Jonasian's Hong Kong Experience!

It's official. I'm now Asian!!! I headed off from Perth last night on a midnight redeye flight. It was sad to say goodbye to all the friends :*(. But I did get to see a wicked view of the city at NIGHT! Something that I hadn't done in my 15 flights to and from Perth Airport .... I've been flying a lot! To make things even BETTER! No one was sitting next to me, so I had the two corner seats to myself. In the 8 hour flight, I got about 4 to 5 hours sleep. Not too shabby. I tried to watch the movie "Kite Runner", but it was all in subtitles, and that required too much paying attention. THEN, the sound konked out on all the 'Economy' classes headphones. So we had NOTHING!!!! Major crappy. So, didn't see anything. Fingers crossed that I'll be able to watch Nicholas Cage tonight with no disappointments. He's always in such great movies!!! Ghost Rider, Wicker Man, Next ....

Anyway, back to today. So boy was it muggy, and smoggy, and cloudy when I first got here. It looked like everything in Hong Kong was grey. Including me! I took the train into the city from the airport. This train is the GREATEST train I have ever been on. It was pure luxury. Then, I proceeded to just walk around for a long time. Went up to an overlook of the city at Mt Victoria. More Walking, got into Hong Kong Park, more walking, sun attempted to come out. It was weird, I could see shadows, but you couldn't actually see the sun.

I then took a ferry trip for $1.50 Hong Kong, which equates to about 25 cents Canadian (Hong Kong = cheap), to a northen part (Kowloon), and hung out for awhile. Got majorly hassled by a guy who wanted to make a suit for me on the spot. I considered, but the price was more than getting a plane ticket to Thailand and getting it made there. I said "No Way".

I'm in the Hong Kong airport now, waiting for my flight to board. Will hopefully have some photos uploaded and more stories there....... Gotta make sure to get some Duty Free as well. Mmmmm Vodka!

Will also hopefully find a shower .... as I probably did about 15 to 20 kms of walking today. If not, the person next to me won't be too happy. Then it's onto the plane for the 2nd Leg of my Adventures in China !

Richmond.

photos : http://picasaweb.google.com/australialiterally/HongKong

Tropical Storm Neoguri

It's now my final day in Australia. Later, I will be flying out of Perth and Heading to Hong Kong to see my good friend Tropical Storm Neoguri. I have a 16 hour layover in Hong Kong, so the plan is to leave the airport, and mindlessly walk around for a while. We'll see if weather conditions allow me to do that!

The last week in Perth has been good. Highlights include: attempting and failing to surf, yet again, discovering nhl broadcasts on the internet, getting a arm band tattoo (who knew that it would come off in the shower?), meeting up with friends for a final time, 2 hours of unlimited arcade time, and dealing with my good friends at "3" again. Still should be called "Stupidi3".

That's the end of Australia!

Back in Perth

Wahoo ..... !!!!



Time for bed.

Passions of Paradise

No, it's not the next Monday night Fox Drama .... it's the name of the tour company I went on today for another Great Barrier Reef adventure. Lots of fun. Went to two locations this time. Michaelma's Cay and Paradise Reef. I bought a couple photos the camera woman took of me. Mine were the best, as I learned from last time to take the snorkel out of the mouth for the pose! They also included some of their best underwater photos, thus allowing me to just snorkel and not worrying about taking crappy photos in a plastic underwater camera. Check out them out here. http://picasaweb.google.com/australialiterally/GreatBarrierReefRevisited

Not happy about this morning though. Someone broke in and stole some of my milk. It was in a plastic bag that was double knotted and had my name on it. This morning, no plastic bag, no note, just the milk was left. Still enough for my cereal though. If not I woud have LOST IT!!!!! Hostel kitchen's are disgusting. I have a couple pictures in this latest set that prove that. Who just puts a plate of pasta in the kitchen without putting sran wrap on? And who just leaves Chicken on the counter overnight?

Flying out in 5 hours. Back to Perth. Wahoo.

Boyd, Out.

Fitzroy Island .......

Forgot to mention in my last blog a funny story. Due to some crazy UK girls in my 8 bed dorm. I was unable to use the toilet the night before I left for Cape Trib (alcohol was involved .... on their part). Anyway, the next morning, I ended up downstairs in the poolside toilet, LOCKED IN!!!! with only 20 minutes to spare before my tour left. That's right, the door handle had broken off and I was trapped. Thank god for the little Japanese boy who saved my life ..... I'm now back at the same place, but decided to spend $2 extra per night for a 6 bed dorm.
Much more space this time + 5 cute European Girls = Happy Jon!

Back to the last couple days. Had a good couple days in Port Douglas. I hung out with a friend, Tara, from my New Zealand trip, and some of her friends. One night, we headed for George the Groper's feeding. It's this 3 metre long fish that they feed every day. He came! But supposedly it was a baby George. The highlight of the time in Port Douglas was finding a random monkey in a bush. Good times. Oh yah, a bird crapped on me as well. That
wasn't cool :(.

Got back to Cairns and headed to a place called Fitzroy Island today. My ticket had the name Johnothon on it!!! Haven't had that one before! My first stop on Fitzroy was Nudey Beach!!! I was the first person doing the walk, so I had to deal with the many spider webs along the way. As I was first there, I figured it was time to let all of the Jon out to the world!!! I wore my birthday suit for a few minutes. Don't you just love that picture in your mind! I then headed up to the summit of the island, again, first one to do it, and dealt with all the spider webs. There were also tons of these little lizards called skinks (i think). I spotted one snake .... Crikey!!!!
At the summit, I had some wicked views and could actually see some of the reefs of the Great Barrier Reef.

Tomorrow is my last day in Cairns. I'm going to do another Reef tour and then I fly back to Perth late at night.

Uploaded some more pics of Cape Trib, P Diddy, and Fitzroy Island .... click here. http://picasaweb.google.com/australialiterally

Cape Tribulation

I headed up to Cape Tribulation for a night. It is the location where "Reef meets Rainforest". On the way up, we did a river cruise on the Daintree River and spotted a couple of wild crocs!!! Scratch that off the list. I'm now just down to Platypus and Wombat to view in the wild! The crocs were of the Salt Water variety, the kind that eat you! One was just a 3 year old baby and another was a massive 80 year old. Another animal that I haven't seen or had never even heard of before was the Cappowarry (google it). It is one of the largest birds in the world, and the most dangerous. The males are very aggressive and there feet can rip your guts apart! Unfortunately, I didn't get to see it.

