Cairns Day 26

Ok sorry for the short and boring pist but just wanted to let everyone know that I went to Vodafone today and bought a new cell phone. I am now the owner of a white Nokia 1100. It;s just like those blue ones we used to have back in canada but a lot smaler and thinner. It doesn't have many bells and whistles but it's a decent phone and the best thing is I got to keep the SAME phone number I had before. That being said, anyone who knows my phone n umber, call me or txt me so I can add your number to my contact list, or e=mail me your phone number.

Aside from that I settled in even more by getting a membership to the local video store. On tuesdays it's 1$ rentals, including NEW DVDs!

Cairns Day 23

Ok so last night was really something and I thought I'd talk about it here.

First off, yesturday in the mall I bumped into Jacob, this guy from Holland who I knew from my room in the hostel I lived in in Melbourne. I was so excited to see him that we arranged to go out at night to a bar called P.J. O'Briens. Also, the other day I put up a post on the SWAP bulletin board (website from the organization whom helped me with the visa and arrangements to get here) saying that I'm in Cairns for a while and if anyone wants to meet up for a drink, contact me. So this girl, Andreea, sent me an e-mail and I invited her out to meet Jacob and I. Later in the evening I head over to the bar and meet Andreea, who happens to be French Canadian from Brossard. She just graduated from McGill and has a friend doing a PHD in Chemistry at McGill (For all my chem friends, does Jordan ring a bell? I don't think I knew a Jordan). After our little introduction, Jacob shows up and we go inside the bar.

Jacob wanted to meet up at this bar because wednesday night they are famous for Coyote Ugly Girls. 3 girls in bikinis and cowboy pants jump on the bar and dance for 5 minutes. Afterwards they have a dance competition between girls and another one between guys. They call it a "Dance" competition but it's more of a strip show because they try to get the girls to take their tops off and show their chest. It was no different for the guys since they ended up takng their shirts off and eventually their pants (but keeping on their underwear). Guess who won the guy dance comp?

I had NO intentions of entering! I just went to the bar to buy another pitcher of beer for my friends and I to share and this guy is on the bar and says 'I need 4 guys!' so I raised up my hand and he pulled me onto the bar, then I was told I had to dance. So I started dancing and took off my shirt, tried playing it a little sexy and then the music stops and the guy asked the groud to cheer when he points to the contestants. Myself and this other guy (who happened to be someone I knew from my whitsundays trip, Olie) end up with tht emost cheers out of the 5 of us, and we were told to stick around for the FINALS competitions. Next was round 1 for the girls, rounds 2 for the guys and round 2 for the girls, the cowboy girls danced a second time and then finally it was time for the men finals. I get back on stage and the music starts and we start dancing. I was standing next to one of the Cowboy Girls and she takes off my belt and starts smacking my butt with it. then she made a noise and put her hand over her mouth and got one of the other girls to come over and starts pointing at my back. She was hitting me SO hard that I have RED marks all over my back! When the music stopped the MC did the cheering thing again and I was first and got a pretty big cheer. He moved on to the others and they all had about the same amount of cheers but when he did it a second time he came to me last and when he finally pointed to me the whole bar went WILD! I ended up wining an 80$ snorkel trip to the reef. It includes a glass of wine, buffet lunch, trip on a boat, snorkeling in 2 spots on the reef and a scuba diving demo we get to watch. I'm going to have to call soemtime soon and book a day to go but theres no rush since it's good until December 2005!

As for my phone business, I double checked with the bus company and they don't have it so I need to buy a new phone. Unfortunately the only store for my phone company in Cairns, which is Vodafone, is being renovated and I have to wait until sunday for it to reopen. Until then if anyone needs to reach me just e-mail.

Cairns Day 21

Wow the days are flying fast! (or I'm just really really bad at math...)

What have I been up to you may ask? I have settled further into the house i living in. I am now used to things and am getting along quite well with everyone living there. We are on completely different schedules. I work at night, some work during the day, at night, on call, etc. I have wednesday and thursday off, one guy has Monday and tuesday off, the other guy has the weekend off, etc. I still can never tell if someone is in the house or not so Im always trying ot be really really quiet in case someone is sleeping in or I'm home really late.

