First things first, Australia is REALLY really expensive. I mean I knew it would be more than southeast asia, but I am getting absolutely killed financially..its more expensive than the US! That being said, Im still having an awesome time and will probably change my flight home to extend my stay. I'll just go chronologically about what I've been up to and organize it by destination:
Brisbane: Flew into Brisbane, and that was my first few steps in Australia. Met a really cool Dutch guy named Neils, and we met up with two local Brisbanites and went to the drinking/bars district and watched a rugby game on TV and got real drunk with the locals, which was really fun. The name of the bar was Caxtons, and the next night we went to Tinbilly's and Down Under Bar. Also, I went to the top of a mountain near Brisbane called Mt. Cootha, and got some really sweet views of downtown Brisbane. Finally, went swimming in "the lagoon", which is a fake beach on the edge of the river in Brisbane. From my experiences in Brisbane, its a great place to live and grow up, but it's definitely not the big, loud, party central like other parts of Oz. A good time, but I was ready to move on.
Australia Zoo: I took the train about 2 hrs north of Brisbane, and went to the famous "Australia Zoo" which is also "Steve Irwin's Zoo". It was pretty cool, and I got to pet Koala's and Kangaroo's, and also see Casaberries (<--the big big birds that can't fly), Dingoes (<-like wild dogs), Wallabies, gigantic tortoises, tons of snakes/lizards, and even white children and white elderly people...it sounds funny, but throughout my month long travel in southeast asia I think I probably only saw 3 white children and maybe a few couples of old people. Makes sense though, as SE Asia was all 18-30 yr old backpackers and the locals...which I loved. Anyways, the Zoo is only about 4km from the train station (maybe 3 miles?), so in order to make the afternoon train back to Brisbane & the airport I decided to walk it... I had my big backpack with all my stuff, my little backpack, it was easily 100 degrees with a strong sun beaming on me, and I was walking on the side of a freeway in the mud and grass. I was so sweaty and was really worried about passing out. I stuck my thumb out and tried to hitch a ride to the train stop but this highway was not busy at all...I eventually walked into a police station and cooled off in the A/C, and thankfully I was only another football field or so away from the station. That was shitty, but overall the zoo was really cool and unique as I cannot see a lot of those animals anywhere else in the world.
Whitsunday Islands: From Brisbane I flew up to Airlie Beach, which is the port town all the boats use as a dock for the Whitsunday Islands. Definitely a highlight of my trip thus far. I did a 4 day, 3 night trip sleeping on a 50+ foot catamaran with ~30 backpackers. We sailed through the cluster of islands known as Whitsundays, and stopped at Whitehaven Beach, which is always in the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world! In addition, we sailed up 4 hrs to the 'outer' great barrier reef, and I did 5 dives, including the most epic night dive of my life. To summarize briefly, the day dives were really cool and saw tons of turtles, sharks (6-10 feet), colorful fish, and did some really good cave diving. During one cave, all I could see was the red line on the person's fin in front of me and then poof, pitch black. Couldn't even see my own hand in front of my face. It was actually kinda scary, but I just kept kicking and eventually saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Then the night dive, we jumped in a fast current and dropped down to 20 meters (Like 60 feet?) and all you can see is wherever you point your flashlight. We immediately saw 5 sharks, sleeping turtles, tons of other sleeping fish, and other glowing creatures.
Fraser Island: I spent 3 days, 2 nights with a group of 5 people offroading on this sand island in a 4 wheel drive jeep. We saw beautiful lakes, dingoes, sea turtles, and then at night had a great campfire.
Surfers Paradise/Gold Coast: Surfer's was really cool because it reminded me of back home. The water was so so nice and warm, and the waves were perfect. I body surfed surfers paradise, then a break called Burleigh Heads, and then at night went on the famous "Backpackers Big Night Out Pub Crawl"... And yes, it was a "big night out" indeed. The next day I went down with my two german friends and an aussie guy to checkout the Quicksilver Pro Surf competition at Snapper's Rock and saw Bruce Irons and a ton of other famous professionals. Finally, at night we drove (the two germans have a car.. and actually, I travelled with them and slept in their car for a solid week!).. anyways, we drove to a cave at night that has a waterfall inside it and also tons of worms that glow during the night. That was absolutely gorgeous and beautiful.
Byron Bay: This place reminds me of San Clemente with an added dash of hippy-ness. It's small, but the surf was barrelling and the party scene at night is happening. Developers would love to turn this into a surfer's paradise (with skyrise hotels and such) but Byron is a small town with strong local roots. I met a Scottish guy with a surfboard, and he let me surf this break at Byron Bay called "The Wreck".. It's called the wreck because there's a ship wreck and the mast and other parts of the ship are rusted and jutting out of the water. The waves were easily 6 foot and barrelling, and the current was really really strong. I kept getting pushed up towards the ship wreck, and the waves were actually really big, so I caught one wave then went in and relaxed on the beach.
Waterfall Way: Did a drive on the "waterfall way" and hiked to the Dangar Falls, which was really beautiful. Unfortunately I hiked in sandals and got bit by a LEACH in between my toes! I didnt notice until like 2 hrs later when we were in the car and the german dudes couldnt stop laughing. We burned it out and there was a lot of blood... in fact, my toe did not stop bleeding for 3 days! The leaches have an anticoagulant that makes it so your blood doesnt clot...my socks were bloody and it was miserable!
Sydney: Ok Sydney is easily one of my favourite cities in the world! It was big and bustling, it was very young with an awesome night life, it has famous sites, its different neighborhoods are cool, and Manly & Bondi beach are only 15 minutes away! I did all the touristy stuff in Sydney (opera house, harbour bridge, sky tower, Manly Beach, Bondi beach, Kings Cross nightlife, etc.) and also met a lot of cool people at the hostel who were from all over the world but are living and working in Sydney. I really had a perfect time here, up until last night.... I was with a couple of friends walking on the sidewalk at like 1030pm headed to a bar, and all of a sudden some middle eastern or italian or some guido asshole sucker punched me in the left eye. I didn't look at him, say anything or do a thing to piss him off... He was just drunk or probably pissed off over some girl or rugby game and then wham..wacked me in the face. I was really stunned but pissed off, and wanted to kick his ass, however he was much bigger and with 3 other guys. I turned around and they started jumping up and down and really wanted to fight me for no reason.. We walked away and bought a bag of peas to put on my eye, and thankfully there was no blood and only minimal swelling.
And now I'm way way down under in Melbourne!
Links to Australia Pictures: (copy and paste link into a new tab):
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2152833&id=10808601&l=78b563aa80
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2152833&id=10808601&l=78b563aa80
AND
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2154018&id=10808601&l=a53662c54e
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