On Cape Tribulation, I went for a long walk on the beach with a dutch and english girl. It was a gorgeous view. Also went on a couple jungle hikes. Good times. Then made my way to P. Diddy. Also known as Port Douglas, and met up with one of my friends from the NZ tour. Had dinner and drinks with her and friends. Today, it's been quite rainy, so haven't gotten around to much. Checked out the beach quickly, and they had a "pool" there that allowed you to swim in the ocean without fear of a jellyfish killing you.

Enjoying some Sustain Cereal (very similar to Just Right, but with Raisins and Sliced Apples)

"Oh my God, Oh My God, It's Coming This Way"

I have arrived to Cairns. It's a real nice tropical city. So far one of my favourite locations in Australia. On my first night (Thursday), I met up with a couple (Alex(girl), and Taylor (boy)) from the UK that were on my New Zealand tour and we went out for dinner. Then headed around the city and I stumbled upon something that made the entire trip completely worthwhile. I came across the "Sister Cities" park. And Yes!!!! Sidney By The Sea is the sister city of Cairns and I have driven by the Sidney "Sister Cities Sign" every time I go to the BC Ferries. I have now completely the Trifecta of Sidney, Anacortes, and Cairns! Later that night we somehow had a 3 year old boy come and start playing with us. No Parents in sight. He brought his stroller and proceeded to run at us with it. It was frightening! We were able to distract him by pointing to a guy doing a fire-spinning in the distance. There is nothing like watching a random 3-year old kid run off alone in the dark.

The next day, I went on a Great Barrier Reef tour with Alex and Taylor. We headed out for an hour and half to Moore Reef. The tour company had a pontoon (sp?) set up at the reef. We got there and jumped into the water! It's the tail end of the "Stinger" season. That's a nice name for the season that has Box Jellyfish swimming EVERYWHERE! Box Jellyfish can be lethal! As there has never been a sighting of Box Jellyfish at this particular reef, I felt fine going in the water, but Alex and Taylor got Stinger Suits. These look just like those full body speed skating suits! Very funny!


We had an awesome time snorkelling. The 3 of us went throughout the entire zone of allowable snorkelling. We saw an awesome purple/green Parrot Fish that was about a metre long. It would chomp on the coral reef and you could hear the chomps distincly. As we headed towards the pontoon, we spotted the Scuba Divers below us. There was a camera man who was feeding this large fish named Wally and a large sea turtle. Taylor and I dove down and were able to stroke the turtles shell. We got back up to the shore, I looked down at the turtle and it was slowly heading up straight for us. "Oh my God, Oh my God, It's coming This Way!!!!" I got so excited that I had swallowed half a litre of water. I tried to keep watching the turtle but was struggling for my life. The turtle ended up surfacing and went straight into Taylor's arm. Then dove back down.

Later in the day, we went back down near the scuba divers, and spotted our turtle friend. This time we "hijacked" him. We were able to get the turtle a good 50 to 60 metres away from them. At one point, I was able to grab onto its shell and catch a free ride. Then Taylor shouts "There is two of them!!!!". Oh my god, we ran in to 2 of them. We then chased them for a little while, and then FLASH, a couple of camera shots. The Scuba Diving Cameraman found us, and was there to take "his" turtle back. We did get a couple of great photos of us with the two turtles. No one else got two turtles in their photo. Not to mention ours wasn't a fake posed picture. We were actually chasing the things. We spent the rest of our time in the water just laughing about all the fun we were having.

The rest of the trip consisted of a 20 minute glass bottom boat ride, a 20 minute semi submersed submarine ride, and 2 full lunches. Mmmmm good. It's going to be hard to ever go snorkelling again. The colourful fish, and coral, the warm water.... It was absolutely amazing!!!!!

That night, I went out for dinner with Taylor and Alex, and the rest of their Contiki Australia tour group. Another member of the NZ tour was on their tour as well. I spent the night avoiding a "crazy" guy on their tour. If you got in a conversation with him, you were stuck for the rest of the night. I actually had to be quite rude to ask him to leave a photo of the 4 of us from the NZ trip. Because of a bizarre story (tell ya later), Taylor ended up smashing me in the nose with his knee. Ouch, I don't think it's broken, but it hurts. They are now off to Alice Springs, and I'm not sure where I'm headed for the next week......

Jane, Me, Alex, Taylor, Crazy Guy

Fraser Island - Sharks, Dingos and Snakes .... Oh My!!!!

I just got back yesterday from my 3 day tour of Fraser Island (The World's Biggest Sand Island). The weather was spectacular. Our tour guide said it was the best 3 days in the row they've had all summer. Can't complain there. I was a bit worried as we loaded up (crammed) into the Land Cruiser. There were 4 couples, and then myself and a Belgian girl. But it was a good mix of people and everyone had a good time. The drive up was brutal with no legroom at all. My fanny killed by the time we got to Fraser Island, so I got out to stretch it (FYI - Aussies call fanny the other end of a girl .... resulted in many fanny jokes).

Day one was spent at a secluded lake called Lake Wabby. The lake was created when a dune choked a creek. The water was very nice, and we spent the time throwing balls around and swimming in the water. We then walked the 30 minutes back to the beach along the sand dune and saw several dingos. On the way home we came across a snake on the beach. It was a venomous sea snake. As if snakes on the land aren't bad enough, this was one that spends its time in the ocean. Getting a bite from this snake would kill you in 90 seconds.

As it was so clear that night, we headed out to the beach in the pitch black and I saw the most spectacular night sky I have ever seen. The stars, and planets were glowing like never before, and was even able to spot the "Southern Cross". Our tour guide also found us some crazy jellyfish that you can rub over yourself and it makes you glow in the dark! Sleeping wasn't fun. The mattress I was on was worse than any cot I have ever slept on. I think there were metal spikes sticking into me. My roommates said I was talking in my sleep that night, but I think it was me waking up and cursing about how much pain I was in.

On Day 2, we travelled up the East Coast for the whole day. We began at Rainbow Gorge to look at different coloured sands ..... kinda reminded me of my job in the Outback. Also got to do some more Sand dune climbing, jumping, skiing, and running. Very fun. Kept my camera alive by not getting sand in it. Then stopped off at an ancient shipwreck (The Maheno). Then up to Indian Head, a lookout that allows you to spot sharks swimming below you (Picture above). No one is allowed to swim in the ocean at Fraser Island because there are so many sharks. I spotted about 10 to 15 swimming beneath us at Indian Head. The final stop of the day was at Eli Creek. You hike up to the start, and then enter the creek and float your way down. We spent a few hours there, again kicking, and throwing footy and soccer balls around. For dinner that night we had a Mexican buffet. So unbelievably good, but resulted in a bad following day for some people.

