Australia

Sniff sniff.... today is my last day in Australia. This leg is officially over. Its been quite a journey, but alas, a fun and exciting one. Its crazy to think that I have been here for just about 5 weeks... I feel as if I've done and seen soooooooooooooooo much. Well, I have I guess! Being the short amount of time in each place, just about 3 weeks in Australia and just about 2 weeks in New Zealand, we packed it in as much as we could. And I'm leaving with a thirst for more. Both Aus and NZ are absolutely amazing countries and next time I will try to see more than the 2% I just saw. Sydney is an amazing city and I would love to live here one day (except its SUPER expensive to live). We'll see!

To back track a little, after being in Sydney for a couple of days, we were already itching to go back to mountains and fresh air (hmm... especially that we are leaving for Beijing in 2 days, so we need to maximize our fresh air time!). So here we are in Katoomba, or the Blue Mountains, just a 2 hour train ride from the city central.
We are staying here the night to give us some time to do the hikes that we wanted and to not rush back home again. So we opted to do the 3 Sisters Walk, which is a 4-hour "moderate" hike and the most beautiful. Here is me, "I feel alive!!"

We had a good hike! It was beautiful and peaceful. But alas, lets just say after a little over 3 hours we were already headed back home on a paved road. I've caught a slight cold... okay, fine, I'm a little out of shape, so it was a little more strenuous than "moderate." The 3 Sisters view is famous for its Aboriginal spiritual significance, and yet, no where was it written what this was. Hmm.... a google search later I guess. But it really is amazing and awesome to see. Another part of our hike was to descend 900 VERY steep steps, and that eccentric loading left us quite shaky! So then we got lazy and took the Scenic Railway ("The Steepest Railway in the World") up the mountain versus climbing up 1200 steps. So yes, it was nice to be amongst nature again and smell (well, kinda. I'm a little congested) fresh air. The nicest part was it was a BEAUTIFUL sunny day, ahhh... gotta love the sunny skies! And of course the mountains are amazingly vast and gorgeous.

Since I'm leaving, here are a few final thoughts:

Highlights o Australia:
-THE OCEAN
-seeing the opera house en vivo
-the Sydney Aquarium
-scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef
-the Daintree rainforest and learning about unique flora and fauna
-seeing a dingo
-seeing whales and dolphines hanging out in the wild
-going to the pristine and beautiful Whitsunday islands
-Having a "no Worries" and "take it easy" attitude
-THE AMAZING people! Soooo nice and friendly!

• Here is a link to my picts (no need to sign up or anything. Just click on "view photos):"

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=15yjygum.7fuodyq2&x=0&y=55ojg5

Highlights o NZ:
-The amazing clouds. I know it sounds silly but they lay very low, and its no coincidence that New Zealand is also known as the "Land of the Long White Cloud." Its almost like the whip cream on an ice cream sundae with more cherries and sprinkles on top. But the cherries and sprinkles are snow-capped mountains and the sky.
-The pristine lakes and rivers. Yes, I said rivers. From those of you from Chicago, no, there are no dead bodies in the lakes or gross stuff like bandades and diapers, and yes you can see more than .002 inches in front of you!
-Learning about maori traditions
-Going BUNGYYYYY jumping! What a thrill and e-drenaline rush!
-Going skiing... in Sept... in NZ!!!!
-The diverse and ever-changing scenery. We were just in the South island and we saw everything from large mountains, lakes, the sea, glaciers, fiords, plainfields, to the ocean! Everything!
-Here is a link to my picts of NZ (same as before, just click on "view photos"):
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=15yjygum.c2jmqbze&x=0&y=-vkb1xv

And finally, both countries:
1st, here's a not-so-exact map of where we were traveling:

Speaking of, its that time - off to China!

p.s. And as always, here is the links to my travel partners for other perspectives:
Lauren (who has been with me around Australia and New Zealand. She has good pictures!): http://lauren.travellerspoint.com
Char (who is meeting us in China): http://thelasthurrah.travellerspoint.com

Once again, I've had a blur of activities. Yesterday I was in Hervey Bay, famous for its closeness to Fraser Island (the worlds largest sand island that I went on that safari tour) and for whale watching. So after my adventure at Fraser Island, I had to go whale watching. After a 6:15am wake-up call, I quickly packed up my stuff, stored it at the hostel, boarded a bus to go to a boat to take us whale watching. I think I was expecting us to go to some special area where the whales hung out, but actually, it was us who were scouting for whales that were just hanging out in the ocean! Fortunately, we had luck! The humpback whales are pretty social and usually travel at least in pairs if not the whole family, so almost right away we saw a mom and her calf. The whales migrate north (to tropical climates like in Cairns, where I was), breed, and then slowly make there way back down to Antartica 'training' the calves as they go. Seeing whales in the wild is absolutely amazing - their size is outstanding. They usually are around 15 meters long and can way up to 80,000pounds, with one fin, ONE fin, weighing around 1.5 tons! It was awesome because we saw a whale breach (when they jump out of the water and show there white bellies) which was quite the spectacle. You should have heard the gasps and the "oh my!" in a million different languages. It was hard to take pictures because they are unpredictable of when they surface to breathe (they can hold their breaths up to 45 minutes), so it definitely takes a lot of patience and a camera perma aimed, which I wasn't too good at. So my picts are so-so. Teen whales are the most 'friendly' and can get pretty close to the boats and kind of play. We had a couple of whales 'wave' their fins at us, which was fun. So yea - whales are pretty darn cool I tell ya!