Work has been keeping me really busy. I am now working 5 nights a weeks and I am now starting at 5pm instead of 6pm except on saturday when I start at 12pm and have a 2 hour break. When I finish all dependson how busy it is. Saturday night was quite busy and sunday was insane! It was so busy (about 50 bookings at 6pm!) that the chefs ahd me helping them out. At one point i was greilling some bread (which I burnt so they havn't asked me since...) and from now on when they scream out suflee I need to scoop some chocolate cream into a chocolate cup and shove it in the oven. I finished at 12:30am on saturday but at 1:15 on sunday! However, the other nights havn't been so busy. Monday I finsihed at 12:15am but only about 20 minutes after the kitchen guys leave (saturday and sunday it was more like an hour and half) and last night i was so on top I finished everything at around 11:30pm but it was really not that busy.

Now I have a couple of days off which is great. Sunday I bought a bike for 30$! I went looking around the other day and wither foudn really expensive new bikes (200$) or really expensive used bikes (120$-200$ - USED!). I bought saturdays paper and found an ad that said "Drive away bikes under 50$" and it had a number and an address. I couldn't call because unfortunately I LOST my phone (Mark, you're cue to laugh is 3... 2... 1... Now!). I don't know what I did with is but only discovered it was missing 1am after work. i think I left it on the bus I was sleeping on to work but not sure. At first it was ringing but now on my voice mail comes on meaning the battery is dead or someone stole it and it's off. in any case I'm going to have to buy a new phone an dmay need a new phone number all together. If anyone wants the new number (i.e. friends I met out here) e-mail me because I lost ALL of my friends contact numbers (never wrote them down ust put them in the phone). Going back to my story about the bike, I went to the address and it turns out its the appartment complex of this 80 year old man who buys bikes (used or broken) and fixes them up. He sold me a big bike that he painted black since the original paint was coming off and it makes a biut of noise but it gets me from A to B which is all I care about. I also bought a purple used helmet and a lock from him for 15$ extra. I rode the bike to the internet cafe and I REALLY need to get used to the fact that cars drive on the other side of the road because I never know where to look.

And now for something comepletely different... Here's a pic my friend Tina sent me of when I dressed up in Dingo. As you can tell, it was a wild and crazy night...

Cairns Day 15

I've been in Cairns just over 2 weeks and just when I thought I'd never find a job, I found a job and yesturday I moved into a house. I'm now living at 461 Draper street which is about a 20 to 30 minute walk from the city but only a 5-10 minute walk to the bus stop so I could go to work which is key. I have a huge room to myself. There's not much in it in terms of furniture but I got a double bed, a little desk where I put some things in, a shelf, a little stand where I have my clothes folded on and a bar sticking out to hang things on a hanger. Yesturday I emptied out my bag and really made my room look like i"m staying for a while. I went to the mal to buy some posters but was disappointed to find out that the poster display was only temporary and moved to another mall far away. In the meantime, I went out last night and got a free sombrero when I bought a corona, so I hung it on a small hook in my room just over my bad. There is also a fan on the ceiling that apperently won't turn off, which could be worse (i.e. a fan that never turned on...).
As for the rest of the house, there are 4 other bedrooms and 5 other people living in the house (1 couple) and they all seem really cool, 2 from England (the couple), 2 guys from New Zealand and a girl from Japan. There is a huge living room with a giant tv and 2 guys just bought a DVD player (theres a deal at a music store where you buy 4 DVD's they give you the player for free!). The kitchen is quite large although there is no stove, just a single burner to cook on but I"m used to it by now for mall the hostels I've lived in. The bathrom is in two room - one with the sink, shower and even a seperate tub - a smal room for the toilet who's walls are painted blue with white clouds and there is a map of the world for decoration. There is a backyard with a patio are for people to smoke or eat etc. and there is even a pool! The pool gets cleaned every 2 weeks and the house gets cleaned every week (vaccuumed, bathroom cleaned, etc.).

The house is owend by a guy, Tim, and his wife Micheline. They used to live in it for many years before turning it into a shared house. It also turns out that this guy I work with, Marcos, used to live there as well adn is good friends with Tim and Micheline. Also, Tim manages the Wool Shed, the famous backpacker bar in the city. He told me if i give him a photo he'll make me up a VIP card for the bar, so thats a kool bonus.

Todays my day off so Im in the city looking to buy a bike to make my trips to the city shorter.

Cairns Day 9

I've been in Cairns a little over a week. I spent my first couple of days going out and seeing the 'sites'. The fact is there are no sites except a giant swimming pool called the lagoon. Cairns is basically a portal for those who want to go diving or snorkling on the reef, sky diving or head further north to Cape Tribulation (a rainforest). The city center itself is nice but quite small, boasting only a few shops, restaurants and bars. There is also a mall but it, as well, is tiny. Outside the city, though, it's quite dumpy with building that look dirty and have peeling paint.

