We got our tickets today!

Well we made it!

The trip started out with a bang when Air Canada called on Monday saying 'Well we've cancelled your flight'... No worries though, they rebooked us, although now we flew through Hawaii rather than LAX. We arrived in Sydney this morning at around 7AM and then made it to Brisbane around lunch time. We came here (the hostel) and started the acclimatisation process with a nap and a shower. This place is just like living in residence again, complete with the BBQ and beers :)

Just to prove you can't run away from home, the first song we heard on Brisbane radio today was Bryan Adams' Summer of 69...
It is a little humid here, but quite nice ~ 26C today and sunny. We are going to spend the rest of the week here before heading north to Fraser Island and beyond.

Useless fact:
-The escalators, much like the driving is on the 'wrong' side (up on the left, down on the right).

We road the train to the Beerwah today to visit the Australia Zoo (home of the Crocodile Hunter). Saw lots of animals (kangaroos, koalas, crocs, gators, lizards etc) and a croc feeding demo. It was pretty cool even though Steve, the Crocodile Hunter, himself wasn't there.

Other than that, we have been keeping busy. We spent yesterday poking around Brisbane itself. We walked from our place to downtown and ended up in a very Granville-Mall type setting called Queen St. Pedestrian Mall. We walked back through the old Expo '88 grounds. They have turned them into a beautiful park, complete with man-made lagoon and beach and running path.

We head up to Hervey Bay/Fraser Island tomorrow. It looks like fun!

Useless Fact: Warning to cyber squatters - Prior to Burger King entering Australia, an enterprising young man copyrighted 'Burger King' hoping to sell it to them at a later date. Without missing a beat, BK created a spinoff called Hungry Jack's complete with Whoppers & the familiar logos.

Just got back from a 3 day 'Wilderness Adventure' at Fraser Island. The island and the tour were both incredible. We stayed at the Kingfisher Bay Resort and went on a guided tour of the island. It was beautiful beaches, rainforests and Sahara-like deserts all rolled into one! Imagine driving along a beach highway with no lanes and launching over sand dunes - organized chaos. I can't do it justice here, so you'll have to wait until we get back in order to see the pictures.

We met some very cool people and everyone had (too much) fun. Saw a dingo, whales, sea turtles & a carpet python. We also saw this guy who had been fishing on the beach. Unfortunately for him, he had snagged a sting ray. The ray was not happy and wriggling around on the beach like you wouldn't believe. The guy just stood there holding his rod wondering what to do. Eventually, the sting ray was able to free himself (or the guy just cut the line - it was hard to tell).

Heading north to Rockhampton & Great Keppel Island tomorrow.

Well we have made it to the Great Barrier Reef. We did a lot of exploring today and are planning to do some snorkeling tomorrow. The place we are staying in a 'tent city' - it is just like living in the jungle.

We spent last night in Rockhampton (self-proclaimed Beef Capital of Australia). We had our first really good meal at a local Steak House with a couple of fellow Canadians we met on out Fraser Island trip.

Greetings from the Tropic of Capricorn!

We have spent the past couple of days hanging out on the beach and playing in the sun and living in our safari tent. Today is our last day here as we catch the ferry back to Rocky at 2pm. This morning we went on a hike to the top of Mount Wyndham (a whopping 174m above sea level). It was a really nice hike with spectacular views from the top. On the way down, we took the scenic route past the island homestead where chickens and roosters slowly started stalking us - just like a scene from a bad movie. We saw a big lizard (goanna I think) that was at least 1.5m nose to taiil. He was nice enough to stay still long enough for me to get a good picture of him.

Tonight we catch the bus south to Byron Bay. It will be a loooong bus ride, as we travel all night long and arrive in Byron tomorrow morning around 10am.

One thing I forgot to mention in the last post:
We saw the funniest thing at the bar on our first night on the Island. They were having Crab Races. People (mostly drunk people) were paying over $50 to sponsor a crab and then the sports tab opened to take bets on the race itself. All in all, the race was over in less than 2 seconds. The winning crab was a speedy little bugger. What a bizarre scene.

Afternoon mates!

After a very long bus ride, we have finally arrived in Byron Bay. There is quite an atomsphere here - half hippie central, half Daytona Beach. We took a surf course this morning. Both of us were able to get our on feet (yay!) and nobody was eaten by a shark (yay again!) It was very cool.

We will be in Byron for a couple more days before catching the bus to Sydney.

It's our last day here today - we catch the bus for Sydney tonight. We spent yesterday hiking around town. We went up to the Lighthouse and did the Cape Byron loop.

