December 28

**I spent Boxing Day with Mark's family on his Dad's side. This is everyone by the lake!**
Boxing Day was great! We went to a near-by lake and spent the day chillin by the water. Mark's Dad brought his sail boat and a surf-ski so everyone was having a blast in the water. Mark brought his tinny and tried to catch some crabs, but sadly there weren't any bites. We had lunch at the park and played some beachy games. Overall, a great day!
Yesterday, I spent the day looking online for work. I'm looking mainly in Sydney, but have applied to places all over Australia. I'm looking for Graphic Design as well as reception. Today, I got a call for a job interview in Sydney on Monday! The place is called 'Office Team' & it's a reception position. Hopefully it goes well, wish me luck!
For Christmas, Lindsay gave me a gift certificate for a pedicure, so I went for it today. It was luxurious & holy, did I ever need it, hahaha. My toes are pretty pink now, ready for the beach concert on New Years Eve. Thanks Linds!!!

December 25

**This is from Cairns. Christmas in summer???!!**
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
How strange, celebrating Christmas in the summer!
I had a great night out on Saturday with Lindsay & Monique and a bunch of her friends. It was a great farewell to Lindsay Sunday, the three of us went to the beach and then to the mall what a classic girly day! Lindsay was excited to get a little bit more tan before she had to go home and loose it all :)
Monday morning, we all packed up and headed to Sydney. Mark and Monique dropped Linds & I off at the airport so that I could spend the last hour with Linds before getting on a train to Mark's mum's for Christmas. The two of us checked Lindsay's baggage and wandered around the airport talking about how much fun we've had together and how surreal it was that she's going home. We had Starbucks. mmm.
Her plane took off at about 1pm. Goodbye buddy!! It doesn't feel like I won't be seeing her again until I get home. I called my family and felt a little more homesick. Oh, Christmas, I'm sure all will be back on track once the holidays are over.







*** Lindsay & I on Lindsay's First night in Sydney, back in September. WOW, that seems like a century ago!!!**







At Mark's mum's house, we had a very nice family night on Christmas eve. The Ramsey family has made me feel SO at home. They are incredibly welcoming.
We were up at 5:45am Christmas morning. Wow, early. We opened gifts. Lindsay and I printed a couple of photo's from our trip and framed them. One for Mark & Monique and on for Mark's mum, Deb. I delivered them. I got a few gifts too. Some bath and manicure products & Lindsay left Monique with a card for me with a certificate for a pedicure in it. How sweet is that!!?! She included a card that I couldn't read until I was alone because of my teary-eye issues. Greg & Kristal also sent me a package from my family with pictures of them all with each letter of "MERRY CHRISTMAS". I took one look at the first picture and saved it for later too. I was feeling SO sentimental! It was great to talk to and hear from SO many people on Christmas day. Thank you all for calling or messaging me. It really made the day for me.. realizing that you all really care!!
We had a great day! Breaky was croissants and Mango's and cheese. We played Cranium for most of the day. For dinner, the main dish was prawns. They had all their shells and heads (even eyes) still on. I was having a terrible time de-shelling them, so Mark's grandpa, Pop, peeled SO many for me. He just kept peeling & peeling. I think I ate a hundred. mmmm. It was fantastic! Everyone included me just like I'd always been a part of the family. It was very comforting.
Mark, Monique & I drove back to Newcastle at night & When I got home I took a bath with some of my new bath stuff. It was so relaxing!
I haven't heard anything from Lindsay yet, so I'm not sure if she's home yet. Although, I'm sure she is. (part of me is hoping that she changed her mind half-way and is on her way back as I type..)

December 21

Lindsay is Leaving :(
I'm gonna miss you, buddy

December 16

**A picture from a couple of weeks ago, sailing..**
Lindsay & I are now staying the next few days with Mark's Mum, Debbie. It has been SO nice for her to let us stay at her place. It's close to Sydney and it's been a great rest after backpacking. It is chilly here! We're wearing jeans and t-shirts for the first time in forever. We've been feeling incredibly homesick lately. It's SO hard to think of my family celebrating all together and I'm not there!! Anyone want to buy me a plane ticket home for two weeks?? hahaha, that would be a dream come true.
In any case, if you're reading this.. leave me a comment!! or send me an e-mail!!! I love getting e-mail or hearing from home, or knowing that anyone is actually reading this. THAT would also be a dream come true. :)

December 15

**Matt, Ninja, Lindsay & I.. we met up with Matt for 2 more days in Cairns. Said goodbye to him again, but I'm sure we'll see him in Sydney sometime soon**
The last couple of days in Cairns were pretty good. We took walks along the esplanade and snuck into movies. We saw "The Bee Movie", "Fred Clause" and "The Heartbreak Kid" all for free. haha, it was necessary though. We're poor backpackers and it was too hot outside to go the whole day without air-con. Since Cairns was our last stop on the backpacking tour, we made a list of things we loved about backpacking.
* Linds & I walking down the street singing. Always singing.
* The 'Mine', ;Five', 'Right' game. Rules: day or night, if one of us catches the other saying any of those words, the consequences are doing pushups, 'cat/cows' or star-jumps. We've been caught in some really awkward places. In a grocery store, on a bus, in the middle of the street & on the dance-floor in a bar. Imagine either of us doing 10 pushups in the middle of the sidewalk.. so embarrassing and the other just walks away and pretends they don't know the other person.. even worse!! Best game ever, hahaha
* Our daily rituals (Breaky, tea, pack lunch, various daily adventure, make dinner, have pre-drinks, go out)
* Lolly's, Worthers & giant candy snakes
* Our tuna sandwich lunches... made with sweet chili sauce instead of mayo because the mayo always goes bad
* The only two dinners we ever make: stir-fry and Thai noodles
* All the money we saved by not being able to shop.. no room in the suitcase!
* The constant planning for the next trip. Planning, planning, always planning
* The 3 shirt, 3 pairs of shorts rotation
* Our iPod speakers. We couldn't live without them.
* Staying in touch with new friends through facebook & texting
* Un-identified bug-bites and bruises, everywhere
* Vitamin C chewables
* sneaking into movie theatres
* The unrealistically short and tattered shorts that we could NEVER wear back home
* The constant lowering of our standards of living.

We left Cairns on Friday morning. Our flight was just three hours long.. It seems strange to think that it took us three months to get all the way up north. Getting off the plane we immediately noticed the temperature change. It's COLD (well, not cold, but considering where we came from..) Sydney is beautiful. I like it a lot more this time around. We feel like dirt-balls though, none of our clothing seems to work here, everyone's so dressed up and we only have beach-wear. We went our Friday night with some of the guys that we met in Byron Bay! When we lived in Byron, they were there for the weekend on a Footie League trip & we stayed in contact. We first went to a bar filled with young professionals. They were dressed SO nicely in their suits and ties. It was very refreshing. I've never seen anything like it before, absolutely everyone so high class. We left that place and went to another where Linds & I couldn't get in because of our sandals. "Do you have another pair of shoes, girls?" the girl at the door asked us. As if we were going to say: oh ya, I have my heels right here in my purse. No, no, we only have sandals now because we're grubs these days. We ended up just going somewhere else, haha, it was still a blast!

