Ularu (Ayers Rock)

They sure don’t call it the Red Centre for nothing! After waking up from my 3 hour “nap” on the plane, I looked out the window only to see miles and miles of red sand… and a whole lot of nothing!

We arrived in Alice Springs early enough to explore a bit of the town and enjoy the day. Boy, was it hot! To go from cold and wet Tasmania to hot and dry Northern Territory… what a contrast. Kinda cool though to be able to experience such opposite landscape and climate within a few days and within the same country no less! It was so dry in Alice Springs, in fact, that they actually hold a “boat race” every year along the “river” where they have to pull their man-made boats along the river bed to the finish line. Apparently it’s the only place in the world where they’ll actually cancel the boat race if there’s water in the river.

A lot of aboriginals live in Alice Springs as well, which you definitely don’t see in Sydney. Not really sure how safe it is there though, considering we had a huge sign on our balcony door saying “LOCK YOUR DOOR AT NIGHT!”, so I was glad we only had to spend one night there on each end of our tour.

Our 3-day adventure in the outback began at 5am on the first day! Why so freakin’ early you ask? Well, in the outback NOTHING is close to each other and we had to drive 450kms to get to Ularu. Our tour guide, Jason, and hostee, Robert, were prepared enough to provide us with some entertainment on the bus though, so the ride didn’t seem so long.

As we got closer to Ularu, the rock suddenly appeared in the distance and it was pretty magnificent. It really is an amazing landmark that is truly red! We by-passed Ayers Rock and went straight to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), another rock formation not far from Ularu. There, we did a 5+ km walk in through what is called the Valley of the Winds. Beautiful scenery through there with a look-out at the end that was well worth the hike.

After Kata Tjuta, we headed straight back to watch the sunset at Ularu. I think what was almost more amazing was the gathering of people to watch the sunset, than the sunset itself. Almost, but not quite! Jason offered us up some champagne and crackers with cheese to compliment this incredible view. And that pretty much marked the end of day one, aside from a wonderfully cooked dinner and a few jokes by the campfire afterwards.

It was up early again on day 2 so that we could watch the sunrise at Ularu. I didn’t really notice too much of a difference from sunset, but it was still beautiful. Then we were set off to do our 8km walk around the rock. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take many photos around the rock as they are sacred aboriginal sites and they prefer we didn’t take pictures. After our walk it was time for lunch and then we headed out on our next long journey out to Kings Canyon. Along the way we ran into some wild camels crossing the road. Now you know you’re in the desert when come across wild camels! (see video)

We arrived to Kings Canyon just in time to see the sunset there as well. Not as good as Ularu, but still such a beautiful sunset. That night the boys played a little trick on me by putting a fake mouse spider up on the wall where the campfire was. It was all fun and games until one of them took the shovel and tossed it at us! Some of you know how much I hate spiders, so you can just imagine my reaction on that one! (NOT GOOD) Then it was time for bed.

Our last day included a 6km hike through Kings Canyon. It started off with a 20 minute climb up “Heart Attack Hill” where up till now, 4 people have died. Fun stuff, let me tell ya. It was well worth it though once we got to the top. The views were spectacular, and I would do that climb again in a heartbeat if the view would always be that good. After lunch we were back on the road again to go back to Alice Springs. We got to enjoy a bit of 4-wheel driving on the way back as there wasn't a paved road all the way, so it was a bit bumpy, but a whole lot of fun! We even ran into another group of camels which Robert whole heartedly tried to catch, but didn't succeed. It was funny to watch though!

And that marked the end of our tour. It was a fun-filled, adventurous 3 days and unlike anything else I've seen so far in Australia. And I never expected to do so much hiking. Between Tasmania and Ularu, I've hiked over 35 kms in the span of 10 days. I think it's time for some relaxation... which we will definitely do in Fiji this week! 3 days left in Sydney now... the countdown has begun...

Tasmania

"Holiday Island" as their licence plate says... and I can't think of a more perfect way to describe Tasmania. I can't say I'd want to live there, but it was definitely worth the visit as it is such a beautiful part of Australia.

My mom arrived in Sydney on Sept. 3rd and after allowing her only 2 days to recover from the jet-lag, we jumped on a plane to fly down to Tasmania for a 6-day self-drive tour.

We spent our first day in Hobart where we got to shop at the Salamanca markets and enjoy a boat cruise around the harbour.