My plan once I reached Cairns was to go snorkling on the reef then head noth to Cape Tribulation and continue onto the city of Darwin (top of Australia), then cut down the center to Alice Springs and Ayers Rock (largest rock int eh world - I think). Unfortunately, I dont have enough money at the moment to accomplish all that and since I"m not ready to leave this beautiful country yet (sorry to dissapoint anyone, haha) I've decided to look for work in Cairns. After looking for a few days it was getting hopeless. There were no jobs available anywhere. I got a few 'We're not looking at the moment' or 'we might have something' followed by 'but if you want to leave us your resume we'll file it for you and get back to you'. Translation: but if you leeave us your resume I'll be sure to throw it out when you leave my store'.

I met this Englih girl Tina on the oz bus and she introduced me to Claire and Jenny, two Scottish girls who are also planning on staying here in Cairns and work. They are really nice people and have been helping me by giving me a few application forms from hotels and suggesting to try applying to hotels as well since they are huge organizations that own restaurants and whatnot. So with their advice I hit all the hotels and filled out 20 applications. Still no luck.

I was tempted to drop everything and go work on a farm fruit picking. At first I was excited about the idea but while hanging out with Claire and Jenny at the Lagoon after coming up with the idea, I was sweating bullets just lying on the grass. This turned me off completely since Id be working about 60 hours a week in the sun and making about 350$

Finally, yesturday I decided to venture an hour up north to the Northern Beaches area. I stopped at the most northern beach, Palm Cove. Palm Cove is 100% cleaner than Cairns and is known more as a resort area. All there is are hotels and a beach. The bus ride took about 1 hour and I hit a few restaurants. I got 2 'Yes we are looking and will get back to you' but I kept looking and reached an Italian restaurant called Vivo. I spoke to the owner Ivo and after a nice talk he offered me a job as a kitchenhand since they were in dire need for one. They had just opened up 6 weeks ago and their 2 kitchenhands left - 1 moved on with his travels and the other was a 15 year old who decided to stop coming to work without letting anyone know. I accepted his offer to try out in the kitchen that night and hopped on a bus back into the city, changed into my dishwashing clothes and jumped back on the bus to the restaurant.

The kitchen is huge and has up to date cleaning equipment making the job SUPER easy. When I was a kitchenhand in Melbourne I had to load the dishwasher with soap all the time and make sure the water was clean. I also had to wash everything by hand prior to putting it in the dishwasher. Plus, my workspace was so small I just stood in the smae place most the time. IN this kitchen it's all different. The dishweasher is automatic - I just lift the door, put in the tray, close the door and it turns on and washed without me even needing ot push a button. Instead of needing to wash all the plates, all that i"m required to do is hose the down with thee kitchen sink/hose thingy and they're ready to go!

I picked everything up quickly but since i"m not used to everything yet, I got really tired by the end. I have o confirm with Ivo my hours and what is expected of me but the head chef, Ashley, told me that my days will most likely be 3pm to 11pm involving prep first and then doshwashing during the dinner rush.

I'm hoping to be able to handle it for the next 3 months and then travel again. Until then I'm hoping to make a group of friends out here and hopefully find my own place to live. I hear there is a university enear Palm Cove so I may fit right in, haha.

Side Note 1: Today is Friday the 13th, I'm staying in room 13 in the hostel and I'm using computer 13 at the internet cafe...

Side Note 2: While looking at this blog to see what I last wrote about, I noticed a button on the top right that says Next Blog. Upon clicking o nit, it sends you to the next random blog. So I was cruisnig for abotu 15 minutes to see what kind of blogs people are writing. Some were journals like mine, one was a man looking for a wife, another was bulletin board on the topic of horses. What freaked me out was how I randonmly found 2 of them that were written by 2 girls in their 20's who seemed depressed/suicidal and were openly writing about it on the internet and that was from just reading the first few lines on eaither website. This is from a database of hundreds if not thousands of blogs.

