friends and fun times in byron

michelle came today! but.... before that....
we have had a fun couple of days in byron. yesterday marcy and cat went to the beach for the day while i had a few errands around the hostel to do. but when they returned we went on a bushtucker walk with cockatoo paul. this guy could NOT be more random. girls, he is 14358 times more random than anyone else we've encountered. the dude has a rat tail with feathers tied to it. and he talkes a mile a minute using such phrases as "F#%& yea!", "groovy", and "cool bananas" as many times as possible in a sentence. but he showed us a bunch of cool plants and we got to eat flowers and pawpaya. it was entertaining to say the least. then he hosted trivia night which we attended and failed miserably at. i guess the people in noosa weren't too bright if we did so well there. it was too cold to do much other than get a coffee and a cookie last night and hit the hay by 11.
today i found the lovely michelle and her friend hellen sitting by the front desk at the hostel, so we got them settled in our new room, called new island retreat 2 (it's so nice), and went to catch up over a bowl of oatmeal. then we booked our tour for nimbin for tomorow and made our way to the beach. a quick stop at the bakery for a snack and we went to do a dolphin seeing ocean kayaking tour. it was SO great we saw tons of dolphins jumping, mating, playing and a sea turtle. then we caught waves in our kayak which was super fun. there was a snack of tim tams and a hot drink of the beach too. so far, great day and there's more to come!
looking forward to the random town of nimbin tomorrow and some new adventures with the crew....
lots of love. hugs. xo

beautiful byron.... and a catch up

So, yet again, it's been a while. sorry! i've been busy...
The day we left Noosa, it was pouring down rain. a bit of a sad way to leave, but it made it easier to hop on the bus and away from the wonderfulness knowing i couldn't be on the beach. One and a half hours on the grayhound later we found ourselves in Brisbane. Our last stop in Queensland. I'll keep it brief because although we were there 2 nights, we didn't get up to much. It's a cute little city and that day we had some sushi for lunch and took a look around Chinatown and walked into the city a bit (our hostel and chinatown were about a 10 min walk from city centre) and explored. The next day we got up and although it was cloudy it was a nice day to walk down to the river to go to Southbank market. I got a new sarong, as i left mine in noosa-oops! and marcy got the nicest bag. Spent the rest of the day at the mall shopping and having real, perked starbucks coffee. That night we went to a movie - because i said so... perfect for mothers day, which is was at the time.
Our friend the grayhound picked us up at 10:30 the next morning and we were off again... to Surfers Paradise. It does have a beautiful beach and a touristy little centre, but it's not really paradise. too many high rises. but we had ourselves a fun filled 3 days. our first night there there was a social gathering at a place called monkey cage. so had a few drinks and got to know some people from the hostel. the next day i spent at the beach and poking around shops.... and got a bit burnt! whoops. pretty much the first time in ages and only the 2nd or 3rd time since i've been away. it's because i fell asleep... and it was only on one side. funny. that night was low key and we had $5 all you can eat pizza and a dive in movie at the hostel. when they say all you can eat they really mean it. there were 60 people and 60 pizzas from dominos. i felt a bit ill, but really feel as though i got my moneys worth. we even scored 2 full veg pizzas since no one was eating them. yes, it means we ate a ton of pizza this past while. but a great way to save on food expenses. just hung out in our room with the roomies and chatted and watched tv.
one of the girls (oooooooooooooh, this is a long story. i might skip it. or cut it down. yes, i'll cut it down) who was a bit... of a debbie downer got her wallet "stolen" from our room. mind you, everyone else was actually in the room the same time as her and for the most part sleeping, so we're sure she left it down at pizza the night before. anyway, she had $1000 withdrawn from her account and blamed marcy and i to our faces. bit of a piss off, but what can you do.
that day was filled with more beach and poking around and finished off with a pub crawl. great bars, great night. so much fun.
thankfully, the bus to byron bay was only 1.5 hours. we're staying at the arts factory. i can't even begin to describe how funky it is there. for example, we stayed our first 3 nights in the pentagon, which is a big tent type thing outside with the bunks made of trees. hard to describe it accurately. there's tee pees to stay in, normal dorms, little huts on a boardwalk in the lake, and campsites. it's just glorious. it's a popular hippie destination. they have a cinema that has pink and black cow print faux fur lounge couches in it. i saw blood diamond in it. the most comfy movie i've ever experienced. it was sooo fun! Amy, who was in our room in surfers, just got placed in the pentagon too and made friends with the other girls in there - so we did too. we've spent our time hanging around with them: going out dancing, going out for amy's good-bye dinner, drinking lots of tea and eating lots of tim tams (sucking the tea thru the timtams. AMAZING). the weather has been off and on sunny/rain and the last 2 nights have been absolutely freezing!!! for example, my 2nd night in the pentagon i wore: yoga pants, fishie pants, socks, tshirt, light zippie sweater, hoodie, scarf, wool touque and had my blanket doubled over. i still was bit chilly. we're in an inside dorm now, but still quite chilly. i was definitely cold last night. i think it's a sign to head home soon. which, is actually the case. just a few things left: michelle who we met in cairns is coming here for 3 or 4 days (YAY!!), we head to newy to visit our friends there on the 1st, and then a few odds and ends left to do in sydney... and we're back in NA!!
oh, random. we're staying in a dorm room with lisa mccolskey's cousin hannah nette. how crazy is that! we went out for a beer with her last night. she's so sweet (no surprise, being lisa's family and all) and it was great to have so much common ground with someone you meet traveling. such a small world!
so.... we're staying at the arts factory (check it out!!! http://www.artsfactory.com.au/) the whole time we're here. will try to update at least once more before we head back to canada. miss you and love you all! can't wait to see you soon!!!! xoxo