December 12

Sadly, we left Matt on the bus in Mission Beach so he could go for a sky-dive, but Lindsay & I have travelled from Magnetic Island to Cairns, our last destination on this northern journey. Cairns is really nice. It's the biggest city we've seen since Brisbane (but not huge) and it's HOT HOT HOT. Our hostel room is terrible. It's a cramped space, shoved with 8 beds and an air conditioner that blows the cold air outside instead of in.
We decided to rent a car for a few days!! On Monday we went to Crystal Springs and Mossman Gorge. We got to swim for a bit beneath the waterfalls at Crystal springs, it was spectacular! On Tuesday, we took the long journey around the Highlands and stopped off at about 7 different sites. We saw the Cathedral Fig Tree, a massive 500 year old tree that we could walk around as well as part of the way through (it sounds cheesy, but it was actually incredibly impressive). We had a picnic at Crawfords Lookout, at the top of a huge gorge. We went to about 4 different waterfall sites, created by the area's volcanic past which got more and more beautiful as they got higher. We went to Julianna Falls which had a huge flat rock under it, where we could climb up and slide down like a massive water slide. SO fun! Poor Lindsay slipped on a patch of slime and hit her head, but before I could ask her if she was ok, the water rushed in and swept her down the rock-slide. She made it out alive.. with only a small bump. ouch! We hiked around a clear volcanic crater lake & swam with the fish. The most spectacular part of the day was the driving. We took lush scenic routes and off-highway treks around quaint towns. The rolling green mountains and the stark red dirt, lined with cows, goats and wild turkeys were stunning and endless. Fields full of sugarcane and I-dunno-what with farm houses were as far as the eye could see. Australians seem to like putting up signs to watch for every animal you could think of. In one day we saw "Drive carefully" signs under kangaroos, cows, sheep, koalas, cassowaries, tree kangaroos, etc. Definitely something we could never have seen without the car. By the end of the day our senses were overloaded.. too bad we don't have a quiet room to go to sleep

December 8

**Lindsay & I with our super-cool scooters**
Magnetic Island is so gorgeous! We woke up early this morning so that Lindsay & I could go kayaking out in the ocean. We had a bit of trouble getting the kayak away from the shore, but once we got out into the water it was smooth sailing. I was feeling a little sea-sick (it's pretty common these days) so we came back to shore. We packed a lunch today and hired some scooters!!! It was fantastic! Since we're on an island, there are only a few different places to go, but to go from one end of the island to the other takes about 30 minutes, mostly because we never drove faster than 50k (when going up-hill we couldn't go any faster than 30). First we went to Picnic Bay to eat our lunches and then travelled to the northern part of the island to go hiking. The landscape here is beautiful & most of the roads are right along the ocean.. palm trees everywhere! After our hike we drove all around different streets and found an off-beat road where there were a few kangaroos running across the street!! It's so fun to see wild kangaroos. We loved our scooters so much & driving on the wrong side of the road wasn't too bad either. We didn't get too confused. It was sad to say goodbye to our scooters. Tonight, we made our dinners at about 7:30 and ate at some picnic tables outside. There were possum's wandering around all over. We were sitting by the pool later, just watching the stars & more possum's. They didn't seem too scared of us. Tomorrow, we're heading to Cairns, the last stop on our bus ride. We will be taking the ferry back over to the main land and catching our bus at 1:30. The bus is another 6 hours north. It's only going to get hotter!! It's already way too hot to stand here. We're sweating buckets basically all day. ew. We're very excited to finally get back to Sydney in a couple of weeks!!

December 7

**First, this is "The Clipper". Second, Matt and I with the 'sand-man' that we made at Whitehaven Beach**
The three of us just arrived in Magnetic Island. Lindsay, Matt & I spent the last three days on a Whitsunday Island sailing trip (I went for free, woo hoo!!) We left on Tuesday at about 2pm and went down to the Marina to get onto our boat and begin the trip. Our boat was called "The Clipper" and had 5 crew and 53 passengers. It was SO great that it was big!! I loaded myself up with ginger before we left so that I wouldn't get sea-sick. I even got sea-bands and gravol just in case. The three of us stayed in the same room, our cabin was pretty nice. At first we were confused because we were separated from the rest of the passengers in a room near the back of the boat. We later realized that we were sleeping in one of the crew rooms & were lucky to have air conditioning and our own personal bathroom. At one point, one of the other passengers noticed me coming out of there and asked 'is it boiling hot down there too?' hahaha, I just said yes and hoped she didn't notice we were getting the royal treatment. The first day we didn't get off of the boat at all. We took the time to meet some of the other passengers, eat dinner and start the party. The night was great!
I woke up in the morning at about 5am... SO seasick!! By 5:30am I gave in and got out of my cot to sit on the deck for a while. Only the crew members were up and told me I had JUST missed the sunrise. Too bad. I tried eating some fruit salad to make myself feel better, but it just didn't do the trick. One of the crew members that I had made friends with the night before, Jimmy, took me under his wing to try to help me feel better. He showed me all kinds of cool things about the boat and even let me drop the anchor!! Pretty special, I know. We went to whitehaven beach. It was GORGEOUS! crystal clear water, bright white sand & mountains in the distance. We couldn't swim without wearing stinger-suits. In the afternoon we went snorkeling. It was incredible! The great barrier reef is stunning. We got out of the boat and were floating at times about 3 feet away from the reef, with bright fish swimming all around. We loved it!!!! When I got into the water, I didn't realize that the coral was so close and I cut my foot on it. It's SO sharp. Apparently coral is so dirty that I could have a really serious problem with the cut, so I'm trying hard to keep it clean. We went snorkeling twice that day. After getting back on the boat, my sea-sickness went away (hallelujah) and the rest of the day was great. That night was another party on the ship. It was funny because Lindsay and I had made friends with 2 of the crew members so we spent a lot of the time talking with them. Almost all of the other girls on the boat were really ... (looking for a good word) ... crazy & loose. They were running around drunk in their bathing suits and trying to get the crew to notice them. Lindsay and I laughed so hard every time the guys just rolled their eyes and avoided contact. Another good night.
We were up early again the 3rd day, but I didn't feel sick at all! A lot of the people on the boat woke up in the morning covered in bed-bug bites. The three of us didn't have any problems at all, but it's scary & gross to think about. We got off the boat and wandered another beautiful island before heading back to the boat and sailing home. It was a pretty fantastic trip. & I have to thank the boat company for making a mistake and letting me go for free.
This morning, we got on another coach and took the 5 hour bus ride to Townsville. From there, we took a ferry over to Magnetic Island where we're spending 2 nights. This hostel is gorgeous & right on the beach front. It's nice to be out of Airlie Beach where every night was a party.

December 1

Lindsay and I are chillin here in Airlie Beach with Matt, waiting for our Whitsundays sailing trip on Tuesday. We've been making SO many plans for the next month. I talked to Monique today and we're going to be spending Christmas with her and Mark in New Castle, so we've booked a flight from Cairns to Sydney in a couple of weeks. Once the holidays are over we're going to have to work asap.. we might travel to Perth or anywhere in the southern part of Australia because the north is going to get SO hot. Actually, it already is HOT HOT HOT!!! We're excited to be spending Christmas with people we know and care about rather than in a hostel by ourselves. It was incredible for them to be so welcoming to us!! We're going to be in Sydney on new years, Apparently the best place in the world at midnight.
The hostel that we're staying in here is pretty nice. We have a 10 share room, but the strangest part is that there are no pillows or sheets. Everyone just falls asleep on their cots. I used my towel as a blanket last night, but it just doesn't do the trick. It's weird seeing everyone just sleeping with no sheets. There's going to be a foam party in the bar here tonight. THAT should be interesting!

November 26

We're in Rockhampton and it's pure heaven! We arrived Saturday night at 3:00am and trudged through the bar downstairs with our luggage. Kinda funny with drunk people trying to hit on us while we're sweating our butts off carrying our baggage upstairs, hahaha. Our room has its own personal TV for watching the Australian Idol Final and we have our own kettle! We're in a four person room, but it's just the 2 of us and best of all the bunk-beds are spectacular!! We woke up in the morning feeling like we were living in pure luxury. I felt SO much better!! After walking for a while around Rockhampton, it's obvious that this is a very small and older town, but it's so pretty. It feels like we're in a 1950's southern town with huge old buildings with beautiful balconies. It's the perfect place to relax and take a quick breath before traveling again on Thursday morning.