The next day we drove down to Port Arthur to take a tour of the famous "Hell on Earth" penetentiary of the 1800's. Eerie place, but a part of Australia's history that is a must visit if you go to Tassie. We took a quick drive up Mount Wellington on our way back to Hobart to check out the view of the city. It was so cold and we were so high up that it actually started snowing!

Then it was off to Freycinet National Park and Coles Bay where we did a 4 hour hike to Wine Glass Bay and around to Hazzards Beach and back. Not the easiest hike so I was very proud of mom for being able to finish it!

After Coles Bay, we headed west towards Cradle Mountain. I'd have to say this was definitely my favourite place in Tasmania. We were one with nature there... including the animals! We saw everything from Wallabies to Wombats to big huge Possums. Some of the animals would even come right up to our cabin (obviously wanting food) and sit outside our sliding door waiting for us to give them something to eat. We'd even have to push them out of the way if we wanted to go outside so they wouldn't walk right into our living room. Very funny... and too cute!

We also did another hike at Cradle Mountain. A bit shorter this time, only 2 hours around Dove Lake which is directly in front of Cradle Mtn. so we had a constant view the whole way around.

Finally it was time to head back, so we spent our last day taking a tour of the Anvers Chocolate Factory near La Trobe and doing a bit of shopping in Launceston before catching our flight back to Sydney.

We only had 2 days to rest and re-pack though as now we're in Alice Springs about to head off on a tour in the Outback at Ularu. I was lucky enough to go to the Pete Murray (Australian artist - must listen) concert last night with Jorge and then we headed out to celebrate Mexican Independence Day, so at the moment I'm running on less than 3 hours air plane sleep. Might go try to take a nap by the pool now before our little outback adventure!

Not much longer now... when we get back from Ularu I only have a week left in Sydney before heading off to Fiji and then home sweet home! Looking forward to my farewell "partay" next Saturday though... will be a blast! Can't believe my year is almost up!

Thredbo/Canberra

Well, I can now say I’ve skied the Australian Alps, although I don’t know how much of an accomplishment that really is. ;) How strange it was to not only be skiing in Australia, but to be skiing amongst Gum Trees and in the sun that was so hot I was sweating before I even got to the lift! An experience it was though, as weird as it was. It started on Friday afternoon where we all packed up early at the office to hit the road for our 6-hour long drive to get to the snow! Oh, I forgot to mention that this trip was courtesy of my employer, which was an extra bonus for me!!!! How lucky am I???? Anyway… so after being forced to listen to 80’s dance music the ENTIRE way… and of course, “I come from a land down under”… we made it to Thredbo ski village with enough time to grab some pizzas for dinner and chill by the big screen TV and fireplace in our lodge. Good times.

We hit the slopes early Saturday morning at which point my boss, who for weeks was saying that he was going to, “kick my ass” on the mountain, changed his tune a little. I believe out of fear that maybe he wasn’t as good as he thought he was. We went straight to the top of Thredbo, which is 2037 meters above sea level. Not bad compared to Whistler/Blackcomb which is 2284. Difference is… it takes all of 2 minutes to ski down Thredbo, whereas it takes ½ hour to ski down Whistler (not including breaks!). Reason being the base in Thredbo is much higher than at Whistler due to the snow only covering the top of the mountain. Even the village had little to no snow, and the river was running full swing, again, all making it very hard to believe that we could actually ski there.

The day turned out to be a lot of fun. Aside from one really bad icy run, no powder, and the slushy snow at the bottom of the slopes, the conditions actually weren’t that bad… for Australian standards of course. Most of us were completely nackered by the end of the day… yes, I said nackered! We got back to the lodge where we were able to relax a bit before enjoying a wonderful lamb and chicken home cooked meal by our boss! Were we ever spoiled… it was fabulous! That evening was spent accompanied by a few drinks and a lot of laughs before hitting the sack.

Sunday morning we took our time getting up and packing up and went for a nice breakfast in the village. Then we began our long trek back to Sydney with a stop in Canberra, Australia’s national capital. Funny story how Canberra became the capital of the country: apparently it was selected as a compromise between rival cities Sydney and Melbourne because they couldn’t just pick one or the other, so they built an entirely new city right in between the two in 1908. Seems a bit silly to me, but whatever. The city itself almost seemed a little too perfect… everything placed exactly where it should be, but I guess that’s what you get with a purpose-built planned city. We stopped at the markets for lunch and then drove up to Mount Ainslie for some look-out photos, which looked right across to the Parliament House.