Cairns Day 3

After Magnetic Island we travelled further north with a few stops for food breaks and to take pictures of funny signs. Far North Queensland is the home of the Castlereigh. It's this bird the size of an Emu, bigger then an ostridge and has a an axe shaped horn on it's head made of keratine and a a super sharp claw on each feet (click HERE for picture). It's an endanged bird so they have signs all over the highway to be careful not to kill it and of course the bus driver stopped to let us take pictures of one of the many funny signs.
Afterwards we stopped at a crocodile farm. It was quite interesting. Tons of crocodiles and the owner was a bit excentric. His farm is the home of the second largest croc in captivity and he just opens the gate and sat on it's back so we could all take photos! This, coming from a man who slipped in one fo the pools he was cleaning and got 2 of his fingers eatent hen recovered them and ended up getting them surgically re-attached to his hand! When he offered all of us the opportunity for work, I was actually interested but he admitted he was only joking. At least I spared my mom from having a heart attack.

I even got a chance to hold a baby croc and a snake. I pissed off the croc when I made a joke lke I was going to eat it... It started to try and run away.

After the farm we made our way to a bungy jump site for all the thrill seekers. My thrill seeking was to see if I could get away with eating 3 sausages (hot dogs) at the free barbeque when we were only promised 2. Thats enough thrill for me in one day.

By 6pm we made it to Cairns! I checked into my hostel, Hostel 89 which is righ along the water (no beach thought but another Lagoon i.e. public swimming pool) and for now I have the 3 bed room all to myself.

I went for dinner to ther Wool Shed which is a big backpacker bar similar to Cheeky Monkeys in Byron Bay. I had a good time and even bumped into Marius this guy I met while in Byron Bay.

The next day I started settling in by buying tons of grocceries to last me the week and bumped into 2 of my favorite people I met during my travels up teh east coast - Eric and Tom. I met them in Byron Bay (through them I met Marius) and we just hit it off and had a real good time hanging out. Great guys to hang out with and I'm excited I got a chance to catch up with them again, so we ended up going out to the Wool Shed.

Today I'm going to start getting my CV set up for job hunting and the front desk of my hostel was nice enough to point me in the right direction on where to go looking. Hopefully by the of the week I'll be employed! Wish me luck!

Magnetic Island Day 1

I have a LOT to talk about but have only 15 minutes left on the internet before my money runs out so heres the abridged version of what I've been up to the past week:

I left Hervey Bay on the Oz Experience bus and ended up in Bagara for a night. We stayed in a really nice hostel/resort. The next morning we made our way to Dingo and stayed on a 46,000 acre cattle station. It was great! The new Oz Experience owners are not havign Dingo as a stop anymnore so I was one of the last few people to stay there. We stayed there along with the southbound bus and had drinking games and tug of war against them. I saw a few peopel I knew from before and we all had a blast. There was a chest filled with clothes and the locals promoted us to dress up. Men were women, women were men, people were cowboys, pimps, hos and mecanics. Yes, I dressed up as a girl and i had a bra on. We partied late and even did some line dancing!

The next morning we had a little tour of the station and a bit of a talk on how it is runa dn what goes on. The guy giving the tour, Richie, was HILARIOUS. After the tour her showed us 2 guns, a rifle and a shotgun, and explained how they use it to fend of predetors of their cattle (dingos, feral pigs, etc). He let a girl shoot the rifle and she went flying and missed her target. We also had a go at a whip, but unfortunatley I wasn't able to break the sound barrier (thats hwat happens when you crack a whip correctly).

After Dingo I arrived into Arlie Beach. Or as everyone calls it Arlie No-Beach, for there is no real beach btu a fake "lagoon" which was just a swimming pool.

I stayed there 2 days and then went on a 3 day/2 night boat cruise on a tall ship called the DEFENDER. I wish I had time to go into details but it was the MOST relaxing trip I've ever been on. We sailed around the Whitsundays, went for walks, swimming, saw the stunning White Haven Beach (PURE WHITE sand, CLEAR BLUE water), slept under the stars on the deck of the boat (Saw the WHOLE Milky Way and the Southern Cross amongst other stars) and went snorkling with the fishies! There were so many fish and a huge one thats famous for the boat compagnies and they've dubbed it Elvis.

I'm currently in Magnetic Island known so because when Captain Cooke discovered it his compass went haywire and thought it was due to the magnetic field of the island. Tomorrow I'll be in Cairns and thus ends my Oz Experience trip. I'm planning on staying in Cairns for 2-3 months and work somewhere to make money so I can travel some more!

Hervey Bay Day 4

I just returned this afternoon from Fraser Island. What an experience the past 3 days have been! The island is just BOOMING with things to do.