The final day we headed inland for a jungle experience. We got some real sweet 4wdriving. Everyone was impressed at my ability to sleep in a car. Even when my neck is swinging like a bungy cord and head banging off the glass. It may have just been that I got knocked out by hitting my head. We stopped off at a few more amazing lakes. One had the whitest sand I'd ever seen. I couldn't open my eyes without wearing my sunglasses. Our tour guide would take the snorkel into the lake and kept coming back with turtles. It was awesome. It was quite a fun time. Definitely worth it.

Check out the photos.

Am now chillaxing at the Brisbane Airport waiting for my flight to Cairns (aussies pronounce it "Cans"). It is the most touristy access to the Great Barrier Reef. I'm going to be there for 8 nights.

Weekend in the Sun(Rain,&Cloud)Shine Coast

On Day 1, the Sunshine Coast, was the Rainy Coast, Day 2 it was the Cloudy Coast, and on Day 3 it was the SUNSHINE COAST!!!! Wahoo.

I stayed at a friend's (Sarah) place on residence at the University of the Sunshine Coast. It was a nice set up there. She's got access to two pools, a gym, a beach volleyball court, and tennis and basketball courts. The Friday night wasn't the greatest. It just rained and rained, and I ended up watching a chick flick with 7 Canadian Girls. I did go to Australia Zoo .... didn't go in, but I bussed into the parking lot.

On Saturday we headed to Mooloolaba (try saying that one) Beach for a day of fun in the cloud. Went for a quick dip in the water. It was very busy there as they had a Tri event going on. The best part of the day was Hacky Sack Yoga man. By far the most unbelievable Hacky Sacker I've ever seen. He was doing tricks that were unimaginable, then he would balance the ball on his foot and do crazy yoga moves. Unreal! The cloudy was not all bad.... it resulted in one the best sunsets I've seen in Aussieland. And, since the University is loaded with kangaroos, I was able to get my dream (Kangaroo Sunset) Photo. Although it's not bouncing, I still like it!

The Sunday was great. Sarah and I just hung out at the pool and read. The sun was shining. Then some German guys asked if I'd join in for some Beach Volleyball. Are you kidding me??? Of Course!!!! Lots of fun, until a Super-German came in. I like playing against Super players cause it forces you to play well, but when you play with one, all he wants is to smash the ball the whole time. Not a team player. Then had to say goodbye to the life of a student and head back to Brisbane, ready for the trip to Fraser Island tomorrow!

The pool with the beach volleyball court in the back ....

Uploaded photos to my photosite.

Rain Rain Go Away

Leaving Brissy this morning. It's pouring rain again. Boooooo!!!!! I'm hoping the Sunshine Coast lives up to its name!

Surfer's Paradise? More Like ......

Surfer's Notsonice. At least weatherwise because it was terrible today. I should have known since it was raining in Brisbane. When I got to Surfer's Paradise (2 hours south by train/bus), it was absolutely pouring.

The city is very strange. It's like a mix between Las Vegas, Honolulu, and some Theme Parkland. Highrises on the beach, casinos everywhere, and there seems to be like 10 major theme parks. I was hoping for a day at the beach, and maybe take a surfing lesson, but that didn't happen.
What saved the day was finding a Pele book at the bookstore. He's got the same birthday as me. Gotta love Pele!
I also got my flight home booked with Cathay Pacific. They are so friendly and helpful. Going to stay in HK for 16 hours and try to do some sort of day tour. We'll see how that goes!!!

Putting the Gordon Head to Brisbane

Today was another fun day exploring Brisbane. However, I had a friend, Minnie, along for the trip. We worked together at the Bay and both grew up in Gordon Head! She's now doing her Masters here in Brisbane. Today was filled with fun. Botanic Gardens, Lunch at the Irish Club (nice recommendation), I booked up the rest of tour (see below), got some slurpees, walked around, hit the fake beach, headed to the Art Gallery (they took my backpack from me) and then went to the museum.

Tomorrow, I'm training down to Surfer's Paradise for the day, then Friday training North to Sunshine Coast to stay a couple nights with another former Bay co-worker. I'll then head back to Brisbane on Sunday. Then leave on a 2 night Fraser Island Tour, that brings me back to Brisbane. Then off to Cairns on the Thursday and am there for 8 nights. Fun Stuff!!!!

Sadly, the end is in sight. But the Switzerland eyes are beginning to open!!!! Will probably look into booking my Perth to Van flight in the next couple days. All the best!!!

Australia Literally!!!!! I'm Back!

I'm back in Brisbane. Leaving behind beautiful New Zealand. I was happy to leave Auckland. I found it to be a bit dirty, boring and smelly. However, I was sad to leave all the friends I've made. The early morning flight was crazy, I got there 2 hours before the flight but spent about 1:30 in lineups, so the time flew by. Also, I got the Emergency Exit seat again without asking. I guess the single, tallish, young male is what they look for to put in those seats. I didn't complain. The movie was August Rush. Had never heard of it before, but was entertaining. I left Auckland at 7:30am and arrived in Brisbane at 8:00am.... a quick flight.

Brisbane is hot, and muggyish. My backpacker's is shitty. But had free wireless internet. You give a little, you get a little. That won't matter if my laptop gets stolen though. Hopefully not. Today, I just walked around the city, and now my feet hurt. I have a friend living in Brisbane, so I will hopefully meet up with her tomorrow, then maybe head to Gold Coast (Surfer's Paradise) for the day on Thursday. On Friday, I am planning to head north to Sunshine Coast, where another friend is going to Uni there. After that, things are still in the air. But will likely head to Fraser Island then fly to Cairns (Great Barrier Reef).

Nothing really funny happened today. Pics here.

North Island Part 2

Day 12

Before leaving Rotorua, we stopped off at the Agrodome to watch a sheep show. Yeah!!! It was very entertaining, especially when we did comical things with the sheep’s wool. The highlight was when one of our more “senior” tour members was sprayed by cow’s milk and then she tried to steal a lamb. Very funny. Off we headed on our way to Waitomo, the site of limestone caves. On the way, we found a shop that had a beach cricket set. SCORE!!!! Myself, an aussie bloke and a Japanese girl had a thrilling cricket match before we set off for our Caving Adventures. I participated in the Blackwater Rafting. It was actually just tubing in the pitch black in an ice cold cave. We did have wet suits and headlights. The craziest parts were that we had to jump down waterfalls, you just put the tube on your butt, hold your breath, and jump backwards. The guides actually helped with a push. I’ll put up some photos of the caving in general. Unfortunately, the CD with our groups photos didn’t work properly.