November 24

DAY FROM HELL...
Our original plan was to come to Bundaberg to work. There's a rule in our working VISA that states if we ever want to come back to work in Australia for any amount of time we have to work at least 3 months in a rural area. We were going to do some fruit picking here. Our guide book actually says "People normally come to Bundaberg to stretch their legs off the bus and then get right back on". We didn't realize it at the time, but there's a reason it says that. When I called to make the reservation at the hostel, the guy on the phone said that the reception area would be closed (because our bus arrived at 11:30pm), but we could walk to the hostel, knock on the door and someone would let us in so that we could stay on some couches in the main area for just $10. Sounds a little sketchy, but we figured it would only be one night and we could work things out after that. Our bus broke down and we got to the hostel at midnight. There was no one anywhere who could let us in. We stayed by the door waiting for about an hour and I got sick of waiting so I went to the side door and noticed the shuttle vans. After trying the doors, I found the back door on one of them open!! so, in we climbed for a 5 star accommodation in the back of a random van. At about 5am, the driver came out and woke us up (he didn't mind at all, haha) and we could get inside to lay on the couches until about 7. We started trying to figure out this whole fruit picking business and soon learned that neither of us could possibly do it. It's very hard & hot labour and about 10 hours for about $100 a day. Plus, the hostel we would have had to stay in was infested with bed bugs!! Ya right, I was making $100 at Lalo Treasures for 7 hours of reading a book. We're just not cut out for this business!!! SO, we decided to move on to Rockhampton on the late night bus tonight. Since it was still early and we had no place to go, Lindsay went to their computer room to use the internet and I stayed in the TV room with our bags. Not too long later the manager came over to tell me to leave because we had not made a booking for that night. "OK" I said and started packing my things away. Once I was packed, I went over to find Lindsay and he followed me yelling at me to get out. I tried to explain that I had to get my friend, but he couldn't get that through his mind and started yelling and yelling. Lindsay came out and he was yelling at her too. crazy guy, following us to our bags and out the door yelling "You're a mooch... no, you're a sponge" It was TOO much! We finally got out of there and got to the bus station to lock our bags in a locker. For the afternoon, we walked around this terrible little town and at about 6 we took an hour walk to a movie theatre. When the movie was over, we started walking home, & just like during the camping trip, out of nowhere it started POURING!! I'm sitting in the bus station right now, after the walk, and everything we own is soaking wet & we've got nowhere to put it to dry. I'm just hoping tonight is a little better than last night & we actually have a bed to stay in. We're so tired!!

November 23

**This picture is of the whole group on Fraser. That's me up top beside Matt.**
FRASER ISLAND!!!
Huge Adventure! Noosa was a pretty town. Lots of hills and Lindsay, Matt & I went on a long nature hike by the water. We spent most of our time in Noosa booking our three day Fraser Island Adventure. We left Noosa Monday night to arrive in Hervey Bay, where we would stay in the hostel until early Wednesday morning,
Wednesday..
Up early for an orientation on how to drive the 4x4 through deep sand. There were two groups of eleven, so the 4x4's were HUGE to fit eleven people in each. Somehow Lindsay, Matt and I got into the group of all girls except for Matt, so he became the 'main' driver. (mostly because he's the only one who knew how to drive manual). We loaded into the 4x4 and got onto the barge that would take us out to the Island. Fraser Island is a huge island made entirely of sand (I almost never want to see another grain of sand in my life!) Once we got to the island, we had a long drive through the rain forest and got stuck in the sand so many times I've stopped counting. we had to get out and push EVERY time! It was still fun. Matt drove most of the time, so by association Lindsay and I got to sit in the front almost the whole time. It worked out so well for us because in for the 20 minutes we did sit in the back,, it was back breaking & bumpy. I hit my head on the roof so many times! We drove out to an area where we could take an hour walk out to a magnificent & perfectly still lake. The water was SO clear, fresh and clean. The sand was SO white. We took a swim and a while later we walked back to the 4x4 to see some more sights. We didn't get too far. Something happened to our tire and we couldn't drive it through the sand anymore, so we had to call a mechanic and he towed us to the beach while he took the truck to fix it. We were still with the other group, so their driver drove us all to the camp site where we could set up camp. I've been camping a few times in my life, but NEVER like this! We were literally out in the wilderness, right beside the ocean. Lindsay, Matt and I quickly found out that our group-mates were the most lazy and self centered people we had ever met. The three of us did absolutely everything for them while they sat on their towels and complained about being hot. The one good thing about this is that Lindsay & I both chose the vegetarian option (I refuse to eat spam) so we did all of our own cooking and left the others to fend for themselves. After dinner we made sure to put all of our food, garbage and dishes into the 4x4 so that we didn't attract any wild animals. The other group was really fun to hang out with and even though we couldn't have a campfire, we sat under the full moon and talked all night, seeing dingo's every once in a while. At about midnight, a few of us were returning from a walk on the beach when we noticed that a Dingo had found an open window in the truck and was inside eating through our garbage. Hahahaha, I laughed so hard, but actually dingo's are apparently really dangerous and they warn everyone before they get to the island to keep their children safe from Dingo attacks. So, we eventually got it out, but not before it pooped inside.. not impressed. Slept in the two-man tent with three people.. without a pillow.. waking up in the morning was HOT!
Thursday..
We were all up by 6am to get our selves packed up and ready to go by 8. We can't swim in the ocean here because it's shark infested water, so everyone was desperately in need of a swim. After Matt, Lindsay and I cleaned up the campsite, we drove to a fresh water stream where we walked all the way up into the rain forest, so that we could float on the current all the way back down. It was SO refreshing and gorgeous! After the stream, we drove along the beach to an old rusted out shipwreck. Apparently in the 1940's a huge oil tanker washed up onto the shore and they tried for 3 years to get it back out into the water, but they couldn't so they just left it. The salt water has destroyed it and now it's just a huge pile of rust in the shape of a boat. Pretty interesting to see. After the shipwreck we drove further down the beach to 'Champagne Pools'. It's called this because there is an area of the ocean where people can swim because it's encased in rocks (sharks can't get in), but it's really cool because the waves splash up against the sides and fall into the pools (looks like fizzy champagne). After, we headed to a new campsite for the night. Everyone was starting to get jealous of our vegetarian meals and actually eating some of the stuff that is set aside for us because their meals are so gross. That night, we didn't see as many dingo's but still stayed up and had a great time with everyone on the beach.
Friday..
I am now made of sand. I don't even mind eating sand anymore. There are SO many flies here, & I don't mean regular nice little flies, but massive, 6 times too big, horse flies that bite every time they land and the bites sting like crazy!! We woke up at 6 again and after packing and cleaning dishes, we headed to another remote location to see another beautiful lake. It was STUNNING! Crystal clear water, beautiful scenery. The nicest lake I've ever seen. We stayed and swam for a few hours before lunch time and headed to a picnic area to eat whatever was left of our food. On the way to the picnic area, a huge rain cloud came out of nowhere and the downpour began. Without cover, we all stood in the rain and ate our lunches. Lindsay & I had sopping wet tuna sandwiches, yuk. We headed straight back to the barge with the 4x4. When we arrived back at the hostel, we gathered our things, took a shower and hopped on the bus to head to Bundaberg. It was sad to say goodbye to Matt.. he's heading farther north, but we may see him again.

November 17

On Thursday, Lindsay and I tried surfing. We trudged the surfboard down to the beach.. took some great pictures with it and then brought it into the water. We can't surf. At this point, I don't think it's physically possible. HAHA It was fun trying! It kept getting taken away by the waves & at one point, I was holding it in front of me and a huge wave came and smashed it straight into me. I now have MASSIVE bruises across both of my legs & it hurts a bit to walk. It was all worth it just to try it. Thursday night there was a game of 'goon pong' going on in the hostel. 'Goon' is a big box of cheap wine that tastes horrible and gives you a massive headache in the morning.. but the key word is CHEAP. It was fun & we met a lot of other people from our hostel. After, Linds, Matt & I went to a club to dance.
Yesterday a big group of us went to the beach all day. It was a FANTASTIC day. nice sun & it's starting to get pretty hot here. We went out again last night & met lots of great people from New Zealand.
We got on a bus today and headed for Noosa. We've just arrived & this hostel is SO nice. Very cruisey. I'm loving backpacking, but my back isn't. I wish I didn't have so much stuff. (even though everyone I meet says 'that's all you have?')

November 14

**My new friend the Kangaroo**
We arrived in Mooloolaba yesterday afternoon and spent the day at the beach and checking out the town. It's really nice here, not too big, but bigger than Byron Bay. Today we went to the Steve Irwin Australia Zoo. It was fantastic! They say that this zoo is the best in the world and I can definitely see why. It was like walking through a conservation area with trees and wildlife covering the whole place. We saw all kinds of alligators, crocs, snakes, kangaroos & tigers, etc. The Kangaroo's were amazing because we could go up to them and pet them & take our pictures with them. They were all pretty friendly. The Tiger cage was amazing too because it was just a piece of glass between us and the tigers and they put their faces up to the glass.. we were face to face! gorgeous! We are going to stay in Mooloolaba for another couple of nights to surf & tan!