Long story short, I rushed back to my hostel to grab my things, had to wait a nerve-racking 20 minutes for a taxi, to get to the small Hervey Bay airport at 1:28, to check in at 1:30, and literally to depart at 1:55 for Sydney. Man, did I cut it close! They actually let me check in that late, and I wasn't the only one (a couple I did the safari came in after me, as well as some other people). So it was cool that they are sooo much more relaxed with rules, and security for that matter. Phew though!

So our good 'ol president Bush has followed me to Sydney for this Big APEC meeting (Asia-Pacific Economic Conference). Bush, Putin, and 45 other world leaders are all here to talk about environmental issues and other stuff. The city is on TOTAL lock-down. The government made everyone take Friday off, they barricaded the city (seriously), have something like 300,000 police force out, and have spent that same amount on security. I'm kinda away from all this action, but its definitely affected things like trains, getting around, etc. Hearing about the US here is interesting, Bush and American are definitely the butt of a lot of jokes, but views are pretty similiar to the States as far as getting out of the Iraq war, etc. The protests have been pretty peaceful, but with this crazy security, it can't be otherwise - they are REALLY cracking down and arresting people who even joke about stuff.

Today the friend of a family friend I'm staying with invited us to go sailing with him! So although it was an early start yet again (I'm getting used to it!), we had a really nice relaxing day on the boat, with sun and a little showers. I just can't get over how pretty Sydney is and how its sooo nice to be surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. And of course hanging around architects, I'm appreciating the modern architecture around here as well! We stopped for lunch at this really cute camping ground/park/lake and there I saw a couple of wallabies just hanging out!! I was just thinking how I've been in Australia for 3 weeks and have yet to see a kangaroo, or their mini-version, the wallaby. So yea, finally! Here's a pict, and yes, we were that close and it was looking right at us (I was a little nervous):

Hmm.... I still have yet to see a koala outside a zoo or something, but i still have a couple of weeks left!

Okay, we are off to New Zealand tomorrow, and by the way, if you want to read another person's perspective on our travels, check out Lauren's website: http://lauren.travellerspoint.com.

As everyone knows, Queensland is known for being the "Sunshine State." Everyone talks about the bright and sunny days, how wonderful it is, etc. So why is it that the 2 weeks I've been here I've seen all of maybe a couple of sunny days? hahah! Thats my luck! The rain is moving south, exactly the way I'm going. If I haven't already mentally become an Aussie with a "no worries" attitude, I may be more bitter about it, but hey, I'm in Australia and its AWESOME!!! And this rain is just part of an amazing experience out here (I guess, right?).

The last few days have been a whirlwind and I'm even having a hard time keeping it straight. I was at Aerlie Beach earlier this week. I did a 2-day "ocean rafting" thing there, 1st day was AWESOME (refer to my "paradise" blog), 2nd day - rain, but still fun. That same evening I went on a 12 hour overnight bus to Hervey Bay, where I am now. I came in at 6am, and got picked up at 7am to go on a 2-day safari to Frasier Island (which I'll talk about in a sec). So I just got back from that, finally have .2 seconds to relax (and its raining outside so no one is doing anything), and tomorrow at 7am I am going whale watching and right from there I head to the airport to catch a flight back to Sydney (where its supposed to rain this whole weekend, go figure). Sunday I leave for NZ. Wow!

So Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. Its 120km by 15km and supposedly has more sand than the sahari dessert because it is something like 600km deep. On the safari tour we were on a 4WD, which I have never been on so it was definitely an adventure driving on the beach and really 4WD through some rough (sandy) conditions. It cool because there are these amazingly huge sand dunes (or 'sandblows' because its super windy and the sand forms these gi-normous valleys up to 200km) that we climbed as well as a 'rainbow' of sand colors that has evolved from different mineral deposits, etc. In the almost million years that this rainforest developed from the sand, there are also lakes, gorges, and unique flora and fauna. I just can't explain how cool it is and how fascinating it is to even think about how it all evolutionized.

Here is a pict of some colored sand: (and yes, its not rock, its sand!)