The most bizarre part of this day was going to see a rabbit get shaved. You’ll have to check out the photos to believe it, but they tie the rabbit up just like Mel Gibson in Braveheart (no blue face paint). They then go crazy with the shavers!

Day 13

Due to a fun pizza party the night (it was technically the last day for all of us north islanders), I forgot my Beach Cricket set at the hotel in Waitomo. D’oh! It was going to be fun in the bay of Islands. We dropped off the 10 or so leaving us in Auckland and headed to Pahia or something like that. I’m just calling it Bay of Islands. This was one of those long drives and no photos days. The weirdest part though was that we dropped off 10, but picked up 30 as another Contiki tour was starting as ours finished. Lots of new people to meet. To make up for the lost cricket set, we purchased a soccer ball, and kicked it around. At the same time, the sand flies came out and destroyed my legs. Great.

Day 14.

The fun day at the Bay of Islands. Myself, and about 5 other from the OLD group took part in an all day Dolphin/Catamaran extravaganza. There were many more NEW people as well. Part 1 was the Dolphin watching, we cruised for a couple hours before finally spotting a couple dolphins. We had the option of swimming with them at a cost of $30. If you hit the water, you had to pay. I was in my swim trunks, and thinking about it, but unsure as the dolphins did not seem very friendly. 3 friends from the OLD group got wet suited up and were all ready to give it a go, however, 18 people had already jumped in (that was the max allowed at one time). What happened next was extraordinary. The dolphins went left, the dolphins, went right, the dolphins went out far …. The people just didn’t move. Only one guy actually started swimming anywhere, and funnily enough the dolphins actually swam up and with him. No one else even got to see the dolphins while they were in the water. That’s 17 x $30. They didn’t let a second group go as the dolphins were not friendly enough.

Part 2 was the much better part. It was a cruise/lunch on a wicked catamaran. All we did was lounge around drinking beer and wine, and having a great time. One german dude hit the booze hard with his bro and picked up a $120 tab. We docked for two hours at one of the islands and snorkeled, explored, kayaked, and Donuted (inner tube behind a boat). Very fun time. That night was the last night for our group. So sad.

Day 15
Left the Bay of Islands, and made it to Auckland. Auckland is dirty and smelly. Not a huge fan so far. I went to the wrong backpackers as there are 2 with the same name in a 5 block radius. The afternoon was spent with some of us old group members lying in a park.

Post tour….. on Saturday (today for me), several of us tour members ferried over to Waiheake (sp?) Island and spent the day bussing around and lounging on the beach. A very fun day.

Updated more photos again.....

North Island .... Part 1

technically done the tour now .... just catching up on things

Day 8 (I think)
This was another long travel day. We got a new tour manager in Christchurch (wahoo), and headed off for our adventure in the North Island. Along the way we hit some beautiful roads, and got out at a few gorgeous beaches. We then made it to the InterIslander (the ferry that crosses the Sound between the North and South Island). Contiki doesn’t put there busses on the ferry, they just unload one tour at the port, and then load the other tour going in the reverse direction. Our group got out, and then cleared our luggage into a van for the ferry. Then the other tour group’s manager started putting their tour’s luggage in the coach. Then for some strange reason 5 of our people on the tour starting helping this manager load the coach. I admit, that I did not help, as I was the only person who realized that the ENTIRE other tour group was standing about 10 yards away just watching their luggage get put in by another group. I was dumbfounded at how stupid these people were.

The ferry over was cool. There appeared to be 10 decks on the ship. Or as were announced by the kiwi crew … “dicks”. “Liferafts and jackets can be found on Dick 6 but not Dick 7”. The ferry had 2 movie theatres, a pub, a nice cafeteria, and some wicked Lookouts. I had bought a box of Froot Loops a few days earlier, so I went for a bowl of cereal. Just follow your Nose!

We arrived in Wellington around 5:30, and I quickly headed off in search to meet up with Thea, a friend from University. It was nice to have a break from the tour, I was going to call it an early night as I still wasn’t feeling well, but thought I would stop at the restaurant where the group was having dinner to see what was going on. I’m still quite shocked about this place. First, the bouncer looked like he was ready to tackle me when I tried to walk in ….. I then asked if “Contiki” were still there, he smiled and welcomed me in to the strip show that was going on. Even more disturbing than that were these male predators. There were about 10 to 15 guys prowling around from girl to girl, or in some cases guy to guy, or guy to girl, with the goofy “I want to have sex with you tonight” smile. I think I got hit on about 5 times, and one guy gave me his number. I only kept it because he somehow wrote it on a coupon from one free dinner at the restaurant. Anyhow, there were a few moments where we really had to push them off. At one point one got so aggressive he knocked a girl’s drink over, and shattered the glass on the table. Kiwis seem not to know that No, means NO!!!

Day 9

Sleep in !!!! Wahoo, first one so far on the trip. This day was an All Wellington affair. I met up with Thea late in the morning and she took me up the hills to her office building. She works for the Metservice (Meteorologist), so the building is in a wicked location, with awesome views. Then went down through Wellington’s Botanic Gardens, past the Beehive (Parliament Buildings), then along the Harbour for lunch watching the Dragon Boat Races. We then got tickets (scalper tickets) for a NZ vs England Cricket match. We sat with the Barmy Army. The English fans that spend their lives following the tricket. Barmy means Mental, and let’s just say that is a fair name for these fans. There were some wicked costumes: Spiderpig, batman, and robin, dresses, ginger spice, seargent peppers. They also had cheers for every situation (ex. Cute girl walking by with ugly boyfriend ….. they spontaneously break out into “Is she really going out with him?”). Most fun I’ve ever had at any sporting event. I forgot there was even a cricket match on.

Wellington was a really awesome city. I could have easily spent a week there. It’s got a small San Francisco look to it. All I need to find is an Uncle Joey and Uncle Jesse. Oh man, a beach boys song just came on at the hotel right this second. Makes me think of the Beach Boys episode. Ok, Cut it Out.

Day 10

Wellington to Taupo. Yadda yadda, driving again, stopped on the road to see Mt Doom. They love their Lord of the Rings here. Not too much exciting going on at Lake Taupo. Myself and one of the girls participated in a Lake Hole In One challenge, with a floating green. We failed. The night was filled with an Irish Pub of course. In prep for tomorrow. Then off to the Karaoke. We brought the house down performing S Club 7 …. “everybody get down tonight”.