oh dear...

hi. i was going to write about our 3 days in Surfers and our time so far in Byron bay (where we'll be for 2 weeks) but this is in asian characters again. and i'm trying to fill out my tax return for aus. so, i'll be back soon and fill you in!
xo

heaven on earth....

i found paradise yesterday. it's located in Noosa Heads on the edge of the national park.
we walked a beauiful boardwalk overlooking the turquoise ocean and the amazing cliffs surrounded by gum and palm trees. we looked up to the trees to see a koala! in the wild! all curled up in a fuzzy grey ball taking a snooze. they sleep 20 hrs a day, so it wasn't surprising. but it was SO cool! and cute. so we decided to park it on a small, quiet beach with soft white sand where the waves break pefectly and you can see the surfers are all along the edge of the cove. after reading peacefully in the warm sunshine, we go for a swim only to find ourselves swimming with dolphins only ~10m away. it was AMAZING. i truly believe it is the most pefect place on earth. ended the day with the best ice cream ever! cophenhagen. fresh waffle cones and the most delicious flavours (white chocolate caramel) and FREE toppings (whipcraem and hot fudge). so great. so sad to leave noosa.

koala cuddles...

hola!
as promised, a more up-to-the-minute recap of my advenutres! today we went to the Australia Zoo.
we got a complementary coach for the 50 min drive up from Noosa, on which we got to watch Steve Irwin videos. got me pretty excited! Since typically a zoo is a zoo, i'll just touch of a few of the very entertaining highlights:
1. the majority of the animals were aussie. Koalas, kangaroos, crocs, cassowarys, snakes, echidnas, emus, dingos, wambats, etc. AND you got to to touch a bunch of them! there were 2 stations to get up close pics and pet koalas, aside from getting your pic taken with them professionally. it was awesome! they were SO soft. same for kangaroos. to big areas (one with red roos, and other just ... roos. not sure about the specific type). the non-reds were really soft. and they didnt' care at all when you petted them or even sorta huged them. with the number of kids that go through there, they must be immune.
2. as mostly said above, i got to touch all sorts of the critters. koalas, roos and a wambat. which are SO funny looking and cute. they look like bear pigs.
3. we saw the croc show that steve used to do. it was great! i'm sure it was always a bit better when he performed it, as i don't think anyone can compete with his passion for these animals. and i made a fool out of myself at it, in front of the whole crowd. but not in vain!! to get the crowd involved, they got us to do a bit of a competition for free vouchers for getting wildlife pictures taken (which we had planned on doing). so, our side of the 'crocoseum' had to do monkey impressions. so up on my feet i went, "oooh-oooh-oooh"ing, swining my arms and scratching my armpits. apparently i was a 'clear winner', which means i looked like an idiot (especially when they ask me to do it again, and show it on the big screen), but FREE fits into my budget nicely.
4. with my voucher (value of $20) i got to hold and cuddle a koala. they are just the cutest thing on earth! i'm in love!!! his name was kramer, 4 yrs old and 7 kilos. he has my heart. and the pic didnt' turn out too bad. it's an 8x10 which is a bit big for my liking, but again free. so no complaints. will definitely be scanning it when i get back (and downsizing it too!!).
5. ponchos!!! the garbage bag-esque ones. marcy and i had to get them due to frequent bursts of rain. they have the nice australia zoo logo on the back and all... snazzy! i think we looked pretty hot. it definitely got some giggles out of us.
umm... i guess that's all. it was a wonderful day and i even got myself some playing cards, a postcard and of course the pic as souvieners. even the bratty, noisy, annoying kids on the bus home coudln't ruin my day!
back to the beach tomorrow, me thinks.
miss you all... xoxo