At this point I actually swapped vehicles as my friend Jorge and his friends also happened to be in Canberra, so I joined up with them and rode the rest of the way back to Sydney with them. No more 80’s dance music… now it was Mexican tunes all the way home!

All in all it was a great weekend. I’m glad I actually got to see for my own eyes what the “Australian Alps” were all about, and it was great to hang out with my co-workers. I’ve truly been blessed to end up working with them and have already told them they all have to come to Vancouver at some point to see what real skiing is all about! Although I’m charging anyone who plans on coming during the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010! Seriously!

Melbourne

I decided to take a little trip back to Melbourne this past weekend being that my last trip there was a little… let’s say… wasteful? Anyhoo… my friend Jules and I took Monday off work and decided to go down to Melbourne for an extra long weekend.

I have to say… I appreciated the city much more so than last time, and I have to be honest… I actually like Melbourne a lot more than Sydney. There are many reasons for this, including the fact that’s it’s culturally more diverse, WAY less pretentious, fabulous transportation system, and fantastic café’s and bars in the little hidden alley ways throughout the city… just to name a few!

We spent most of our time walking around the city, and doing tons of shopping. Oh, and that’s another thing… Melbourne shopping is by far better than in Sydney. I spent weeks looking for something in Sydney that I found in less than an hour shopping in Melbourne. Fabulous!

It was great to get away and enjoy Melbourne for what it has to offer. I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface there, but I know one day I’ll go back!

Now that I’ve just finished unpacking, I have to start packing again for my trip THIS weekend down to the snow! Yes, Australia does have snow. I’m heading to Thredbo to do some skiing for the weekend, which will be quite interesting. I’m keeping my expectations low… as I know it won’t be Whistler. So stay tuned for that update next week…

East Coast, Byron Bay - Cairns

I've only posted a few of my favourite pics. There were too many photos to post, so you can find them all here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=soqaq08.6lxbkyjs&x=0&y=-psevbh&localeid=en_US

I warn you in advance, this is going to be a long entry. So many wonderful, crazy, hilarious, and unexpected things happened along the way on my friend Siobhan and my 3-week adventure up the east coast, I don’t want to leave anything out! I hope I’m able to share these stories in a way that draws you closer to our experiences. Now pull up a chair….

I started the trip by flying from Sydney to Byron Bay to meet up with Siobhan there. She and I met last year on my trip to New Zealand and have been friends ever since, so we decided to do the east coast together back in February since we knew we both wanted to do the same things. In Byron we stayed at a hostel called the Arts Factory, which we were told was a great place. Little did we know that we’d practically be sleeping outside in their so called “Surf Shacks” and be awoken no later than 5am by the annoying Cockatoos, Kookaburra’s, and crazy brush-turkeys chasing each other on the aluminum roof of our “shack”.

The following day we decided to take a day trip on the Hippie Bus from Byron to Nimbin, a little hippie town about an hour west of Byron Bay known as the “alternative village” where most backpackers go to get some “special cookies” or “special grass”. Ok… enough with the “quotations”. Anyway, Siobhan and I did try one of the special cookies, and we were specifically warned not to eat too much too fast, so we practically ate crumbs in 30 minute intervals cause we were worried about what it might do to us. Both of us can admit now it made us a little lethargic, but were adamant then that it wasn’t working. After our little Nimbin tour, we stopped at this random dude Paul’s house where we had a tour of his property and a little snack. He lives on this beautiful piece of land just outside Nimbin, but has NO electricity and makes crazy art pieces out of junk. Still not sure why that stop was part of the tour, but it was interesting to say the least. I think the funniest part of this day tour was how hyper and excited everyone was on the bus ride there, and how quiet and mellow everyone was on the way back. Must’ve had something to do with the cookies.

After 2 nights of little sleep due to the crazy birds as well as dancing the night away at Cheeky Monkeys, and 2 days chillin’ on the beach and checking out Nimbin, we headed north to Surfers Paradise. The only way I can describe Surfers is that it’s a cross between Disney World, Niagara Falls, and Las Vegas. Siobhan and I went to the Movie World theme park where we went on every single ride and even rode the Scooby Doo roller coaster twice! Oh yeah, good times! Other than the theme parks and one big long beach, Surfers didn’t have too much to offer, so we moved on to Brisbane.