Day 11

On to my favourite day. Or at least what was supposed to be my favourite day. Surprise surprise. We actually stopped on the 1 hour drive from Lake Taupo to Rotorua at Huka Falls. Only 5 of us actually walked out to the falls. That was strange. We then headed to the Zorb at Rotorua. Zorbing consists of going inside a plastic bubble and then rolling down a hill. You can either get strapped in, or go in with no harnassess, but lots of water. There are also two tracks, a straight downhill one, and a zig zag one. This was the #1 thing I wanted to do in NZ. Unfortunately, as I was signing up and clicking off disclaimers, you are not allowed to with heart conditions, yadda yadda, other sicknesses, or if you’ve ever dislocated your shoulder. Technically I was still allowed to go down the straight one, as long as I lay on my back and didn’t move the whole trip down, but the risk was in my own hands. Or shoulder. They also mentioned that they frequently have people dislocate their shoulders in the Zorb. Great! I decided that 8 months of pain wasn’t worth it for 5 seconds of fun.

It’s too Luge to Apologize. So after the disappointment of zorbing, some of us headed to the Luge tracks. This was absolutely the funniest thing ever. First off we painted our faces green (St Patty’s Day), and then we raced down the tracks at break neck speeds. There were a few running of people off the road, and some wicked collisions. It was absolutely awesome.

Rotorua smells like Rotten Eggs. In Rotorua, I went to get some alcohol, and got refused for the first time in my life. And that was even with my ID. I didn’t have my passport though. It may not have helped that I still had green face paint on from St Patty’s Day. Persistence paid off when I tried again, and got refused again, this time at a grocery store. Fortunately I got the lineup on my side and they caved.

The night was fun. We had a cultural Maori performance at a traditional site …. The Hotel Lobby. It was a lot of fun. Lots of yelling, and spinning sticks. I got up on stage with some of the other guys and performed the Haka. After dinner we headed for a room party, then off to the local Polynesian spas for some warm tubbage action. A very fun day.

Continuing to add photos to my photosite
http://picasaweb.google.com/australialiterally/

South Island Almost Complete 2

I wrote this 2 days ago .... now in Wellington. will try to do an update on today later, but this wouldn't post 2 days ago, so will post now.....

More Day 5

So I lied. I didn’t go luging after all. We made it to the start of the gondola, but came across a sign that read “You can’t leave the town without making a stop at the city”. It was such a good slogan …. And it was the slogan for a mini golf place that we just had to go check it out. It turns out that it was the most creative and amazing minigolf that I’ve ever seen. So much detail, so many options. A ski hill, a roller coaster, and a candy factory were just a few of the main highlights that we saw. The funny thing about it was that it required no skill at all as you just hammered the ball into a hole and then the ball would go in one of 3 tubes, and then you’d end up in bizarre places….

We got back to the lodge a little lateish. Just after 8 and went to order our pizzas (it was a special pizza night for contiki people), but they were out of pizza???? How do you run out of pizza? All you need is dough, tomato sauce and cheese.

Day 6

Oh geez, Back to the driving. Let’s see, we head off at 7:30, and drive for 2 hours, stop for 30 minutes. Drive for 3 more hours. Stop for 5 minutes, Drive for 2 more hours until we reach Fox Glacier. I decided to do a Heli-hike. We were helicoptered up the glacier in stunning fashion. The pilot was banking very hard to the left, then very hard to the right, and then headed straight for a cliff before lifting at the last second it was quite exhilarating. I had some pretty good spills, and the song "I keep bleeding, keep keep bleeding" became my song for the glacier hike.

Day 7

Just driving from Franz Josef to Christchurch. Very boring day. The tour manager was in a hissy mood. He wouldn't play any dvd's for us. It's his last day. New one for the north island tomorrow.

For the last 4 days I haven’t been feeling the best. Most noticeable is that I have lost my voice. I kinda sound like Super Dave when I talk. Also have quite the cough and cold. I never suffered any kind of cold in my 7 months in Australia, what’s the deal?

Day 1

After the exciting trip back to Christchurch, we officially began the tour. By that I mean we drove and drove and drove and drove. So far the South Island is lot like British Columbia and the Yukon. Mountains, oceans, forests …. Etc etc. We had a look at the Southern Options (skydiving, bungy jumping, helicopter rides, etc etc) and had to make our selections. Tough to do on the first day. We stopped in a town with the World’s Largest Jersey. No one was interested enough to actually see it. Then off to a few of the major lakes. Lake Tekapo, Lake Ohau. We spent the night at a lodge on Lake Ohau. There was ping pong, pool, drinks and party time as we all broke the ice. Quite literally. Well not really.

It’s an interesting group of people. It is dominated by English people. Quite a few Americans, Australians, and Brazilians. A couple Japanese, Scots, and Singaporeans. I’m the only Canadian, and I think there is an Austrian.

Day 2

Did I mention long drive??? Well this was another one. Lake Ohau to Milford Sound. About 6 solid hours of driving Yeah! The scenery was quite spectacular, especially the “Homer Tunnel” that we passed through before the quick descent to the Sound (actually a Fjord). We went for an overnight cruise in Milford Sound. The weather was absolutely terrible. Cold, windy and rainy. Although the rain did create some nice waterfalls!!! We went on a little tour of the sound. The fjord was spectacularly breathtaking. We were able to get on kayaks and paddle around. Some people spotted penguins. Since we got soaked from the rain while kayaking, myself, and a few of the girls decided to jump off the boat into the ocean. Let’s just say the water was FREEZING. You don’t realize how fast you can swim until you go in cold water. Fortunately there were showers on board the boat. The luke warm temperature felt like burning.

Day 3

More Driving? You bet ya! We went the same route back from Milford Sound to Queenstown. Another solid 4+ hours of driving. Before actually reaching Queenstown, we stopped at AJ Hackett Bungy jump to cheer the brave souls that went for the first jump. It was quite entertaining. Our Lodge in Queenstown had a wicked hot tub with an even better view. After an evening hot tub session, the group went up the Gondola to overlook of the city for a group dinner. Then followed up the dinner with a dance party at one of the night clubs.

Day 4

No Driving!!! Well just a little. To get to the site of the Routeburn track where several of us went on a 6 hour hike. It was quite fun. There were a couple Canadian girls along the trek to, so everyone bonded well. After the hike, it was more hot tubbing, followed by dinner at the Lodge. Then, it was off to Minus 5. An bar made entirely of ice. I went up and bought my ticket. The ticket was handed to me, and I put it in my wallet so I wouldn’t lose it. The cashier then gave my change back to me, noticed I didn’t have a ticket, and gave me another one. I was then able to pass that on to one of the girls for a free trip into the bar. The bar was cold. Too warm up, we had a dance party at the pub across the street. It got very heated.