So the story goes that this Batjala tribe woman was supposed to marry an older man but she was in love with this man nicknamed, "rainbow man." So story goes that she would meet the rainbow man at the beach, and one day the older man, who happened to be a skilled boomeranger, came out to chase her. She called for help and the rainbow man heard her, and just as the older man threw his boomerang at her, he stepped in front of her to protect her and got 'shattered' by the boomerang, and these shatter pieces formed this rainbow of sand color. There a lot of stories like this on the island, which is really interesting to here about.

There are also these 'dingo' dog-like animals (no, the dingo did not steal any babies) which we had the fortune of seeing right away (and more fortunately, we were in the car because they really are dangerous). Then for the 2nd time this trip (1st was at Crocadylus Hostel near Cape Tribulation), I slept in a tent in the wilderness. It was actually pretty comfy and except for a few loud rain showers that woke me up, I slept pretty well.

The safari group had a combo of Germans (which, by the way, are EVERYWHERE! They are definitely the most people I'm meeting), English, Irish, Hollanders, and this SUPER SUPER cute elderly couple from Australia that were more active then people I know my age. We all got along great and it was a good group. We also saw a large sea snake (which we got a little up close and personal too), some dolphins in the distance, some super cute little sea turtles, and some interesting rainforest trees and plants. And of course more nature.

All and all its been super fun! Time has been going by super quickly, but I have to say that meeting people from all over the world is sooo much fun! And its a small world, at best. A lot of travellers do the same trek (going north or south around the east coast) so you really do run into people (i.e. today I ran into someone I met at my previous hostel). Its fun to see a familiar face every now and then, huh?

So here I am in the most beautiful place in Australia, the Whitsunday islands. When I saw brochures, I was thinking, "yea, yea, this is probably like the Caribbean." But NYET, I was wrong. The water is crystal clear and the beaches are ahhhh-mazing. There is this beach called White Haven that has the whitest sand I've ever seen. I did this "Ocean rafting" little island tour (Whitsundays consists of 74 islands), and am doing it again today, and on the way we saw a family o dolphins!!!! It was just sooooo cute! They were trying to 'race' the boat, and were diving in and out of the water trying to follow us. Then on the way back there was a hunchback whale with a little calf!!!! From July to Oct the whales migrate back to Antarctica and they tend to hang around the coasts, actually, more around Harvey Bay, which I will be tomorrow (and for the next couple of days). Its just amazing to see both dolphins and whales just hanging out, live, doing there thang.

Here is a pict that doesn't nearly do it justice the beauty of it:

All and all, it was a relaxing day. A taste of paradise!!

Ahh... the Great Barrier Reef, a divers mecca. When I got certified 11 years ago (wow! Has it really been 11 years?!), the GBR was something people talked about with such awe and passion, that I was jumping out of my skin with excitement for finally being here! We decided to maximize this experience by doing a live-abroad (or overnight trip) on a boat.

So basically in 2 days, 1 night, you can get up to 7 dives in. Wow! I ended up getting 5 in, including a night dive and a 6:30am dive. I have to say, I was pretty pooped after doing 5 (can you tell I was tired?):

Seeing the coral reefs was incredible, but I love looking at the fishes and the underwater wildlife. Highlights were big o' tortoises, clownfish in the anenome (nemo!), big o' clams, parrotfish (I looove the colors).

Here's me scuba diving with Nemo:

It was kinda funny because we were on this big boat that could fit 52 passengers, and there was Lauren and I, and then these 3 young lads (a brit, a swiss, and a german)... and thats it! So we got VIP from all the crew, and it was nice just relaxing. Oh, and I finally saw Borat - funny! It was pretty much like a cruise ship with a little hot tub, cute rooms, and a full on deck. The hot tub definitely came in handy because our sched was: dive, rest a little, dive again, eat something, dive again, and on and on. It was pretty intense and exhausting. After the 5th dive, I just couldn't do it anymore - enough being cold and wet, ya know? But I really did feel I maximized the diving, which is cool! The water temp was pretty nice (around 70's) and visibility was pretty good. We broke it up a little and went on a nice glass-bottom boat tour.

To be honest, I found it amazing, BUT, I really have to say that The Red Sea off of the coast Egypt is probably the best diving I've done to date. Some of this is because unfortunately, there is a lot of dead coral out there, which is sad. Yes, the Great Barrier is the largest reef in the world, but a lot of it is dying, sniff sniff, and unfortunately again, this is due to it being overpopulated by tourist divers like myself (I guess its quality not quantity, huh?). But yes, all and all, I finally experienced The Great Barrier Reef and it was fantastic!!! Scoooooooobbbbbbbbbaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

Here's me enjoying the view of the GREAT Barrier Reef! Yes, a dream come true!