We met up with Siobhan’s friend Brian and his friend Dave our first night there to watch the Rugby game between QLD and NSW. Have I told you how big sports are here in Australia? You could almost say Australians worship their sports above anything else. Even the newscasts dedicate more time to sports than to local and world news combined! Anyway, point being that this match was a must see and the bar was packed with crazy sports fanatics. It was great fun as a one-off, but not an everyday thing for me. Since Brisbane is quite small, we took a day trip to Moreton Island, one of the largest sand islands in the world. Once there we snorkeled around the shipwrecks and went sandboarding/tobogganing in the sand dunes which was quite fun and amusing, except for all that sand getting in every possible place you could think of! That evening we met up with Brian and Dave again for our last night in Brisbane.

After only 3 hours sleep, Siobhan and I forced ourselves out of bed, packed up our things and caught a train to take us to Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo. We spent most of the day walking around like zombies because of how tired we were, but we did see a few animals as well as the crocodile show, which was pretty freaky. We also saw Steve’s wife Terri Irwin walking around, which was kinda cool. We then jumped on a courtesy bus that took us up to a small town called Noosa.

Noosa was beautiful and I wish we had been able to spend more time there, but we were on a very tight schedule. We spent 1 day there checking out the beaches and catching a bit of a surfing competition on Sunshine Beach. Then it was off again, this time to Harvey Bay where we were to start our Fraser Island tour.

For those who don’t know, Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world, stretching over 123 kilometers long and with an area of 184,000 hectares. We were put into a group of 7 – Siobhan, myself, and 5 other people we didn’t know. They gave us a 4WD truck, loaded us up with all the camping gear we needed for 3 days, gave us a crappy little map, and sent us on our way. No guide, just 7 of us whom knew nothing about each other, 6 of which had never even been camping before! What the heck were we thinking??? As it turned out as well, we only had 2 people that could even drive the truck since it was stick shift, and driving on sand isn’t as easy as some may think. I actually feared for my life at some points when we were driving around the inner parts of the island. The “road” was so bumpy and steep at parts, I thought we were going to roll over! The first day we spent some time chillin’ at Lake MacKenzie, a beautiful fresh water lake right in the middle of the island. Then we went to the SS Maheno ship wreck and then set up camp. This was real camping mind you where we just picked a spot up from the beach and pitched our tents there. No toilets, no showers, couldn’t even make a fire, and only 2 people in the group had headlights. We saw quite a few wild dingos on our first day, one of which even came to visit us on our camp site. Very cool!

On our second day we went for a little hike up to Indian Head where we were able to see a Manta Ray swimming in the water below. We also saw whales off the coast and little fresh water turtles at another fresh water lake on the island. That night Siobhan and I befriended some people from another group and went and played Frisbee on the beach with them in the dark. They had parked their truck in a way so that the headlights gave us some light. It started to rain, so we headed back to the camp site only to find that our tent had flooded with water and completely collapsed! We quickly gathered all our stuff from inside the tent and carried it all to the truck. In the process, Siobhan accidentally jammed her toe in the rusty metal part of the truck and started bleeding everywhere! We were both soaking wet by the time we had everything in the truck. We spent the rest of the night squished in the truck with all the food, coolers, rubber maid bin with all the dishes, pots, etc. and sand… lots and lots of sand EVERYWHERE! And poor Siobhan had to sleep with one leg out of her sleeping bag so as not to get blood inside it. On top of all that, about 20 minutes after I was finally able to fall asleep, water started to drip right on my face! Somewhere on the top storage shelf of the truck there was a window left open, but I was too exhausted to try and find my way to go close it so I slept the entire night with water dripping on my face! Now you can be rest assured that Siobhan and I have had many, many good laughs about this since, but I can also assure you, we definitely weren’t laughing at the time!

Our last day on Fraser Island was spent at a more relaxed pace. We took our time packing up and having breakfast… even were lucky enough to get a visit from a paramedic to make sure Siobhan’s toe was ok. Then we stopped at Lake Wabby for a quick photo op. before heading back to the ferry. We returned to Harvey Bay with enough time to have a quick shower and a bite to eat before jumping on a 12-hour overnight bus to Airlie Beach. Luckily we had 2 days to chill in Airlie and wash all the sand out of our clothes before going on our Whitsunday sailing trip. The night before we were to go sailing we heard on the news that Fraser Island had to be evacuated due to flooding and high water levels. How lucky were we to miss that by only 2 days! The weather along the gold coast actually got really bad and there was a lot of rain and flooding… thankfully we missed all of it and only had 1 day and 1 night of rain on our entire trip!