November 13

We've been doing LOTS of travelling the past few days! I left Byron Bay on Sunday morning (miss it already) and headed to Surfers Paradise to meet with Lindsay. Her friend Steph was there with her on a holiday so we all spent the day together and went out that night. The weather here has been SO rainy the past week, so I didn't get the chance to see much of Surfers Paradise. It seems to basically be just a big city with a cool night life and nice beaches. We left Surfers on Monday morning to head to Brisbane. Brisbane is a really nice city! We met a guy in Byron Bay about a month ago who's from Ottawa. We met him again here & Matt is going to travel up the coast with us a bit. We all went out last night & had a BLAST! We were SO tired this morning that after we checked out of the hostel, we went and had a long nap on the grass in the park. Oh, what a day. We are waiting for our bus to leave Brisbane and head north to Mooloolaba. How exciting, we're probably going to stay there for 2-3 days.

November 7

We've been living this whole time with a couple of great people. Kylie and Aaron are clean, quiet and considerate.. and so are we but we haven't had much of a chance to Really get to know them. We went out last night (Tuesday) at 6:30 for 'a quiet drink'. That quiet drink turned into a full night of partying. We had SO much fun!! It's just too bad we finally did this now instead of when we first arrived in Byron Bay. After a few drinks we got to know all kinds of things they think are funny about us. Haha, Aaron let it slip that he wondered if we were 'together' when we first moved in because we shared a room. Honestly! Men & their imaginations.. Kylie told me that they always know if we've had a good night out by the placement of our bikes on the lawn the next morning. "They used to be so carefully put away". They're both convinced that after we see a little more of Australia we're going to end up coming back to Byron Bay & if we do we've got a place to stay! Who knows, we might even take them up on the offer.
We went to three different bars.. Beachy, Balcony and Cheekies. Both Aaron and I had to work this morning, rough.
Lindsay left for Surfers Paradise. What a strange goodbye. "see you in a couple of days!!"

November 2

**Our friends Matt & Bryce with me on a typical night out in Byron Bay**
I LOVE swiming in the ocean. Its fantastic!! The waves are so high they knock me over every time.. I laugh SO hard!!! :)
I can't believe it's November!! It's such a weird feeling, the weather getting warmer rather than colder.
Lindsay and I have come to the conclusion that we must leave Byron Bay and head up the coast. It's sad to leave such a posh lifestyle, but we're getting almost too comfortable here and want to push ourselves to see more. I've been working almost every day these days and Lindsay's getting pretty bored hanging around by herself or with our annoying German friend Mo. I promissed my boss at 'Lalo' that I would work the next 2 weeks, so I was set to leave on the 14th of November. Lindsay is SO bored that she's going to leave next Wednesday... without me. We came to this decision oddly realizing that we don't actually have to be attached at the hip. It's going to be strange spending a few days without her. I moved my departure date up to November 10, so I can meet her in a place called Surfers Paradise that Saturday night, after I finish work. Back to backpacking! I don't want to pack my things and carry them with me!!! I suppose that's the only downside to the whole situation. We'll be back in hostels again. With strangers, ahhhh.

October 30

You'll know you're in Byron Bay when...
-you can change from your work clothes to your party clothes in the middle of downtown and no one notices (Linds?)
-you spend your days at work listening to old men philosophise life and argue with each other, which inevitably leads to them getting into a huge fight and one of them leaving & yelling back at the rest while riding his bike down the street.
-walking down the street & into stores without wearing shoes is perfectly acceptable.. even more normal than actually wearing shoes.
-it's so chill that when ordering a coffee, always allow at least 20 minutes before even expecting it to be ready
-when you're late for work because you've just spent the last 20 munites waiting for a Mocha Latte, no one at work really cares.

Lindsay & I have had to make some really serious decisions lately. When to go to the beach.. when wo take a nap.. how much tan is too much.. how many new things can we eventually fit into our suitcases. It's a tough life

We've been spending heaps of time at the beach. Actually, today we found a new & very private beach (no nudes either). It's SO close to our house, just a short walk through a conservation area. It's stunning. There are SO many teeny (the size of a quarter) crabs poking around. We saw one getting attacked by a sea-gull, it's pinchers waving in the air as if it were scary. There are bright blue ones, and spotted brown ones and almost see through yellow ones. I love them, they're so angry and cute!! haha
Tomorrow's Hallowe'en & I don't think anyone here realizes it. No decorations, no costumes. I've seen pictures of Hallowe'en parties back home, I miss it.

October 23

**the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen. At the most Easternly point in Australia**
Yesterday, Lindsay & I met up with one of our friends that we met last week. He's from Ottawa and actually, after talking with him for a bit, Lindsay realized that they were both on the same flight from Vancouver to Honalulu on their way over here!! crazy small world! We went to the beach and had a BLAST in the ocean. The waves were so strong, I swallowed so much water, haha. We met up with him and a bunch of his friends later that night to go out to the bar. It was a great night & at about 2am, eleven of us put on our running shoes and started on a long hike up to the lighthouse. We walked along the beach for a while. It's such a different feeling at night with no lights around anywhere. The stars were gorgeous, the sound of the waves so calming. Lindsay & I have done the walk up to the lighthouse before... in the daylight. It's a secluded path along the shore & up SO many steps. There aren't any lights showing us where to go, so we had about three small flashlights with us. I think the whole walk took about an hour and a half, but I'm not exactly sure, we didn't bring watches. We were pretty lucky not to run into any scary wilderness beasts, but looking back on it there were probably hundereds of creepy crawlers, we just kept our eyes on what we could see of the path. After the long climb, we made our way to a sidewalk area where we would be able to see the sunrise... in a few hours. It was SO cold up there. Windy! Eventually, we all huddled down on the cement pad. Everyone was snug up tight to stay warm. One big Spoon. I have no idea how long we all laid there, but I'm positive I didn't sleep at all. When it started to get light, a few of us got up, but when we realized we still had a while to go, we laid back down to keep warm. Eventually, the sun did come up & it was phenomenal! SO worth it! I took tones of amazing pictures. The new sun glistening off of the water, the fresh morning air, the complete peacefull feeling. Gorgeous. We stood just staring forever. It finally started to get warmer. We eventually took the long walk back to town (which seemed 6 times as far in the daylight) & back to our bikes to get home at about 6:30am. Poor Lindsay had to work today at 9:30. She's hating it right now, but she wouldn't trade that night for the world!

October 20

**This is me in the rainforest with an orange tree!!**
Yesterday, Lindsay and I went on a bus trip to a place called 'Nimbin'. Nimbin's a very hippie town with lots of craft shops and hand made stuff. I swear by the end of it if one more person asked us if we wanted marijuana or cookies, I was going to scream! We didn't spend much time in town, it was about a 2 hour bus ride and after Nimbin, the bus driver took us to an old hippie's house who lives 'self sufficiently'. It was all pretty neat, he grows all of his own food, but he was obviously very crazy. When we arrived at his house he went on a rant about the colour of sound and how light is like a dream.... blah, blah blah I have no idea. We were both cracking up at the whole thing, too funny. We got to walk through the rain forest and take a drive all the way up to the top of a ridge with beautiful scenery below. We also drove out to a waterfall (only a trickle of water) where there was a platform that we could walk out to and look all the way down it. It was fantastic seeing the rain forest from above. The landscape here is so different from home because there are HUGE hills everywhere, so when I look out across them, I can see for Miles, just rolling green! beautiful!
Last night we went out to the Beachy again. There was live music again, but not really the type to dance to. We ended up meeting a couple of guys from the AFT footie team. (Australian Rules Football?? whatever that means) Somehow randomly throughout the night we ended up meeting the whole team! It was such a fun night! We were leaving the bar with one of the guys 'Ed' & as we were leaving, there is a long banister going down about 20 steps out to the street. Ed decided it would be a good idea to slide down the banister. Bouncer: "don't do that". Ed proceded to almost get to the bottom, fall backwards onto the steps, get up, trip over the 'velvet' rope, knock over the ropes and a sign onto the sidewalk and finally fall over again. Bouncer: "Dick head". HAHA we couldn't stop laughing for the rest of the night!
I'm working at Lalo again today, but instead of reading my book all day, I'm helping to set up the shop after renovations. Hopefully it will make the day go by faster!