My group ended up being myself and 8 brits - Toni, Barry, Jamie, Katie, Layla, Karen, Louise and Maria (note: 6 of them are girls, haha). They were a great group. We all got along, no complaints.

Barry was the main driver and since he used to be in the military he was also the most experienced. The island basically had tiny dirt roads literraly between trees when driving through the island and the east coast beach was basically like the highway. Barry knew what he was doing so well he got us from A to B in no time and due to that we got to see a LOT of things.

Here's what I've been up to:

Day 1 - We all got up early and packed our gear onto the roof of the 4x4 vehicle. We were then brought to the car hire place for a brifing on the dos and don'ts. Then we were off to the ferry. After a long ferry ride across the water we reached the island! Our first stop was at Lake Wabby. It was just like the sand patch in Noosa except there was a lake next to it. Great view too. After a quick dip in the lake, t started to drizzle so we moved onto stop number two: Eli Creek. Well we almost fell IN the creek. Maria was driving and we were shooting down the beach and al of a sudden there is this 1 foot drop with water. The creek runs perpendicular to the beach and we were told to drive closer to the water when we reach it to cross it but it came out of nowhere and we dove straight over it! Freaky but must have been damn cool! Once we got our bearing back we parked the car and walked along the creek and waded through it back to the car. We next reached The Mahona Shipwreck. The Mahona was a war ship that was to be scrapped in Japan back in 1935. however, on the way to Japan, the ship got pushed onto the beach from a bad storm and since then has been rotting on Fraser Island. Most of it is destroyed but the shell was still there to get an idea of the size of the thing and it aint small!After the shipwreck our last destination for the day was The Pinnacles/coloured sands. They looked like jagged peaks sticking out of the ground with different colours of white/brown/tan sands. We then made it to our base camp and set up tent. Dinner for the evening was sausages and hamburgers cooked by yours truley. The girls made a wicked salad and dinner was done. Was also had wine and played Ring of Fire (a drinking game). I called it a night at 10:30pm.

Day 2 - Got up around 8am and had left over sausages, cereal and eggs for breaky. Once in the car we made our way to Indian Head. It was a small climb to this cliff where I had an amazing view of the surroundings. I just sat on a rock and took it in for about 20 minutes, listenign to the ocean. So GREAT! After Indian Head was The Champagne Pools. They were this little rock pool just inside the beach and gets its name due to the foam that happens when the water from the ocean wades inside it. It was a nice little spot to get wet. On our way to our next destination we all took turns driving along the flat beach. Barry helped me with the stick shift and i got a chance at driving a manual car on the left side of the road (for about 5 minutes but nonetheless!). Our last stop was a long way through a really bumpy track but well worth it. We ended up at Lake Allom which is the home of Krefft's Turtles. I got to swim with turtles! We were told when you clap your hands lightly in the water the come to you and one got up to a foot away from me! After a quick swim it was off to camp for dinner which was pasta. After dinner we were all nackered and I went to bed early.

Day 3 - On our last day we took apart our tents, packed everything up and went to two lakes - Lake Birrabeen and Lake Mackenzie. Lake Birrabeen was lake with a white beach and clear water. Lake Mackenzie was like Birrabeen but 100% better. The water was SO clear and the sand was SO white. It was like swimming in a chlorinated swimming pool. We only had 1 hour to spend there but it was the BEST thing on the island!

I'm now back at Beaches and about to have dinner. Tomorrow I"m back on the bus and headed for Arlie beach with a stop in Bagara and also Dingo.