Useless fact: Did you know a baby echidna is called a 'puggle'?

We catch the bus to Melbourne later tonight, but for the meantime we are in town enjoying the sights. We spent yesterday up in Katoomba and the Blue Mountains checking out the famous 3 Sisters and various waterfalls and spectacular views. We even came across an echidna on our walk. We rode the world's steepest scenic railway (52 degree incline) and then climbed up the Furber Steps (over 1040 steps!) To finish the day, we went to an IMAX movie about the Blue Mountains. There is some pine tree that lives in a secret part of the park that everyone thought to be long extinct (from the time of the dinosaurs). It was a funny looking tree, with pebbly bark and palm-tree like leaves and pine-tree like pinecones.

We were staying the Manly, on the North Shore of the Sydney harbour. That meant several ferry rides past the opera house and the harbour bridge.

It is the footy grand final today, the rugby grand final tomorrow and Labour Day on Monday. I think the whole country will be in somesort of stage of drunkeness this weekend.

We arrived in Tasmania yesterday morning on the ferry (Spirit of Tasmania) after spending 2 days in Melbourne. We had hoped to spend only 1 night here just getting everything ready for the Overland Track. Unfortunately, the buses haven't kicked into the summer schedule yet, so we can't catch a bus to Cradle Mountain until tomorrow.

The Overland Track should take us around 5 days to complete. We are planning on being at the other end on Tuesday afternoon in time to catch the bus from Lake St. Clair to Hobart. Until that time, we will be incommunicado.

We are expecting every type of weather on the hike. Being so close to the ocean and so early in the spring, we will probably get some sun, cloud, rain and snow. There are huts that you can use for sleeping and cooking. Still, we have to take the tent just in case.

We survived our trek through Cradle Mountain - Lake St. Clair National Park! Saw more wallabies than we could shake a stick at, but still have yet to see a Wombat. We hitch-hiked from Derwent Bridge yesterday and made it to Hobart around dinner time last night.

We took a cruise up the Derwent River this morning to the Cadbury Chocolate Factory and got a tour and lots of free samples. It was a pretty cool way to see Hobart, which is one of the prettier cities we've visited.

Later today, we are going to wander down to Salmanaca Place and Battery Point.

Tomorrow the fun continues as we rent a car and attempt to drive up the east coast to Freycinet National Park.

We're back in Devonport to catch the ferry back to Melbourne tonight.

We have spent the last couple of days driving up the east coast. We did a little hiking in Freycinet National Park - to Wineglass Bay to see the crashing waves. The weather was a little dodgy and there was a gale warning off the coast, so the waves were big and loud.

We also visited a cheese factory, and although they weren't making cheese that day, we were able to sample some excellent cheeses. What goes well with cheese? Wine. After the cheese factory, we high-tailed it to the Tamar Wine Region and visited a couple of wineries (Dalrymple Estates and Pipers Brook).

Welcome to 'Our Vacation - Part II'

We arrived in Auckland yesterday around dinner time, but due to the change in time zone, we lost 3 hours. Deciding to use this to our advantage we went to a local pub where it was backpacker night - 8 beers for $5. It sure was nice to feel like it was 9pm when it was really midnight (yes, I know, we're getting old!)

The NZ$ is quite weak compared to the C$ - we are getting approximately $1.50NZ for each Canadian dollar we exchange. That make's the beer deal even better...

Tonight we are going to the movies! Auckland has embraced the mega-theatre/entertainment complex idea. We are going to see a Kiwi production called 'Snakeskin'.

Tomorrow, we are heading on a 3-day tour up north to the Bay of Islands.

Back from the Bay of Islands tour - had tonnes of fun. We're spending the day here before heading south tomorrow.

Well in the past couple of days, we've been busy trying to kill ourselves.

We spent an afternoon in the Waitomo Caves. We went tubing down the underground rivers. In Rotorua we went Zorbing and went on the Swoop, and here in Taupo we went Bungy jumping. We are trying to go sky diving but the weather is causing some problems (i.e. too windy) Hopefully, we'll be able to get a jump in before we leave.

Rotorua and Taupo are both situated in geothermally active areas. There are a lot of hot springs around and the ever-present aroma of Sulphur.

We are heading to Tongariro National Park in the next couple of days to do some hiking.

We got our sky dive in today. We jumped at 12000 ft and got 45 secs of freefall before a leisurely 5 minute float back to earth.

Sun, sand & surf! What a way to end a trip.

We've spent the last couple of days lazying about - sometimes at the beach, sometimes at the pool. The weather has been fantastic. It will be tough to return to a Canadian November after this.