Day 5

Today. This morning I decided to go extreme and do something I’ve never done before …..

Horse Back Riding. Myself and two guys from the tour went to a local stable and saddle up. Did someone say Brokeback Mountain … the Thrillogy? “I wish I could quit you”. That was quite fun. I got put in the back of the line and was stuck behind a slow horse that farted. Everytime I got my horse moving fast and trying to pass, the horse in front would cut me off. All day long it was intense battle. I finally passed it, and then the Guide said I had to go to the back. Lame.

That’s all so far for the day. Some of us are planning to go up the gondola again to do some Luging. Then back to the hotel for a party session. I’ve been a bit sick. I think it might have been the freezing cold temperatures of Milford Sound’s water. Tomorrow we leave Queenstown to go to Franz Josef. I’m planning to do a Heli-hike up on the Fox Glacier. After that it is back to Christchurch for a night. I’ll try to get some photos uploaded that day (Thursday night NZ time) from the Xchurch library. Then it’s off to the North Island. I have one friend I went to university with who now lives in Wellington. So I will hopefully get a chance to meet up with her for a little bit.

Boyd Out.

On Tour!!! First Stop .... Christchurch???

I just started the Contiki tour, and unbeknownst to me. The first stop was .... well .... Christchurch. How can that be a stop when we are already there??? I guess some people got in last night, and the meeting point was outside the city, so they get an hour to roam around. I on the other hand have seen what I need to see, so internet time!

I'm a little tired as our room played several "Sleeping Games" last night. No, there was no FREEEEEZE, but we did play the animal game and the country game. You name an animal, and then the next person has to name one with the last letter of the previous one. There were 4 British girls (Britches .... they liked that!) and a Yukon guy. We were up til about 3 with that one. Good times.

On a positive note, it is sunny and supposed to break 20 C today. Wahoo. On the road to the Lake Ohua in 30 minutes. By for now!

What a Relief .... to see Relief!

I'm HOME!!!!

Or at least it feels that way. It was quite exhilirating to see real mountains from the plane. It has been a while! Christchurch is very much like Victoria. It's got about the same population, the same English charm in the downtown, the smell of flowers everywhere ... AND .... IT's POURING RAIN!! The temperature was around 18 this afternoon. In Australia, I'd be freezing, but for some reason it's quite comfortable here. Another thing I noticed was the intensity of the sun (it was out when I first arrived) was nowhere near that of Ozland.

I went for a bit of a stroll around the block in the hour or so I had before it rained. It's not a long walk anywhere. I ended up in the Botanic Gardens and they had an Excellent display of Dahlias!!! G-man would be in Heaven!!!

Some Photos of Christchurch here

The backpackers I'm staying at has wireless internet at $15 / day. Are you freaking kidding me!!!! That's $450 / month. I could understand $5/day but that is a little steep if you ask me. I then remembered what Matt Finn had told me when he first moved to Perth. "If you want free internet, go to the Library". So I crossed the street, literally! Just a 2 minue walk, and into the library, and voila, FREE INTERNET! I'm Liking Christchurch Already. Hopefully this library strategy will work throughout the trip.

For those of you trying to figure out what time it is here (Dad) ... I am 21 hours ahead of you. Or you can just add a Day, and subract three. Right now it is 7:45PM on Wednesday for me, and 10:45PM on Tuesday for you! .... Go get me started when Day Light Savings Changes though ...

New Zealand Literally!

Holy Christchurch! I'm leaving the Land Down Under to go to A Land Even More Under. I guess I should now change the name of this site to something more Kiwi-ish, but that just takes too much time. I've been in Oz for almost 7 months now, and am looking forward to seeing a new country. I'll be doing a 15 day tour of New Zealand. I start in X-Church (christchurch) before heading to Milford Sound in the south of the South Island. Then head to Queenstown before heading to Wellington in the North Island. I continue up north to other towns: Rotorua, Waitomo, Bay of Islands, and then finish in Auckland, where I will spend my Easter Long Weekend. I'm really going to need that Long Weekend. Travelling is very tiresome.

Last Night, Russell Peters was Great. He had the place in stitches. Also performing were Jo Cor and Ahmed Ahmed.

My 3 internet will no longer be available to me until I get to Brisbane, so I probably won't be updating very much, and may not get pics up for a couple weeks. I'll have to track down some wireless locations. Starbucks anyone?

"Be A Man .... Do The Right Thing!"

Updating from Melbourne. The last couple days have been good. I headed with Claude to watch some pro beach volleyball at South Melbourne beach on Sunday. It was very good. Explored downtown a little. Find out there was another Canadian in my room from Toronto. He used to play OHL for the Mississauga Ice Dogs (i think) and played with Jason Spezza. Don Cherry was the coach for a little as well. He hated him. I didn't impress him by my performance with Scoff's Hockey Shop in Grade 6.

On Monday, I woke up to a great surprise. An early morning Blackhawks vs Canucks game. There is nothing like sleeping in bed listening to the Hawks destroy Vancouver. So good. Then I got up and headed back downtown. Someone gave me this "Free Edge Experience" ticket on top of Eureka Tower. Eureka Tower is the world's tallest residential complex, and I went up to the lookout on the 88th floor. It took about 30 seconds to get to the top, and the guides said it was the fastest elevator in the world. Personally, I found the elevators at BC Hydro to have faster acceleration. Anyway, this Edge Experience thing was absolutely ridiculous. You go into this glass cube, but they tint the windows so you can't see out. They then put on some sound effects and the cube moves out over the "edge". Then a big CRASH (sound effects), and you can see out the glass. Yes it was cool to be able to look straight down, but it wasn't like it was entirely glass. There were beams that made up about 60% of the floor. No cameras were allowed in so that they could take your picture and charge you $15. Sometimes things just get way too touristy, even for a tourist. Seeing the city from above was still pretty cool.

The Edge
Later that evening I met up with Holly (friend from Perth in town for a few days) and a couple of her friends for a night on the town. I think we went to a Chinese, Vietanese, and Malaysian. A great combo!