Hervey Bay Day 1

I am in Hervey Bay! Hooray!
Got up this mornign and hopped on the Oz Experience Bus. I met these two Swedish Guys who were in my room and chatted with them a while. I also met this girl from England, Maria, who I remembered seeing on my bus trip from Brisbane to Noosa. Turns out she chose the same company as me for the Fraser Island trip, Beaches, and we're actually int he same room at the Hostel (where I am now). A little backgroaund of Fraser Island and what I'll be doing:
Fraser Island is the biggest sand island int he world. I was told that it was made by the particles that eroded down the east coast of Australia and got swept away to this spot byt he sea currents eventually building up to an island. It's not completely just sand anymore, apperently there are forests and fresh water lakes on it but it's supposed to have more sand than the Sahara Desert! What I'll be doing tomorrow until tuesday is roaming around it with 8 other people in a 4 by 4 all terrain vehicle. We are given a map and free to roam on our own! There is also a base camp located on the island where we return to cool dinner, shower and meet other people, etc. After checking into the hostel I got to meet my group which includes Maria (and 5 other chicks :) ). I think I'm going to get along with everyoen just fine. I was then deligated as one of the two people to go shopping for food (Maria was the other one). I'm glad I got to go shopping since it's now officially Passover and I'm not supposed to eat any bread for the next 8 days (or anything with yeast in it - this includes beer). I don't know if it's COMPLETELY kosher but I convinced the group to buy tortilla wraps since they are flat and have no yeast. Hopefully it's all good (Lorne am I wrong??). Well if not, no actual BREAD is as far as I'll get. I asked the supermarket if they had Matzah and the woman suggested I try looking in Brisbane (about 5 hours south of here by car...). Tonight I'm going ot pack everything and have to get up tomorrow mornign for my adventure. I'll write about my trip when I return on thursday so keep posted!

Noosa Day 4

Yesturday I returned from my 3 day 2 night canoe trip in the Everglades of Noosa. Wow it was something!

DAY 1 - Got up early and jumped into a bus for a 30 minute drive to a lake whose name I can't remember. I then met my group: An English guy named John, 4 guys from Scotland (Kev, Ian, Steve and Elliot), 2 couples from England and a couple from Israel.A the lake we loaded our gear onto a boat and went accross it to a Rangers Station. There we got briefed on what the trip is all about and was theb left on our own! I shared a canoe with John and the whole group went down this tiny creek called Kin Kin Creek. The surroundings were beautiful and it was a really nice day. I got to see a few interesting birds as well. We canoed down for about an hour until we saw this bridge and then turned back. John is 29 and a big guy so he took the back and the canoe kept veering left a bit. On the way back, we just BARELY hit this branch sticking out of the water but missed it and got stuck int he underwater tree. Everythign was ounder control and we pried ourselves free. Ten mnutes later though, I managed to navigate us DEAD ON into another branch. We hit it with such an impact that John went flying out of his seat smacking his knees against the seat in the middle of the canoe. I don't HOW i did it because the branch was about 2 inches thick and sticking out of the water about a foot. After the 'accident' we continued back to the ranger station and got all our gear on our canoes. We canoed north for about another hour until Harry's Hut. There is no hut or Harry it;s just the name of the camp ground. We unloaded our stuff and pitched our tents. I juped into the lake for a swim and the water was funky. Due to all the tea trees whose roots are in the water, the water was actually really dark and when I put my head under water it was just pitch black. The only thing I could see was my hands and arms and they were this golden orange color lke maple syrup. Afterwards it was basically eating dinner and drinking in the dark. We played this game Look-a-likes where you choose someone and name allt eh famous people you think they look like. All the usual ones were choesen for me: Egon (Ghostbusters), Skreech (Saved By The Bell), Weird Al Yankovick, Shaggy (Scooby Doo). We were all nackered and I ended up going to bed at like 9pm.

DAY 2 - Got up early, had breakfast and then we were off! We canoed for 6 km and tghen hiked up a hill for another 6km to reach The Sand Patch. Imagine a moutain with snow on the top of it but replace mountain with hill and snow with sand! It was like a forest with a desert in the middle. It was well worthe the treck. The view was phenominal and the sand dunes were really cool. After chilling up there for an hour it was time to head back. On the way back the new group who were arriving to start their day 1 passed us and apperently they missed Harry's Hut and canoed down for like 3 hours to where we were! We left them behind and went back to our camp site. Back at the site we had the pleasure of being invaded by 3 giant lizards aka Goanas. They were huge but very cool to look at. We then cooked dinner as it got dark and chilled before bed. Once I was in bed it started to down pour and ended up raining all night.

Day 3 - It stopped raining but it was time to go. Two nights out in the woods was plenty. It was a struggle to get back to the Rangers Cabin since the wind was against us. We finally made it back, jumped on the boat and headed back to land. I got back to the hostel by 1pm. John, the four Scots and I decided to go out for dinner and have a REAL meal. John had a car so we drove down to Noosa Ville, the more rich area of Noosa. We went to this Indian restaurant and it was delicious! It was the first time I ate in an Indian restaurant. After dinner we headed back to the hostel adn they guys had rented The Princess Bride. I could hardly stay awake so after 20 minutes called it a night. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to the guys because they were all sleeping but if you guys are reading this, good luck in your travels and have fun!