October 15

We spent a fabulous day at the beach today. We were sunbathing... napping when we heard a police car drive up the beach. They were talking to people and finally drove up to talk to us. them: "Don't go in the water!" me: "why" them: "shark attack!". uh... haha wow, that's crazy isn't it? There were helicopters flying around for the rest of the day and there were TV news people there as well. Actually, it happened right where we were sitting!!
We went out to a pier to watch to see if we could see anything. We only saw some turtles and whales. We met a couple of people and started talking to them about the sharks. One of them was Canadian and just came from Ottawa! Small world! We're going to have a drink with them tonight. Yay, new friends!...
The night was SO fun! We had heard before we went that we could buy a bottle of wine at the bottle shop and bring it into the bar, we would just have to pay a small fee. So we bought some cheap wine and they told us we couldn't drink it in there! So, we sat on the curb and drank it with the paper bag still on it, hahaha. We ended up meeting our friends out there and going to a place called 'Balcony'. It was a TON of fun!!

October 12

I'm in between jobs right now. I worked this morning at 6am making coffee at a little place called 'hole in the wall'. And it really is a hole in the wall.. very small but they do a lot of business. I thought I was doing great, but when I asked my manager, Rafer, how I did he told me that he had to remake 2 Cappucino's. Oops. Oh well, I don't think I can keep that job anyways, it's SO early! I have to work again tomorow at 6am and then Lalo at 10:00am. Just like today, I'll go back into town to work until 5. We were planning on going out tonight, but we may have to postpone it until tomorrow. We'll see if I crash after today!
Lindsay went to a yoga class last night. She said it was really great and it was so quiet that she could hear the waves on the beach. Sounds nice. I dared her to eat a spider last night. (it was only a baby) She ate it. We had a discussion today on whether or not that goes against her vegatarian diet. hahaha, what do you think??
I'm off to work. There's nothing fantastically new to report, we're both working today and tomorrow, but it just keeps getting WARMER!! Yay! no winter!

October 10

We're getting into a great grove here. We have lots of work and lots of time off and our living arrangement is wonderful and we're getting to know the town pretty well. On Saturday night, we went out to the bar with Kylie (one of our flatmates) and had a great time! We're getting to know her and Aaron (other flatmate) pretty well and it's nice to have some Australian friends.
We've been working a lot at the resort cleaning rooms, but we always get off at about 2:00pm and have heaps of time to hang about. Today's my only day off this week and for the next 3 days I'll be at Lalo reading my book & colouring pictures. I went in for my interview at the coffee place and I'm going in again on Friday morning at 6am to start working & see if I want to stay.
I lost my black sweater with the big blue heart on the front. I accidentally dyed my white shorts pink in the washing machine. I have a big hole in my shoulder-bag. Other than my sandals, I haven't done ANY shopping yet and it's killing me. I think it's about time, since now I'll have that extra space in my suitcase! I can probably fit 8 or 9 new things. hahaha ya right, I can dream can't I??
It's been storming the last couple of days here. The storms are pretty powerful! A big downside of bad weather is that our cell-phones don't work. SO, in case you've been trying to call either me or Lindsay... that's why it goes straight to the answering machine. Leave us messages, otherwise we don't know who is out there caring about us. We'll try to get back to you as soon as the weather clears up!

October 8!!

**This is from our walk up to the lighthouse**
things I've learned by being in Australia so far:
1. Bugs no longer matter. & there will ALWAYS be one crawling on you. (and there's no use trying to get rid of it, another one will just replace it.) I've become more accepting of the little buggers.
2. I really REALLY like the Canadian accent and didn't appreciate it until now.
3. Australians actually HAVE to vote. Or they get fined. Isn't that weird?
4. People don't think twice about painting weird things on their cars. Actually, usually it's not their cars, it's their VW vans.
5. The birds here are the loudest things EVER! & they sound like children playing and yelling at each other. They're up at 4am and seriously, you probably don't believe me but it's unbelievably loud.
6. Getting a job is too easy. & as Lindsay says "do you think an honours degree in criminology makes me overqualified for cleaning hotel rooms?"
7. Sharing a room with your best friend is absolute heaven compared to sharing with eight strangers.
8. I don't know why people live in Canada when the weather in Australia is so amazing. (how about my family/friends moving here instead of me coming back?)
9. Even though I just said that, I do really miss Canada and all the things that I'm used to in day-to-day life.
10. Sometimes it feels like I'm just around the corder from London after I talk to everyone at home on the phone or webcam. What a small world! It's just too bad I can't be home just to celebrate things like Birthdays or holidays.
Happy Thanksgiving! We don't have it here and all I really want is a left-over turkey sandwich.

October 6

Our Jobs! Lalo is super boring. I spend the day reading... drawing pictures.. talking on the phone & Lindsay comes to visit me when she's done work. Pretty much no one buys anything and I can leave during the day if I want as long as I lock the door & am not gone too long. Crazy I get paid for it, but it get's pretty boring. I was walking down the street yesterday and noticed a sign in the window looking for a barista at a coffee place. I went and asked when the best time would be to bring in a resume and the guy took me in straight away for a trial. I made him an espresso and a late and once he tried it he said it was the best he's had of all the people that have come in. He gave me a high-five (seriously) and told me he'd probably call me Monday (fingers crossed). Lalo is great because I do nothing, but it's just so boring and I don't meet ANYONE! We need more friends. Lindsay's been working her butt off at Citrus. I think she likes it (mostly because they give her a free lunch & lots of Turkish Delight). Her boss got her a 2nd job at the Lord Byron Resort cleaning rooms. I went and talked to the main woman there and I'm going in tomorrow for a trial run. I'm sure I'm going to have to get rid of one of these jobs eventually, but I want to see which one pays well and has enough hours before I quit anywhere.
We went to The Beachy last night for a night out & it's much nicer than any of the bars we've been to yet. A much more mature crowd (as in our age and not all 18 year olds). We're going there again tonight to enjoy some live music! Very exciting. & we're making lots of money. Can you believe the Room cleaning job pays $23 an hour? I wonder what the really GOOD jobs pay!

October 3

**I didn't take this picture because I don't have an underwater camera, but this is my favourite of the fish we saw today**
We got up Super early and went snorkelling!! It was SO fantastic.. I'll save the best story for last. The wet suits made us both look so pretty, I almost asked if I could keep mine (haha, ew). I've never snorkelled before and it took me longer than I would have liked to get comfotable breathing under water. I kept getting mini panic attacks every time I put my face under and took a breath. Lindsay coached me a bit, and then I was fine. All of the ocean life was incredible! SO many neon coloured fish swimming around right under us! They were eating random things off the rocks and swimming around in big schools. It was all just like you see on a nature show but in real LIFE!! We also saw a massive turtle right ahead of us. I was scared of it at first, but our guide said it wouldn't hurt us. It was the size of a coffee table! We got pretty cold and (typical Amy) I got SO seasick by the end of it and couldn't wait to be back on land. But the COOLEST (& I mean the best thing I've ever seen in my whole life) happened on our way out on the boat. It was about a 10 minute boat ride on a small raft-type boat. Along the way, we spotted some whales in the distance so we steered closer to them and shut off the motor. We watched for about 10 minutes (they were inthe distance, but closer than Lindsay & I saw on Monday). All of a sudden, they all started swimming in our direction!! There were about five of them and were getting closer and closer. Coming up with their heads and bodies above the water and splashing their tails and fins. They were seriously bigger than a school bus & they all came up right beside our boat, swam down (under the boat) and back up again on the other side. INCREDIBLE!!!!! I couldn't have imagined anything better. I didn't realize they were SO big!! their faces looked like dinosaurs. It was breathtaking & I'll never forget that moment for the rest of my life! wow

October 2

**No pictures to post. It would be inappropriate :) **
I decided I needed more pairs of shorts rather than jeans, so I cut my skinny jeans into shorts. They're so cute, I look just like Daisy Duke, haha. Lindsay and I ventured off on our bikes to a beach that was farther away from than our regular one just to spice things up a bit. To our surprise, the beach was for naked people, and not being naked ourselves, I feel we stuck out quite a bit. I was fine with trying not to look in the direction of anything but I think it was a little too much for me when a random old naked fat guy said "how ya goin' ladies" oooooooh gross. We found a secluded spot and enjoyed the day & as time went on more and more people showed up wearing clothing so we felt a little better. The weather was perfect. The bike home was great & we signed up for snorkeling tomorrow at 7:45 am, so we're going to have to go to bed early tonight!