and the story continues....

...... after a long day of driving and missing lakes, we went back to base camp where we set up our tents, and a nice shower and made a bbq supper. i have to say marcy and i did quite well on protions. it was quite the feed! we spent the night socializing with the other groups that were there and such. up early the next day to head to our next stops: indian head and champagne pools. indian head is the only rock on the island and give a great view. from up there you can see sharks, turtles, rays and big schools of fish. and we saw all of them! 2 sharks were just lurking/sleeping on the bottom and were HUGE. a guide reckoned they were 4m long!
the pic to the left is of champagne pools. we just spent the day lazing about there. the water from the waves rushes up over the rocks making it look all bubbly (yes, like champagne). we also saw a shark - fin and all- off of them. thankfully we were swiming safely in the little pools. back to base camp for more of the same as the night before.

our last day was a busy one!!! we had to go to 3 lakes and a place called central station. central was skipped due to time contstraints. we wanted to spend the most time at lake mackenzie. which has the SOFTEST, whitest sand and the clearest turquoise waters. it was wonderful. except not very sunny. the only time in at least a week we had clouds and it was while we were there. marcy and i kept running to the water for pics when we got a little burst of sun. very funny. i'm sure we looked like complete fools to everyone else around. back on board the ferry at 4pm that afternoon... very sleepy. i loved camping and realized how much i miss it, but forgot how sleep deprived it can make you! that night back at the hostel in hervey bay was low key. marcy and i just hung out with verity and rachel, our lovely english friends.
the next day we were up bright and early out of habit fromt he trip and spent the day with the girls at the hervey bay beach. it was REALLY hot out, but no luck when it came to swimming. the tide went out and it was at least a 1/2 hr walk to the water!
we were then off to rainbow beach for one day/night. name for the something like...15 colors of sand that are there. it was again, breathtaking. a full day of beaching it and marvling at how beautiful it was. it was a small town so after going out for a bite to eat, our excitement for the evening was table tennis. i won 2 out of 3 games! oh yes!!! hahaha. since all i get are bragging rights i had to mention it.
AND.... now we're in nossa. noosa heads, specifically. it is so great here! much bigger than the pop. 1000 of rainbow beach, it has a great little shopping strip and wonderful beach. unfortunately, we didn't get to swim much today because the shark alarm went off! there were a few shark sightings and a 1.5m sting ray was spotted as well (the kind that killed steve irwin). we had a chat with the drinks vendor on the beach who said he's been doing that for 40 yrs and this was the first time he's heard the alarm. we felt pretty special we could be there! the rest of the afternoon we went to a few shops and sat at the beach were i dug a hole to burry marcy's uneaten bits of kabab. pretty exciting!!! oh, and we got sno-kones. mmmmm delicious! will have to post that pic asap. last night we checked out the night life and it's.... well... it exists. but i can't say it's the most happening place i've seen. but, as always, marcy and i managed to make the most of it and have a crazy fun night. lots of pictures were taken and lots of laughs were had! and of course... lots of socializing with randoms.
tomorrow we are up early to head to the famous Australia Zoo. this is steve irwin's zoo and there are supposed to be great shows and we will get to hold kolalas!! so excited. just wish steve was still around so we could see one of his shows. mabye bindi will be around? she's show in 9 pics in the brochure, so i'm keeping my fingers crossed.
so, we're at the helse lodge yha (hostel). it's SO fantastic. it's an 1880's guest house and has such great atmosphere. very beautiful with wide verandahs's and that old charm. i'm pretty sure it can be seen on the site www.yha.com.au. it's worth checking out!
well.... i guess that's enough for now. i'm sure it's been plenty boring, so i'll try to keep my next one a bit closer in time and not so long winded!!! MISS!! and lots of love. xoxo