Today I went to the Australian Zoo - Home of the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin. It was really big and great. I got to be up close with kangaroos and koalas. I also saw the lots of other animals including the tasmanian devil and dingos. I went into the venemous snakes hut and while taking a picture of the most venemous snake in the world it flinched! Thank got it was behind glass.

Tomorrow I head to Hervey Bay.

Noosa Day 1

I am in Noosa! Yesturday I left Brisbane north at a place called Mooloolaba (try saying that 5 times in a row). I'm sick with a cold so the trip was pretty much a blur but the hostel was nice and I relaxed watching the movie The Replacements with Keanu Reeves and eating a large pizza from Dominos for just 7$! (Although a large here is like a small in North America, I kid you not).
I slept quite well compared to the night before and am feeling better today. I checked into Dolphins at Sunshine Beach and it looks like a really chill place. I'm right now in Noosa Junction and am about to buy food and stuff needed for my canoe trip tomorrow which I keep hearing good things about!
Really excited and will let you all know how it was when I get back on Thursday.

Brisbane Day 5

Well this is my final day in Brisbane. Yesturday I went shopping at used book shops for a new book. I recently finished Blood of the Fold by Terry Goodkind, the third book in the Sword of Truth series. It was quite good but someone had given me a free copy of the first Discworld book by Terry Pratchet, The Color of Magic. That book was getting quite interesting and funny, a real easy read. But then I lost it. I think I left it back at the first hostel I was staying in. So I was tempted to buy a used version of the book butafter having read half of it I didn't really feel like shelling out 5$ so I decided to buy a book by another author. I just bought Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb. I've only read one chapter. So far so good but i realized now although it's the first book of her new series, I thin kit's based on character from her other trilogies so I dont' fully understand who all the characters are yet. Hopefully as I continue reading things will make more sense. I traded my old book for it and th eguy sold it to me for 5$. I realized after buying it the book was BRAND NEW and there wa a price tag for 20$ on the back form the book store it was originally purchased from. So I saved 15$! Not bad!
After buying the book I went to the Lagoon - man made beach in South Bank and hung out with Andy and Mark - 2 guys I met in Surfers Paradise at the hostel who also happen to be on the Oz Experience.
At ngiht I met up with Josh and Luke again and then Ross, this guy from my room, joined us adn we headed to a bar/club area called The Valley (think St. Laurent or Cresent/McKay/Bishop area) and ended up at the Elephant and Wheelbarrow. It was quite fun with a happening cover band.
Unfortunately I'm beat and now my throat hurts. NO MORE PARTYING!.... for a little while at least, haha!
Tomorrow I'm on the bus and heading to Moloolaba and then Noosa where I'll be partaking in a 3 day 2 night canoe trip which I hope will be fun.

Also I found out I'm in someone elses blog! Here's a post from Sophie's blog and what she has to say about me:

Allo allo!

Voici mes dernieres aventures: Hier, je suis allee rencontrer mon ami Josh Budman que j'ai rencontre a Melbourne lors de mes aventures precedentes. Ce joyeux gaillard vient de Montreal, mais ne parle pas tres bien francais...Le voila donc a BrisVegas pour quelques jours. En moins d'une journee,il a trouve un endroit qui vendait de la poutine, donc nous y avons fait halte pour le diner. Malheureusement, nous n'avions pas nos appareils photos...Nous sommes ensuite alles au Museum of Brisbane ou il y avait quelques trucs interressant. Apres cela, nous sommes alles nous perdre dans la ville, en essayant de trouver le pont pour traverser la riviere qui nous menerait a South Bank. Nous avons reussi apres un assez long detour.

Pour me recompenser de mon tour touristique, Josh m'a fait un stir fried au poulet pour souper AND HE IS THE BEST COOK IN THE WORLD! MUCH BETTER THAN TYLER. Nous sommes joyeusement alle boire de la biere apres ca au bar en dessous du Palace Backpacker et nous avons rencontre ses 2 amis d'angleterre.

Donc cest ca mes dernieres peripeties...aille aille aille! Vivement le depart:)

PLEASE NOTE: SOME OF THE ABOVE MAY HAVE BEEN ALTERED AND NOT ACTUALLY WRITTEN BY SOPHIE.....