Today, I'm going to take it pretty easy. Do some washing. Get my gear together for the flight tomorrow to Christchurch. Later tonight, I got tickets to an Indo-Canadian comic named Russell Peters. He is playing about a 3 minute walk from my hostel. Very convenient. Should be a fun night. "Be a Man, Do the Right Thing"

Added a few more pics of The Edge and Eureka tower to the Melbourne Pics

Mel-boring

Well not quite .... it's very interesting in Melbourne. My first night at the backpackers in St Kilda was very interesting. Hahahaha, I just think back and laugh.

Anyway. Spent the day hiking around the city and parks with the last person I still see from my Adelaide to Melbourne tour. The guy's name is Claude and he's a 40 something guy from Switzerland. Not too much exciting, saw the Australian Open stadium, the Melbourne Cricket Grounds (unfortunately we missed a cricket match last night and footy match at Telstra dome as well. "d'oh".) Also checked out the Botanical Gardens, and walked through the city. Melbourne is very artsy fartsy. Everywhere you look there is a unique statue or building. It's quite nice.

Tonight I saw sunset at the beach at St. Kilda, came back for a few beers, and may go back down to the backpacker pub for a few more. There is a toga party, so the girls are looking very nice.

I'll start updating photos on a Melbourne Page.....haven't done much yet though

Where were going, we don't need any roads!

Just arrived this evening into Melbourne after my 3 day adventure on the Great Ocean Road. It was an interesting tour with 24 people. I really had no idea what to expect with a lot of it and enjoyed all the fun surprises. Leaving Adelaide we seemed to drive, stop for toilets, and drive for a good 6 to 7 hours. One quick stop was to look at white kangaroos. Sweet! Once we hit our first stop, I was anxious to get moving. It was Mount Hollow in Grampian National Park. I took off and climbed the mountain in no time. It turns out, I was supposed to wait to go up with the group. Woops!!!! Got in a little trouble with that one. Still a gorgeous view. Later on we did some driving through to Mackenzie Falls, then to Reed's Lookout and then settled for the night at Hall's Gap.

Day 2, Thursday was by far the best day. Again, we headed up another mountain lookout "The Pinnacle". This time I waited for the group, and tried to stay in the middle of the pack. Tried that is. I don't think I've mentioned yet, but it's been freezing cold (15 C and windy). I had my toque along for the ride at it was a blessing as the top of the Pinnacle was very cold, and it started rainy pretty good on the way down. A few of us took bails, including myself. Ouch!

The next part of the day was the best as we got to "The Great Ocean Road". In the words of Tony the Tiger, it was "GREEAAAT!!!!". My favourite place was at Gibson's Steps. A location where a fisherman cut steps out the limestones a 100 years ago to allow for beach access. Words can't really describe this part of the trip. It was just that good! Later that night we stayed in a town called Princetown. Population 10. But in true Aussie style, they did have a pub. The BBQ consisted of 3 mysterious meets. Yum! Then off to the 12 Apostles to view the sunset, that never occured.

Today, Friday, we started out by heading to Otway Fly. Another tree top walk that was similar to the one JP, Laura and I did in Walpole in December at the Valley of the Giants. The Otway one was not as good. The forest did remind me a lot of home as it was a cool temperate rain forests. It brought tears to my eyes. But that might have been because I was FREEZING cold! Lunch was at Apollo Bay, a nice beach town. There I was able to check the internet to find out Marty Havlat was injured again. The hawks should have traded him. After that was Part 2 of the Great Ocean Road. Not quite as stunning as the Limestone cliffs of the previous day, but still quite nice. On the way we stopped to check out some wild koalas. They were actually moving! Which is a rare site in the wild. We then stopped in at a famous surf beach, Bell's Beach. Then on to Torquay!!!! No, not the elementary school, but the surf town. Australians pronounce it Tor-kee, but I stuck with my roots, Tor-Kay. There we "shopped" for an hour at the Surf Outlet store. That part was very boring.

Finally we chugged along through the traffic in Geelong and hit the mayhem that is Melbourne at about 6:30 pm. I'm staying in a backpackers in St. Kilda, which is 20 minutes by tram to the southeast of the city. I like the backpackers so far. It's a little messy, but there are heaps of cute girls, and cheap beers. That's a winning combination.

Check out the uploaded pics:
Grampian Mountains
Great Ocean Road

Not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. I'll just wing it!

Hockey and Glenelg

I got to watch my first hockey game (non-webcam feed from Victoria) in Australia. It was Buffalo vs Philly. I watched the first 2 periods at the Woolrych's and then OT and the Shootout outside some sports bar that I happened to walk by. Peter Forsberg signed with the Avalanche .... I now HATE those stinking Avalanche. Trade Deadline is just a few hours away. I can't wait to wake up tomorrow. (Early start for my great Ocean Road tour. Have to be there at 6:15am .... EEEEK!)

The rest of today was spent Tramming it down to Glenelg beach to catch some rays, waves, and babes! Didn't really do a very good job at any of those; however, it was nice to see with beach with the sun shining, and people swimming. The sand was still littered with sea weed ..... but that's the way Cottesloe was when I first arrived for the first few months. The highlight on the trip back was a person (probably disabled) yelling at the conductor to get the tram moving "goddamit". "next stop please ... next stop please". We all had a good laugh. The tram has to stop for red lights so it takes about 30 minutes to go from city to beach.

Ok.... time for bed. What superstar will be a Chicago Blackhawk tomorrow????

More pics added to Adelaide folder and some more added yesterday for Barossa Valley

Likely won't hav internet for the next few days.....

Danny Briere skating in for the winning goal
The pier at Glenelg Beach
South Glenelg and Brighton Beach
Methinks this pig has the greatest name ever!!!!! HORATIO!

Barossa Valley

I headed on a tour of the Barossa Valley today. The highlight was seeing the World's Largest Rocking Horse .... well not really. It kinda sucked as it didn't rock, literally. The tour was great though, it was a little tough early on as I was last to be picked up, so I missed all the intros, and was sitting off on my own. But the crowd was pretty good, and once the wine got flowing things kicked up! It didn't hurt that 3 of the people were Irish. Gotta love the Irish!!! The meal we had was ridiculously delicious. I think it was a 4 course meal. It was a tour worth taking.

World's Biggest Rocking Horse
Barossa Valley
Some of the Young Ones at Whispering Wall
I slipped and was hanging on for dear life!

Adelaide's Botanic Garden ... I thought I took some pictures ....

My 3 internet is acting up as usually. When I go on for 5 minutes it says I use 150 MB when it should just be 5MB. Very frustrating, but typical of 3 ....... :( .... what's the angry face icon?