October 1

**The top picture is where we walked out to the rocks and watched the wales. The bottom picture is of us & our brand new top-of-the-line bikes**
Yesterday was a typical day at the beach. Today was a great day! We decided to make the trek up to the lighthouse. On our way there, we stopped at the second hand store and bought a couple of bikes. Lindsay's worried that her bike is made for a child and mine is very large and ugly. Neither one of the bikes have working brakes. But they're fantastic!! Getting home only takes about 5 minutes now & in the heat it's not too bad at all. We took the bikes part of the way to the lighthouse and walked the rest of the way because it was mostly stairs. The whole trek took about 3 hours & SO many stairs. The way up was tough, but once we got there it was all worth it. We were at the most easterly point of the Australian mainland. Once we got to the top, we noticed a large school of fish down the cliff, by the shore. They all started swimming away and soon we noticed why.. The dolphins!! There were SO many of them! We watched them catch the fish & eat them. We got pretty comfortable in our spot by the path and sat forever watching the dolphins and the waves against the rocks. It was so nice and quiet up there until I heard some rustling from behind us. I looked back to see scaly skin and (what I thought) was a snake head! I think my heart stopped beating. We were getting out of its way when as it was coming out of the bushes we saw that it was a huge iguana. It waddled out and across the path and down the hill. We tried to get a picture, but were too late. After that big adventure, we walked around the lighthouse, ate our picnic lunch and started walking back down. We walked out onto a small peninsula to get closer to the water. We sat out watching the water and saw a turtle!! We then ventured out off of the beaten path to the rocks. I was climbing out to the edge and almost tripped over a little blue crab. It scared me but it was cute. We sat out on the edge of the rocks by the water for a while, getting wet from the mist of the waves and watching for more dolphins. Off in the distance, we could see water splashing up from the blowholes of whales. We waited a bit and finally they came quite close to where we were. They flipped their tails in to the air and dove under the water a bunch of times. It was great! I've never seen whales or dolphins (in the wild) before. What a fantastic day!! Walking back to our bikes was a little easier and biking back home was great (minus the brake situation). We watched Australian Idol tonight & our favourite guy got kicked off already. I think it's going to be our new favourite show.

September 29

**The top picture is the place where I will be working, cute!! The bottom picture is of the outside of Lindsay's new job**
We have JOBS!!! My new boss called me yesterday to tell me that I've got the job at Lalo Treasures and I start next week. I was asking him about hours and schedules and stuff & I learned that the dress is very casual. Like "people expect to see thongs (sandals) in Byron Bay, so don't go out buying anything fancy". hahah, I love it!! I'm going to be working every Saturday for sure and probably 3 days during the week other than that. Fantastic! Not too much, not too little. Also, they open sometime between 10-11. Everything's so 'cruisey'.
Lindsay's been working the last couple of days at her job, Citrus Deli. She says it's intense and she keeps cutting herself, but she hopes that it will teach her a few things about a kitchen. They basically assume she knows what she's doing and keep asking her to do things like 'flower these green onions'. Ya, ok, whatever that means! What a trooper!
While Lindsay's been working I've been working hard... on my tan. The beach is fantastic & the water's getting warm enough to swim in too. The walk from home to town/beach isn't so bad either, but I'm considering getting a cheap bike from the 2nd hand store (I can sell it back to them after).
It's Saturday night! We're planning on going out. Get ready Byron Bay!

September 27

**This is our new home. Isn't it beautiful?**
Yesterday, Lindsay and I were on our way to find our dream jobs but we couldn't find anywhere to print out our resumes!! The Internet was down in the whole town and there was no other way of getting them printed. So, for the morning we just walked around and looked at places where we thought we would like to apply. There are some really nice shops around here. In the afternoon our landlord Kaylee picked us up from the hostel. We got settled in here, it's SO nice to be able to unpack our things and not worry about having to pack them up in a few days. We have a nice big closet that looks VERY empty with our few belongings in it. The room is just 2 single beds and a closet. It's pretty empty, but so much nicer than having to share a room with 4-10 people. I tried to go for a walk out back, but the forest is SO dense that you can't walk 5 feet in! Plus I'm afraid of snakes and spiders which are definitely back there. We made a stir fry for dinner (again) and watched 'Lord of the rings' before bed.
...
Today We were up and out the door to go job shopping. Lindsay got a pretty promising offer from a little deli called 'Citrus'. She's worried because she has to make sandwiches for people and judging by the one she made for herself today that completely fell apart... well, I know she can do it! I was getting pretty frustrated at first, but I may have a job at a little artsy store called 'Lalo Treasures' The guy that I talked to when I went in told me that it was his last day, so I immediately called the owner and asked for the job. He drove out to meet me and I think the whole thing is set up once I give him my Tax number tomorrow. I don't want to get too excited though, I'm not even sure how many hours it's going to be. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking for new work clothes for Lindsay and then we celebrated our success by sitting by the beach for a while. We're back home & who knows what we're going to do tonight.

September 25

**This is coffs harbour, so nice!!! But we left, hahah, & now we're in Byron Bay**
Lindsay & I are perfect travel partners because: 1 I like the top bunk and she likes the bottom bunk & 2 we like playing little games like 'Name that tune' or 'how many disney lyrics can you sing'. We've got a nice little routine going on these days with our morning tea & cereal and daily walks around whatever place we happen to be in.
When we got up this morning, we immediately ventured out to find a place to live. Byron Bay is SO nice, we really like the beachy feel of everything. We were looking at a poster-board full of places and called one of the ones that was $100 per week. It turned out that the guy I called was sitting 5 feet behind me so we talked and he gave us a ride to the place. The location was PERFECT, sitting 5 minutes walk from 2 beaches and very close to the shops and restaurants. The place was not so nice. It was so run down and ugly and it smelled bad. We left thinking that we might take the offer because it was one of the cheapest one's we saw and the location was so nice. We called another place after and the girl who owned it came to pick us up. (can you imagine? everyone's so nice!) We took one look at the outside and knew it was the place for us. GORGEOUS!!! The back yard is basically a rain-forest. The inside is SO nice & clean and pretty. Big windows everywhere, it's so bright and inviting. There is just one room for the 2 of us, so we're sharing $160 per week (only $80 each, cheaper than the last place!) It's about a 20 minute walk to the main drag but we don't mind. I'm excited to take pictures and show you!!! We're trying to find a job, it's tiring. We made stir-fry for dinner and went out to a bar called Cheeky Money tonight.

September 24

**What do you think of that view????!!!!**
On Sunday (Happy birthday DAD!!! I'm so sad I can't be at home to celebrate with you all. I feel SO homesick!!) Lindsay and I got up to a beautiful sunny day. After breakfast, we took a walk down to the harbour to see what this place is like. It's so nice that we were considering staying, but it's only the first stop so we're going to look to see if we like the next place we go to. We were walking down by the sailboats along the harbour and noticed a poster-board full of different job opportunities for boat crews. (I know, you're thinking that we don't exactly know much about working on a boat, but there's no harm in trying!) So we called one of the people and he was glad to have us... but only if we could make it down to Sydeny because he had already left Coffs Harbour. Well, that wasn't going to work out, but while I was on the phone with him, a couple of guys came up to us and started asking us why we wouldn't want to go to Sydney. We told them it was too city and thought nothing of it until they left and the guy working there told us we should get on a boat with them because they just won some award for fastest boat (or coolest boat, or biggest boat) or something. So, being too embarrassed to go back to talk to them we stayed around for another ten minutes until they came back to us and asked if we wanted to join them on their sailboat. They were headed to Sydney and were going to arrive there in a day and a half. We talked about it and finally decided to go, but once we got back to our hostel and started getting ready, they called us and told us that 'something had come up' and we could no longer go. We were disappointed, but there are also plusses: 1 I get SO seasick that I might not make it. 2 my mom & dad didn't seem too impressed saying it wasn't that safe (very true). 3 we would have had to find our way back to Coffs Harbour because we don't want to be in Sydney again. It would have been fun though? Maybe next time.
So, instead of sailing in the ocean, we took a walk around this place to see the sights. We walked downtown. We walked out onto some huge hilly/mountain (that took forever & was hard work but was worth it for the view) And then down and across the beach. Once we were cold enough, we went back to the hostel to make ourselves dinner. We noticed a bottle-shop by the hostel that was selling cheap wine and picked up a bottle of 2002 Shiraz for $3.99. It wasn't that good but during dinner, we realized that we met eachother in 2002. What a touching story!! hahaha. Anyways, Noddles & veggies. It was a pretty great meal. Played cards all night. Reading before bed.
...
Last night, I trimmed my bangs (& did a pretty great job, actually) Lindsay liked what I did so much that she decided she would like the same thing. So this morning I cut her a new hair style. It looks great! I'm pretty sure she likes it too, it's a bit of an adjustment having bangs though, they're a little more work. We took a walk today down to the end of the beach. We knew it was going to be far, but didn't realize it would be a four hour walk! By the time we got back and laid in the sun for another hour we got a pretty good sun burn. It's not too painful though & we've got some aloe to cool it a bit. During our walk we saw some lizards on the rocks, they were afraid of us, but we got really close. The birds here are awesome too. We saw parrots here as often as you'd see robins in Canada. I think there were a few cockatoos too. We had some sweet potato burgers for lunch, they put beets on everything here! The bus to byron bay comes at 4:00 (it was late so we got on at 5) and we are on our way to Byron Bay right now. It's a 4 hour bus ride.
We've arrived in Byron Bay and we're exploring the hostel. This one's pretty nice! everything's outside, even the kitchen. The city looks nice as well, but we didn't see much of it because it's night time. We're excited to explore again tomorrow!
----> keep reading!! there are 2 new posts!!! <----

