shifting with my left hand, and especially driving on the beach. The entire island is one big sand dune. We set up camp right on the beach both nights, drank many boxes of cheap wine, and had lots of fun. The first night we drained the battery in our truck by keeping the headlights on, but we managed to get a jump in the am, and were on our way. I am now in Hervey Bay, and will spend one more day, then take off for a town called 1770, which apparently is the last place to surf up the coast here. The sun is so so hot, I can't stop burning myself, and it is so humid, so hard to move. Very draining climate to be in, not that I am complaining, i am sure you Edmontoners have had snow alreay... hahaha.

Nimbin is the strangest place in Aus. I was planning to spend a night there, but once I arrived I decided against it. It is for those wishing to live the "alternative" lifestyle... full of hippies, tye-dye, and pot. My 2 hours there was plenty. After we crossed over into Queensland from New South Wales, and did a nice 1.5 hour hike in a subtropical rainforest. I saw a natural bridge and hiked behind a waterfall. It was raining like crazy for the whole hike, the trail was a stream by the time we finished. We then got back on the bus, absolutely soaked, and pressed on to Surfer's Paradise. Surfer's is very built up with huge resorts right on the beach. Myself and another girl and 2 guys from my original group spent the night there, and partied with everyone else from the hostel, then was laid on the beach today, but it was so incredibly windy, the beach is beautiful at Surfer's... 42km of pristine white sand. I put sunscreen on my back, but forgot to put it on my stomach, and totally scorched myself, stupid me. Now I am in Brisbane, the 3rd largest city in Aus. We met back up with 4 of our other budies here, and will probably check out the zoo here, but not planning to stay too long in the city, since the beach is better.

Surfer's Paradise beaches


Turns out the waterproof function on my camera actually works... so far.


The natural bridge, it had a waterfall entering into the cave, very nice.



My new friends



Crazy Nimbin

Now I am in Byron Bay, where I have been since Wednesday. I spent 3 days learning to surf as soon as I got on the Oz. There is a really cool group of people on my bus, mostly from England, a few Canadians too. We have now been together for a week, and are really good buddies. Most of us are planning to head up the coast together, and continue hanging out. Surfing is very hard! After 3 days of lessons I could stand up on the long board and manage to ride it to shore a bit. It was really hot while we were surfing, now it has crapped out for a bit. Byron Bay is a cool little surfing town. People walk around with no shoes on, very laid back. The hostel is quite the party place, right across the road from Cheeky Monkey's, the bar where I was very drunk the first night we got here. I played beach volleyball for 5 hours on the beach one day with the 3 other Canadians on my bus in a big tourney, so very tiring. I laid on the beach one day, today I got a bike from the hostel and road up to the lighthouse with another guy from our group, and walked around on the rocks. It is the most easterly point of the mainland of Australia. Tomorrow I am taking off to Nimbin, marijuana capital of Australia.

So I have been in Aus land for 2 weeks almost now. I spent only 3 days in sydney, I saw the opera house, the Royal Botanical Gardens, the harbour bridge, Darling Harbour, and tons of cool old buildings downtown. After walking around for what must have been about 15km that day, I was absolutely beat. I decided after that day that I had seen enough of the city, and took off for the weekend to Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains, just a 2 hour train ride west. The hostel in Katoomba was beautiful, looked like a ski resort. I hiked around for about 5 hours in the National Blue Mountains park the next day, all the trails are on the side of a cliff, so it was hard going, nothing but stairs up and stairs down. The Jamison Valley was very nice, I saw the Three Sisters rock formation and Katoomba Falls. Apparenty the mountains are blue from the fine particulate gas given off by the eucalyptus trees. After my hiking I went back to Brad and Lindsay's for the night, then took off early at 6:30am on the Oz Experience the next day... that is when the trip really began!


An old building in downtown Sydney


Getting excited for my big adventure




Sydney Opera House



Very busy Bondi Beach, right in Sydney



Centenial park, just across the street from Brad and Lindsay's place in Syney

Well 29 hours after I left the ground of Vancouver, I arrived in Sydney. I got to stop in Beijing and Shanghai on the way over. In Beijing I had an entourage of 4 little Chinese people come and meet me as I got off the plane, then they all walked me over to the gate for my next flight. Flying over Sydney it is huge, but a beautiful city. As soon as I landed the first thing I did was buy an ice cream cone from McDonalds in the airport, and board the bus to Bondi Beach. I made friends with some young Germans who just arrived and were headed for the beach as well. Bondi was just packed, and not even really hot, it was only low 20s yesterday, and the water was frigid. So I had a nice nap on the beach, trying to overcome my jetlag. Then I made my way to Brad and Lindsays and crashed hard. Not sure how many days I am going to spend in Sydney, not too many, as the warmer beaches await me.