It was still a little cool and cloudy for most of the day, but the sun did finally peak through in the afternoon. Today, I explored the city and the Botanic Gardens. It was very enjoyable as their was no where at the Gardens because they were all at a V8 Race Car event known as Clipsol. Downtown was heaps of fun as well, especially when I came across a trashy pig. The highlight of the day was losing my camera in downtown Adelaide. Can you say WOOPS!!!! I had gone to the visitor centre to look into booking a tour for tomorrow and ended up leaving it there. Problem was, they had locked the door as I left (meaning they were now 20 minutes closed). Fortunately, enough pounding on the glass door, and panicked face were enough to have someone left me in, and there it was sitting on the ground next to the counter. Lucky me.

I did end up booking a tour for tomorrow. I'm going to head to the Barossa Valley (Australia's largest wine region) for a tour, and a few samples. There is also lunch in the equation too. Wahoo!

Added more pics to the Adelaide page. Link is in the previous post .....

The Rose Garden with the Rainforest building in the background
Not the most beautiful flower in the world....
Oink Oink .... Piggy looking for my camera.
Popeye (the boat) on the River Torrens with a foot bridge above.

Adelaide-hee-hoo!!!!!!

I had a comfortable flight from Perth to Adelaide thanks to the Virgin Blue guy for putting me in the Emergency Exit seat. I spent the flight worrying that it was my responsibility to save everyone in the event of an accident, but I did so with extra leg room. Oh yah. When I arrived, Adelaide was cold, wet, and very very windy. I thought this was the middle of summer?

Adelaide has a nice charm to it. The downtown is built with parklands completely surrounding it. The River Torrens rages (note below picture), through the centre. The thing that amazed me most so far is that I've had cars stop, not once, or twice, but thrice!!!! for me to cross the street. I think that happened two times in my 6 months in Perth. Nice to be around polite people that aren't trying to run me over!

A friend I met in Perth, Tom, has his parents (The Woolrych's) in Adelaide. They have been kind enough to let me stay at their place for the first couple of days, and they showed me around on Saturday. On Friday night, it was party at the local pub, and then one of their friends took me to the CBD for some fun at the Belgian Beer Cafe (that has a good ring to it). I got arrested!!!! But that was a good thing ;)

As mentioned, the Woolrych's took me around to some of the city sights. I went to the markets where I saw fruits and vegetables for absurd prices. Red peppers for $2/kg. In Perth they were $14!!!!!! I could live here just for the fruit. Also headed to Glenelg Beach (above photo), but it's still quite chilly (22C), and stormy, so the beach was not looking it's best. Since Adelaide is fairly small, it only takes 20 to 30 minutes to go from beach to the mountains, so I was then taken up to Mount Lofty to see the view from the hills. Very nice!

I'll put some more photos up at the Adelaide Link

Last Day in Perth

Today was my last day in Perth. Tomorrow I fly out to Adelaide. It was a little bitter sweet. I'm excited to get travelling and to see the east coast of Oz and NZ, but it's tough leaving all the friends and fun of Perth behind. The good news is that I still have to fly out of Perth on my way back home, so I'll be back!

Pics Uploaded

I uploaded some more pics from Mom and Dad's visit to Perth. They are a bit of of order, but that just makes it more fun!
Perth Pics
Rottnest Pics.

Brissy Bound

I took Mom and Dad to the airport early this morning (Saturday) and have gotten word from them that they have arrived ok in Brisbane! They are planning to get to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo tomorrow, then to Fraser Island for several days after that.

For their final day in Perth yesterday, we started out with the usual trip to the beach. Cottesloe in the morning. The weather was not the best. Only about 30 C and cloudy. Also a bit wavey. After that we headed to the CBD (downtown) of Perth to have lunch. It gave Mom and Dad a chance to see that people actually do go to the city as the two previous trips through have been completely deserted (Thursday @ 6:30PM and Saturday at 8:15AM).

After that, we went home and then back to City Beach. We hung out for several hours there, and finally the sun came out and Dad and I went in to some crashing waves. I came down with a bad case of Salt-Water-In-Nose Syndrome. This only happens during the stormy days. But when you lie down to go to bed, I guess the water shifts, and just starts pouring out. It's quite hilarious, and very annoying.

That puts a wrap to the Mom and Dad adventures in Perth. I'll put some links up when I get more photos up on the web.

The English Court in Perth
Catching some air on my board
Dad and I in the big waves.

PS, I Love You Perth

My favourite holiday of all .... Valentine's Day .... YEAH!!!! There is no one better to spend it with than Don & Sandi in Perth. :)

Today we headed up north along the Sunset Coast Drive, and made our first stop at Mettam's Pool at Marmion Marine Park. It has some of the best snorkelling along the Perth coast. Sadly, the waves were kicking up pretty good, even in the morning, so it wasn't very good at all. That's alright, just hang out on the beach instead. I think I was the only person aged between 2 and 35 years old.

After Mettam's Pool we drove further north to the Quay at Hillary's Boat Harbour, had some lunch, then crossed the street to AQWA (Aquarium of Western Australia). Inside we saw some pretty sweet fish: Sting Rays, Sharks, Jellyfish, Octopus, Turtles, etc etc.

This is a cross between a Sea Horse and Sea Weed. It's known as the Leafy Sea Dragon. Some very good camouflage!

Little did Dad know, but the chameleon-like Donfish was sneaking up behind him! LOOK OUT!

The best part of the tour was the underwater moving walkway. We spent about 30 minutes in here just watching the sharks, turtles and rays. Very cool having a shark swim right towards you. The moving walkway was a little sketchy and we all came down with minor cases of vertigo. For one young boy, it wasn't minor. "Smells like someone just chucked" said one teenage boy passing by. I saw it happen, and it was gross.

One of the grey nurse sharks stalking it's prey.

I thought it would be fun to go pet a crocodile statue..... I then realized it was not a statue at all and the croc chomped down on my arm. Not too much left of the right one, but I always wanted to write with my left hand.

FOUND YOU NEMO!

On the way home we stopped off at City Beach. The sea breeze had kicked in, so the waves were rougher than Mom and Dad had seen yet. The beach was also filled with people under 25 ..... which is always a welcoming sight.

For Valentine's Day we went for a romantic drive to King's Park, which turned into a traffic nightmare. Something was going on in the Park, but there was no where to park, so we parked that idea, and headed to other parts of King's Park .... did I mention we saw Richard Park? The outdoor moonlight cinema was also packed with as the movie "PS, I Love You" was playing. We stood outside the fence but still had an unobstructed view of the cinema for 10 minutes. A Chick Flick times 10.

For more pics from when I went to AQWA in October click here