September 22

**Us during our long windy walk. t-shirt, 2 sweaters & a jacket couldn't keep out the wind!!**
Lindsay and I got up on Wednesday and ran a few errands before getting on the bus to go to Bondi beach. When we finally caught the bus we needed, it was the travel experience from hell. First, Lindsay is about 4 people wide when she's got her backpack on, and my suitcase is SO clumsy. Actually, I should say that I'm clumsy with the suitcase, hhaha. So the bus was packed, so we head for the first available spot to stand where we're not in anyone's way. We had to take a transfer, so off that bus and onto the next. The next bus was packed to CAPACITY! Lindsay somehow managed to get the spot right in front of the door where every stop she had to maneuver herself so that someone could get off. It was tedious and tiring, but eventually we made it to the beach. Lindsay bought me a lolly-pop to make me feel better. After unpacking, we headed to the frigid beach for a nap. I was SO cold!! We lasted for a while, even though it was freezing. At night, we went to one of the local pubs and lucky us (not really lucky at all) it was Backgammon night. So the main guy came over and gave us a long intro to the game and we played until we got bored and left. I think he was disappointed that we weren't interested, but invited us to join the 'Bondi Bi-weekly Backgammon' group on Facebook. Ok, sure.
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Thursday we were up early only to find out that it was the coldest day here yet. We trudged through, and ended up going for a long walk from one end of the beach to the other. I suppose it takes about an hour each way with lots of great scenery to look at. It was so windy and the waves were huge, but there were still surfers. We did a little shopping too. The sandals (thongs) that I bought last week were KILLING my feet so I needed some new ones. I ended up finding some really comfortable ones & Lindsay's sick of me telling her just how great they are. Lindsay's purse is falling apart, so we found her a new one of those as well. We went to an Italian place for dinner and when we left it was pouring rain outside! What a wet walk home. We played pictionary together for the rest of the night and read our books. At the hostel in Sydney, they have a book exchange where you can take one of their books as long as you leave one there. I left my old book and got the Chronicles of Narnia. I know, I know, it's a kids book, but I'm really enjoying it! It's an easy/interesting read.
...
Yesterday we were up and out of the hostel by about 11 (with a slight hold up because of a fire alarm). The bus ride back was much less painful than our ride here and we went to check into the YHA hostel (the one we have a membership to and have been staying at the whole time. They have hundreds of hostels all around Australia). It was full, so we went around the corner to the 'wake up!' hostel. Thinking we'd be smart and save money, we opted for the 10 share room since we had to be up by 5:30 in the morning anyways. We tried to get up to the floor we were staying on but once we got into the elevator, there was a swipe card thing that only let you onto the floor you were staying on. We tried for 10 minuites, going up and down and up and down, but our cards wouldn't work (or we couldn't figure the system out). Finally we made it to our room... and no kidding.... it was full of sleeping boys. sick. As if that wasn't bad enough the lockers in this hostel are designed so that you can only fit small things in them with pointless little shelves everywhere (in the other hostel I could fit my suitcase, laptop case and more). So, since there was no way we were hanging out in that room all day, we had to leave our luggage on our beds (we felt a little uneasy about it, but the only thing that went missing was Lindsay's book.. which was mine & I let her borrow, but I didn't care because I was done reading it). We filled the afternoon by going to lunch (I had smoked salmon because according to Lindsay the health expert it's bad to have tuna every single day, hahahaha), then we went to the Hyde Park Barracks Museum. It was great! We had a little introduction from a historian at the beginning who gave us an overview of the place, and then learned all about how Australia came to be. We saw a bunch of old record books with names and offences and terms of sentencing. It was all very interesting. Some of the convicts were as young as 10 and a lot of them were over there because of stealing 10 shillings or something. They all got life... So scary. We got to lay in some of the convict hammocks too, the whole museum was inside the actual place where the convicts stayed. After the museum, we went to the theatre and watched 'Hairspray' (which I totally recommend, it was really funny). We tried to stay out of the room as long as we could so that we didn't have to spend much time with all the random people. When we went back to our room and went to sleep, there was just us and 2 other girls sleeping. In the middle of the night a pile of guys came yelling and being idiots and one of them came over and stepped on Lindsay's bed. It was basically a nightmare. We couldn't wait to get up at 5:30 and be out of there.
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We're in better spirits now that last night's ridiculousness is just a memory. At least now we know to ask weather or not the rooms are co-ed. I'm not sure why we never considered it. We're excited to be out of the city for good and things are feeling a little more like we're in Australia. The scenery here is beautiful!!! Once we arrived in Coffs Harbour, our day became a whole lot brighter. We were worried because it was pouring rain and we weren't sure how to get to our hostel, but as soon as we got off the bus, there was a shuttle waiting for us and brought us there straight away. Once we got to the hostel we got a 6 share room all to ourselves which was perfect! We unloaded and went for a quick dinner. After, we borrowed a movie and went to sleep.

September 22

Hi Everyone! Lindsay and I arrived safely in Coffs Harbour. They don't have wireless internet here so I can't use my computer and my whole blog is already written out on there. SO as soon as I can find wireless I'll add more. SOON!!!

September 18

**This sign made my day! The Wildlife place was heaps of fun**
Yesterday was such an awesome day! Lindsay's flight was a couple of hours late, and I was so excited to see her when she got off the plane. Her flight was terrible though, poor girl had so many delays on the three planes she had to take. We went straight to the hostel and got our room settled then to the Aquarium for most of the afternoon. We saw some pretty amazing sharks, seals, sting rays and tropical fish. We took a walk down to the Opera house and to see the Harbour bridge. We had Thai food for dinner, then back to the hostel for a card game, then sleep.
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We were up early this morning and started sorting out what we would like to do for the rest of our stay. After a lot of deliberation, we decided to book a 'hop on, hop off' bus tour. This bus will take us all the way up the eastern coast to Cairns, which is in north east Australia and right by the Great Barrier Reef. We will be able to get on the bus and off as many times as we would like and stay as long as we want in each place, all for one prepaid price. We've got 6 months to take this trip, so we can stop off in a town/city for as long as we want, to work for a little while and then move on whenever we want to. It feels good to have this concrete plan, and I'm excited for the adventure. We're going to head out to Bondi beach tomorrow morning for a couple of days, and then we're going to get on the bus on Saturday morning to head to a place called Coffs Harbour. The bus ride is going to take 8 hours... we leave at 6:30 in the morning. How exciting!
In the afternoon, we went to see the contemporary art museum. This one was VERY different from the place I went to last week. For one exhibit, there were some sticks glued to the wall and some rocks placed on the floor. Another was some apple crates in the middle of the floor. We didn't stay long, we must not have had the 'eye' for that kind of thing, haha. After, we headed for a 'Wildlife Adventure'. This place was great! I forgot my camera.. too bad. There were kangaroos & Wallabees, wambats, koalas, parrots, snakes, spiders, etc. We saw all of Australia's most poisonous spiders and snakes, scary! In the Koala part, there was a mother and baby (don't remember the name of them.. cub?) sitting in a tree hugging, asleep. So cute! The snakes were pretty gross, the spiders too. After the Wildlife place, we headed back to our room. It was a far walk, we have sore feet. We relaxed for a bit and then went to one of the bars that I've been to for a glass of wine. We ended up getting a bunch of free drink tickets at that place because I had won that pool tournament and didn't use up all of the money on the $50 gift card. An Australian guy and his friends were talking to us and we ended up going to another bar called The Gaff. I've been there before too! It was a fun night and we were back home a little after midnight.