I would have to say sailing the Whitsundays was one of my favorite parts of the east coast. We booked ourselves on a 60ft sail boat that held 16 passengers. On the first day the skipper took us in small groups on the little dingy boat to search for turtles in this little bay where the water was really shallow so we could see them swimming around. Sometimes we would get so close to them that when they’d start to swim away, they’d splash all of us in the dingy… it was very cute! We also went to Whitehaven beach the first day. A beautiful, huge beach where the sand is so white and so fine it squeaks beneath your feet when you walk on it. The next day we went to the Tongue Bay lookout where we got an incredible view of Whitehaven beach. We also did a bit of snorkeling and chillaxin’ on the boat. And finally our last day we went on a nice 1.5 hour hike to the Spion Kop lookout which looks over the Whitsunday Islands, then we suntanned on the boat all the way back to the wharf. It was such a nice relaxing part of our trip… we couldn’t have asked for anything more.

After the Whitsundays we went to a place called Magnetic Island for a couple of days. There we rented a “Moke”, a little vehicle that’s sort of in between a car and a go cart. Funny thing… they were all stick shift vehicles and Siobhan’s licence had expired, so I found myself in a crash course for driving manual with Siobhan as my teacher. Aside from stalling about 50 times, including once on a steep hill, which I think made both our hearts stop for a second, I think I did ok! With the Moke we were able to explore all the beaches around the island and check out the shops and restaurants on our own. We also spent an afternoon at an animal wildlife centre where I got to hold a snake (ewwww!), a Black Red-tailed Cockatoo, and a crocodile (it was little). We also fed the Lorikeets, which turned out to be a bit more of an experience than we had bargained for as there were TONS of them all over us! I was laughing so much I could hardly stand! At one point Siobhan had so many birds on her she looked like some crazy bird lady. Ah, too hilarious!

After Magnetic Island, we made the last leg of our trip up to Cairns where we had a 2-day overnight dive trip planned on the Great Barrier Reef as both Siobhan and I are certified. The first 3 dives on the first day went well, except for our 3rd dive where we got a little disoriented and ended up having to swim a mile back to the boat after we surfaced. Unfortunately the hotel-size yacht we were staying on was too big to go pick up divers where ever they surfaced, and they only had a small boat for emergencies, so if you ended up far away from the boat you had to swim back! That night I knew we had a night dive planned, which I had been extremely nervous about since before we even left on this trip. When it came time to suit up for the night dive my heart started racing. We got to the dive deck for our briefing and someone who was looking over the back of the boat said, “Oh my God, look at all the sharks!”. I started shaking so much I could barely get my suit on, and I refused to look in the water. In case you're wondering how we could see anything in the water at night... the dive boat had a huge light on the top that was shining down on the water below, so that we could see. Eventually we were all ready to go and we had to make our way down to the platform, at which point I could no longer avoid looking into the water. When I looked down there were DOZENS of sharks swimming around below me. All I could think of was the same thing I thought just before I jumped out of a plane skydiving a few years back… “What the HECK am I doing?!?!?!”. And then I jumped in! I popped up breathing heavily and I didn’t want to put my head under the water cause I didn’t want to see how close the sharks were, so I just started swimming. Siobhan followed and we made our way to the moore line where we were to decend from. Our group went first. As we decended I could see all the sharks swimming around us. It was amazing! I was still scared as anything, but it was such a surreal experience, it was almost calming in a weird way. About half way down our guide told Siobhan and I to stop as there was a problem with one of the other people in our group and he had to go help him. So for a short time, Siobhan and I were on our own with our crappy little flashlights, floating in the darkness with sharks and big Groper fish swimming all around us. WHAT!?!?!? The guide came back only to tell us we had to go back up. We didn’t know what was going on as obviously you can’t talk to each other under the water, so we just followed him back up. We waited on the surface a bit before we were all ready to go back down again. On our 2nd decent my ears started to hurt and I couldn’t equalize, so unfortunately I wasn’t able to complete my dive. We went back up again and I told the group to go on without me. I swam back to the deck on my own, which was a little scary as I knew the sharks were still beneath me, but I managed to make it back on the boat! I was disappointed I wasn’t able to complete the night dive, but I pretty much got the gist of the experience anyway. I think the only thing I missed was seeing the big Groper fish eat the little fish when you shine the light on them. Siobhan told me afterwards that was pretty funny. Oh well… next time!