on an island in the sun...

ok, first off, i hope this posts ok. For some crazy reason the blogger site and pages are in some sort of asian characters so i can't read them and am just going off obvious points and memory to post this. luckily when i type it's in english!
so the final days in Bundaburg were very fun. Spent lots of time with Charlotte, Phil and Liisa, doing the usual Uno games and going to Central Pub. Excessive amounts of picutres were taken (184 to be exact) on our last night out and all of them are of us making silly faces. I'll post them as soon as i can for everyone to have a laugh. Our last night was a tame one despite it being a Saturday. We stayed in and watched a movie with the crew. Woke to a complete downpour which only made me feel even better about leaving the place. We went to the bus station with a cooler bag full of oranges/mandrins and wet laundry and were off to Hervey Bay.
Hervey Bay was our take off point for Fraser Island. Again, not a booming metropolis. More... Florida-esque retirement village. But a lovely spot to spend 24-ish hours. We went for a walk on the beach and attempted to socialize with those that might be on our Fraser trip.... but even the backpackers was a bit dead. It was all good, because we had to be up at 5:45 to get ourselves ready for a 6:30 take off.
We met up in the bistro and were put into groups of 10 for the self guided (yep, all on our own) 4 wheel excursion to Fraser. For those who dont' know Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island with the massive population of 100 people. It's 123 m long (184 000 hectares) and has dunes as high as 200m. Crazy!
Right... so back to our group. We faired rather well when it came to those in our group we had 5 people from England (Verity, Rachel, Ryan, Katie and grrr. Phil), Celine from Switzerland and Dirk and Fabian from Germany. Our first mission as a group at that hour was to plan our menu for the next 3 days. Despite the fact that everyone (aside from Phil) was not fussed about much of anything and we bascially went with the suggested menu, it was somewhat of a challange to get done. Marcy and i offered to be the shoppers and Fabian got the job of driving first. So while marcy and i are rushed off to have 40 mintues to get enough food for 10 people for 3 days the rest of the crew delt with getting teh 4x4 and the gear all organized. I have never really purchase in bulk before, let alone on a budget of $20/person. It's somewhat of a challange- especially when you dont' know the rest of them and aren't sure how much the guys will eat. But we made out rather well and even were able to give everyone back $1.
Off we went to the ferry which was 45 min. Some people saw dolphins, but (this is a surprise) was talking to our new friends and missed out on that. We traveled a very bumpy and sandy road to the "road way" which is the beach. It's hilarious to see big transport trucks go up and down the beach treating it like a highway. It's also used as a landing strip for airplanes. Seems so out of place, but very amusing.
We made a quick lunch as we had 4 stops planned for that day. Unfortunately, Phil decided that we'd just skip over the first (and the most important) of the day. THe rest of us were unaware of this fact until we had passed it and were all.... well, angry. We contiuned with 2 thru 4 and had a bunch of time left over so went back to number 1. Turns out the reason we had so much time was that it was a 2 hr hike to a beautiful lake that meets up with a high sand dune. And we missed it. This became the first of Phils many errors. But we did see a ship wreck, Eli creek and the Pinacles, which are pretty colorful sandstone cliffs.
I even drove (quite a bit actually) and it was SO fun. it's hard in the soft sand because you feel out of control and the 4x4 is a bit top heavy, but it was great fun! bouncing over creeks and down the beach. Loved it!
I will have to continue on about the camp and days 2 and 3 a bit later on.... internet time is up.... so, TO BE CONTINUED... :) XO