September 18

**Lindsay and I. We asked a girl to take our photo infront of the opera house but she missed it entirely... it's to our left**
Lindsay finally made it!!! we're having a great time. I picked her up at the airport yesterday morning. She was such a trooper, no naps needed at all. We spent the day touring the city. We went to the Aquarium and saw tones of sharks, it was an awesome (but very cold) day. Today's pretty cold too but we've got lots planned. I'll wirte more when I have a little more time..

September 16

**Picture #1 is us at lunch with our seafood platter. Picture #2 is the view at Caves Beach**
This weekend was the best ever!!! On Saturday afternoon, Monique and Mark took me to 'the caves', a beach that has all kinds of caves along it. We couldn't go in because the tide was high, so they promised to take me back on Sunday. We also went to this random park-type place that had Kangaroos and Emu's all over the place!! They were in fences of course, but it was great to see my first Kangaroo. Those things are SO big! Then, for lunch, we went to a restaurant called 'Twist' with a few of Monique's co-workers. We ordered two seafood platters to share among the six of us. The food was fantastic!!! There were Prawns in the shell (eyeballs & everything. I accidentally cracked it and saw some brain, haha), Calamari, Battered fish, lots of oysters (I had my first one.. not too bad with cheese on it!), and finally crab (in the shells still, I had to crack it open and dig out the crab meat). I'm pretty sure it was the most fantastic lunch on the planet! I already really like seafood, but I've never had it fresh, yum! After lunch, we went back to Monique and Mark's and packed our bags to get ready to stay at their friends place for the night. The house actually belongs to their friends' parents, who rent it out to people for $500 a night. It happened to be empty this weekend so they had about 10 of their friends stay over. The place was gorgeous! Right on the lake, with a pool & everything! We went for Thai food that night (Monique and I shared after our big lunch) and went back to the house for drinks. Everyone was so nice, they all were interested in what I was doing and where I was headed next. They had some great insight into where I should go and the things I should see. It was a fantastic night.
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This morning everyone woke up early for a bbq breakfast. (apparently here they bbq everything, even fried eggs!) After, we all went to the pool and suntanned for most of the day. We also played a bit of volleyball (my wrist is actually bruised.. but doesn't hurt) and Mark took me out for a ride on the Tinny (tin boat). The water was great, we saw so many gorgeous fishing boats and pelicans. I think that pelicans look like they're made of plastic. They're huge! We left the place at about 3 and headed back to 'the caves'. The beach there is really nice. We took a walk through one of the caves, which scared me a bit.. haha, but I was fine. A lot of the rocks are covered with a bright green slimish stuff that looks kinda like shag carpet. It was really pretty there. I got some great pics. We headed back to their place & I got to have a bath (so relaxing) and then I tried to make dinner for them. Well, Monique did most of it and I merely helped. We had Thai red curry & rice. It was SO hot that none of us could even finnish our meals, haha, too much red curry. After dinner they gave me a ride to the train station where I'm heading to the hostel so that I can go and pick Lindsay up tomorrow morning. I am SO grateful to Monique and Mark for all they've done for me this weekend! IT really means the world, especially because I was really starting to get homesick and couldn't handle any more strange faces! It's funny because every time I thanked them for having me they just shrugged it off like 'of course we would have you, no big deal, you don't have to say thank-you'. What great people!
I'm so excited to see Lindsay! Her plane was supposed to arrive at 6:00am, but she called (I missed it cuz I can NEVER hear my phone!!!) and let me know that the plane is delayed and it won't arrive until about 8:00. So I guess I've got another 2 hours to sleep in, but I am SO EXCITED to see her! I can hardly contain myself! She's going to be pretty tired when she gets here too, but hopefully she'll be up for some of the things that I have planned for us for the next couple of days. I;m pumped, I sure am ready for this adventure to begin!

September 15

**This is the view that I had at the hostel in Bondi Beach, BEAUTIFUL**
I arrived safely in Newcastle last night at about 5pm. During the ride, an older Australian woman sat beside me.. for about half an hour. She imiediately was talking to me about travelling & where to go and stay in Australia (she could see by my suitcase and bag that I was a traveller.) By the end of our conversation, she was giving me her name, address and phone number to call her if I ever needed anything or a place to stay. Isn't that nice??! I don't think many people in Canada would do that, I was amazed. The train ride took three hours. Only cost $17. Not too bad at all! The scenery was nice & I even saw a Pelican! Those birds are huge!
Monique picked me up from the train station & showed me the travel agency where she works. I met some of her co-workers and realized that until now I had only been meeting travellers, and today I actually met my first Australians! The city of Newcastle is about the size of London. Much more manageable than Sydney! The drive to Warners Bay (the suberb where they live) was lovely, all along the beaches. There were still people surfing!
Monique and Mark have been so welcoming, it's very nice to be here. We had Lamb for dinner last night. It was very good, I had never had it before! We watched a game of football (a kind I had never seen before and can't remember the name of) but it was an exciting game and the men wore the shortest short ever. hahaha.
I slept last night like I had never slept before! It was so nice to have my own room & nice place to sleep.
Before I came out here, I was getting a little worried. Everything was so expensive and crazy busy in Sydney.. and to be honest it felt like just a typical city. It didn't feel very Australian. Coming here has been a great mood lifter! I'm excited to travel north and stay in a smaller city like this one. & Get the real Australian lifestyle. YAY this is great!

September 14

The last couple of days have been great. Very relaxing, I've done a lot of just walking and seeing the sights. I walked around the busy main street of Boni Beach. There are a lot of signs in the windows looking for waitresses. I thought I would go out yesterday and give out some resumes, just to see what my chances are! I was talking to one of the women that work here and she told me that before I send out resumes I have to do a one-day course back in the city!! arg, it's annoying. This part of Australia is the only place that you have to do the one day course. In all of the other territories it can be done over the internet. SO, since I'm not going to be back in the city until Monday, I spent most of the day yesterday looking for graphic design jobs online. There are a lot of jobs to choose from in Sydney, (loads of JUNIOR positions, perfect) but I don't even know if I'd like to stay in the city. It's so busy, plus SO expensive. I suppose if the pay is good at one of these jobs then the rent wouldn't be so bad.
I love it here by the beach. So relaxing. I wish it was just a little bit warmer so that I didn't have to carry a sweater with me. It's almost hot in the sun, but in the shade it's chilly. There are SO many hills here. I can see why Australians are so fit, always walking up and down steep hills is great exercise. It would be nice to end up living near here, but I've heard through a lot of people that the jobs up north are better, and the rent is cheaper. I feel like I'm in a bit of limbo on what to do now until Lindsay gets here. We'll have to figure this thing out together!!!
Last night was great! I met a few people in the hostel (2 guys, 2 girls, all traveling together), and they invited me out with them to one of the local bars. We had dinner and were having fun and someone noticed it was 'Killer Pool' night. The guys were supposedly really good at pool, so we signed up. I signed up mostly because the highest ranking girl would win $50 as a bar tab. The rules of Killer-Pool: There are 50 people, they go down the list in order and everyone gets one shot each turn. You can shoot at any ball, but if you miss you get a strike. Three strikes, you're out. There were only about 10 girls playing and quite a few people watching. I was so nervous, but every time I got a ball in everyone clapped, hahaha. SO guess who the highest ranking girl was? yup, me. Cool, eh? so I just got 2 rounds of drinks for all of us. It was really fun!!
I said goodbye to everyone this morning and headed into the city. I'm just waiting for my train to leave here and head to Newcastle to spend the weekend with Kristal's cousin Monique and her husband Mark. I'm SO excited to stay with them. To stay with people that I know I can trust and get away from people being in my space constantly. Newcastle is about a 2.5 hour train ride from here. That'll be relaxing too. I just checked my e-mail and I got a letter from one of the places that I sent my resume to yesterday! She woman wants to see more of my work and said that if she likes it, she will want to see me next time I'm in the city for some freelance opportunities. Well, I'm not really wanting freelance, but anything is anything, right??!? nice.