The following day we had 2 dives left to do. As if we thought all the excitement had been dealt with the night before… nope! On Siobhan and my 1st dive of the day we got so disoriented and lost that we ended up miles away from the boat! When we surfaced I panicked cause I couldn’t see the boat straight away. Eventually I spotted it as it looked so small in the distance. We started to swim. We got to a point where the reef was only a meter below us and the current was so strong that the waves were slamming us into the reef. I stopped swimming and said to Siobhan we won’t make it. We looked at each other and both lifted our arms in the air at the same time to signal for the rescue boat. It didn’t take long for them to come get us, but I was already pretty tired. When we got back to the main boat EVERYBODY was starring at us! We were so embarrassed. I couldn’t understand how everybody else was making it back to the boat until we went on our last dive of the day and realized they were all staying right under the boat! So that’s what we ended up doing for our last dive and it was great! We even finally saw a sea turtle and more sharks. A great end to a jam packed 2 days on the reef!

After partying the night away at the Woolshed we spent the last day of our east coast adventure tooting around Cairns doing some shopping and enjoying the last bit of warm temps and sunshine by the lagoon. Looking back at our trip I can’t believe how much we packed in in only 3 weeks. I had such an amazing time and feel so blessed that, other than our little tent mishap, everything went so smoothly, we had fantastic weather, did and saw everything we wanted to, and had many, many laughs!

We arrived back to Sydney with only a few days left before Siobhan and our other friend AnneMarie left Australia to do a bit more travelling before heading home. To my pleasant surprise, another friend, Kam, from back home was in Sydney, so I got the opportunity to spend time with him as well. We had a big send-off for the girls and enjoyed some good reminiscing of all our trips and experiences thus far. I will miss them both dearly, but plan to visit them in Ireland next year! Thanks for the good times ladies!

As for me…. well, I still have a few months to go, so stay tuned…

Thailand (Patong & Phi Phi Island)

I never had any intentions to go to Thailand at any point in my planning to come to Australia, but after talking to my friend Siobhan who had been and did her diving course there, I thought maybe I should do the same thing. Not only did I do and complete my diving course there, but I had a trip that will be apart of my memory for many years to come.

We flew 9 hours from Sydney to Phuket and spent the first night in a beautiful resort before heading to Patong the next day. I'm not sure if it was culture shock or just the mere fact that I was in a very weird place (I'm going with the later), but I really felt like we were far away from home in Thailand. We arrived in Patong only to be followed (or stalked) for an hour by a taxi driver constantly saying "Tuk Tuk" convinced that we needed him to give us a ride. Along with that we were called upon by many of the sales people along the streets to buy their goods... whether it be pirated DVD's and CD's or clothes or interesting wooden carvings. By day, Patong was a big huge market, by night, the streets were filled with open bars and tons of... well... to put it nicely... women selling themselves. At this point I wasn't sure if it was harder to deal with that, or the bad smell every time we walked over a sewage drain. Eck... makes me nauseous just thinking about it. Combined with the heat and stray dogs running around everywhere, I'd have to say Patong wasn't my favourite place, although the beach did have a beautiful sunset, which Jesse and I enjoyed blissfully.

The next day we left for our 6 night stay on Phi Phi Island. Also where Ma Ya Bay is, or where most of you will know where "The Beach" was filmed. We started our 3-day dive course right off the bat so that we could get it out of the way and enjoy the last few days exploring the island. I LOVED Phi Phi Island. Not only is it a beautiful beach island, but there are no cars! How wonderful is that??? You just walk everywhere... or some people would ride their bikes, but it was so easy to get around on foot, it was great. The first day of the dive course taught us the basic skills of diving and what to do if we encountered certain common situations. We did some of the skills in shallow water in the ocean, but our actual diving took place on day 2 and 3. The dives were amazing! Saw everything from Nemo fish to Octopus to turtles and even a Leopard Shark! The coral was absolutely beautiful... so many different shapes and colours, it was almost mesmerizing. After 4 open-water dives and a written exam, Jesse and I are now certified open-water divers! Yay! Now I can use my certificate to go diving in Australia!!!! We celebrated by enjoying a couple of "buckets" and partying the night away at the "Half Moon Party". A little kitty came to celebrate with us as well... I guess Patong has the dogs and Phi Phi has all the stray cats. Weird.

Our last couple of days we got to enjoy relaxing and seeing more of the island. We went to Ma Ya Bay where "The Beach" was filmed and went snorkeling there. It looks exactly like in the movie. So secluded and private... aside from the 30 or so other tourists that were also on the island. ;) We found a cave at the back of the island where there were ropes hanging so that you could hang on. I soon found out that they were well needed as everytime a wave would come, it would knock us right off our feet. Spent a little bit of time lying on the beach, but we were only allowed to stay at Ma Ya Bay for 2 hours, so our longboat driver called on us to take us back to the hotel soon after.

The next day we thought it would be fun to go snorkeling in search of Reef Sharks. We met a guy named Val a couple nights before who came along with us as he had been before and seemed to know where they were. We swam around for about an hour and didn't see any sharks. Saw lots of other kinds of fish and coral, but no sharks. As we slowly started to make our way back to shore I was just floating on top of the water with my head under looking around when all of a sudden a huge Blacktip Reef Shark swam right in front of me! I froze and I think my heart skipped a beat. When it swam far enough that I couldn't see it anymore my head jolted out of the water and I looked around for Jesse who was looking straight at me. I screamed, "did you see that?!?!?!?". He was like, "what?". At this point I thought... I should probably put my head back in the water in case the shark comes back. It didn't, which was probably a good thing cause it scared the begeezes out of me. I've attached a link to a photo of a Blacktip for those who care to see what they look like.

http://www.shark-pictures.com/viewpic/blacktip-reef-shark-picture-735.html

That night we hiked up this crazy long staircase that took us up to the viewpoint of Phi Phi Island. We went just in time to see the sunset, so it was absolutely beautiful. It was a great end to our stay on the island, and the next day we were back on the boat to Patong. We spent our last night and day in Patong so that we could do some shopping since everything is SO cheap there.

Thailand - the land of smiles it truly is. The people are so friendly and nice. It was almost as if nobody had a care in the world.... they were all chilled and relaxed all the time. If only we could all live that way.

Adelaide - Melbourne (& Kangaroo Island)

Sorry it's taken me so long to update my blog. This trip from Adelaide to Melbourne actually took place 3 weeks ago now... but better late than never.

My friend Dan came to visit from Vancouver and so of course I had to take him to Ice Bar, hence the winter jackets. I'd almost say there was a cold front in Sydney, but it was just more like rain... A LOT of rain, unfortunate for Dan as he didn't really get to see Sydney in it's true hot and sunny state.

Kangaroo Island was spectacular! The coastline was just indescribable and to see wild Kangaroos was the most amazing sight. Though I'm saddened to say I think I saw more dead Kangaroos on the side of the road than I did live wild ones. We stopped for a bbq lunch on some farm that had a little Koala walk. I spotted about 4 wild Koalas as well as a Wallaby... too cute! We also stopped at a beach where sea lions were snoozing. We were allowed to walk on the beach obviously at a reasonable distance from them... but there was this one little guy who I think was looking for his mum and came right up to us! He was a little confused, but definitely amused us all.

Along the Great Ocean Road I'd have to say my favourite sights were the wild animals. Saw a few Kangaroos, an Echidna and a bunch of Koalas. I've named myself the "Koala Spotter" as I was able to find them quicker than anyone else. The road itself reminded me a lot of the Sea-to-Sky highway going up to Whistler. Lots of twists and turns and feeling like you might drive off the edge and go crashing into the ocean below. Yeah... it was great! No, really... it was. I definitely want to to it again. The Twelve Apostles was another great site along the Great Ocean Road. I think there are only 7 left standing, but who's counting? It was one of those sites that I could've stared at for hours. So beautiful.

We arrived in Melbourne safely, and I even got to try their wacky driving maneuvre called the "hook-turn". Totally weird, where you drive out into the middle of the intersection and sit in front of the traffic on your left until their light goes green. Supposedly this is due to the trams, but I think they just made it up to be weirdos! Totally illegal move anywhere else in the country. Melbourne was a nice city... quite different from Sydney and pretty in it's own ways. I was only there for a couple days so I'm hoping to make a trip back there again as well.

That's about it! It was such a quick trip, but well worth it. Next stop - Thailand!!!!