Brisbane Day 3

Yesturday was a packed day! I moved into a new hostel called Palace Backpackers. SO much better than where I was before. Nice and clean. I also convinced 2 birtish guys to come with me, Luke and Josh. They are really cool guys. In the morning I hung out with them and for lunchI met up with my friend Sophie from Quebec. She's been in Brisbane for 7 months now and I met her in Melbourne. She gave me a real tour of the city ( a bit unintentionally since we got lost at one point). We started the day with POUTINE at New York Fries!!!! I went ecstatic when I found out they had a NYF in the city! It wasn't the best tasting food but did make my day. After lunch we headed to the Brisbane Museum which is in the city Hall. They had an exhibit on the making of the city hall and it was really detailed and interesting.
After the museum we went to an area called South Bank which was a nice walk. This was followed by a bridge back over the river and into the botanical gardens, and then back to my hostel. As payment for the tour of the city I cooked dinner for both of us (Tyler if you are reading this she told me it was the BEST MEAL SHE HAS EVER EATEN IN HER LIFE!... or she might have said it was OK for a backpacker meal I can't remember...assume the former!).
After dinner we went down to the Down Under bar in the basement of the hostel and met up with Luke and Josh. It was Superman night. If you wore undies on the outside of your pants you got cheap drinks. Yes I did it.

Brisbane Day 1

I'm in Brisbane! I havn't done much of anything yet. I arrived this mornign and have been at the internet shop for about 2 hours now. I checkedinto a hostel I got a free night in from when I worked for Peter Pan Travel but it looks really dodgy so I'm searchign this afternoon for a better place to stay the rest of my time in Brisbane. All in all it seems just like a big city just liek Toronto. I'm here a few days. I'm hoping to catch up with a friend who lives here and check out the city. I also plan on spending a day going up north to the Australian Zoo which is owned by the Crocodile Hunter himself, Mr. Steve Irvin.

Surfers Paradise Day 5

Friday day I met this great German named Tobias. We chated it up and then at night we went to a bar with the hostel called The Shack. I had a really good time and even bumped into 2 irish girls I met on my tour in Nimbim.

Saturday night I paid 25$ and ended up on a club crawl. We went to 3 club/bars : Melbas, Shooters and The Shack. It was an OK night but nothing great. I was hoping ot meet people on the crawl but no one involved really sociallized with anyone. I got a group photo and a keychain necklace, though, which is pretty cool.

Sunday I hung out at the beach and played some soccer with a bunch of guys from the hostel. I then took it easy sunday night.

Today I went to the beach with Tobias and hung out. The weather was finally nice and sunny, the rest of the time here it was rainy. In fact the weather was so good we went back to the beach again.

Tonight being my last night, I'm off to The Irish Pub and then Shooters for a free drink we get for staying at the hostel and hopefully some dancing.

Surfers Paradise Day 2

I left Byron Yesturday and ended up at Surfers a couple of hours later. It sounds like a popular surf place by the name but don't let that fool you. Surfers Paradise was a lot like Miami, LA and Florida mixed together. There is a beach thats 32km long but there are lots of tall high rises and residential buildings. About an hour or 2 away are 3 major theme parks (WB Movie World, Wet n Wild and Dreamworld) and there is also a Sea world somewhere accessible from Surfers Paradise. The only reason it's called that, I was told, is because the first residential building was called Surfers Paradise and as the area got built up they decided to just name the whole area that.

They are currently building the tallest apartment building complex in the world at over 100 floors or soemthing like that. Trust me it's tall!

I ended up walking around wit this girl from my room from England named Naomi to a mall complex called Pacific Fair. I pictured a big indoor mall but for the most part was an outdoor mall, like a maze of strip malls contained within a box. I bought new sunglasses that I desperatly needed. Now I look even more sexy when I strut my stuff in the streets.

Today the weather was a bit better and I ended upwalking along the beach from the city center back to my hostel.

Byron Bay Day 5

Last night at Cheeky Monkeys I bumped into two canadian guys from BC who I met in Melbourne. Turns out they were staying at my hostel. We went to the beach during the day and at night signed up for this game of pool called Killer. Everyone pays a dollar and we all take turns taking a shot. If you get the ball in you stay in teh game and then it's the next persons turn. If you miss, you lose a life. After 3 lives are lost, you're out of the game. The winner of the game collects everyones entry fee. I don't know how it happened but I won the game and ended up with 20$. Off to the bar I went to celebrate my final night in Byron Bay. At Cheeky Monkeys I bumped into these Israeli guys I saw the other day at the internet cafe and we started talking. They were really cool guys travelling across Australia after having finished their term in the army and were now having a vacation.
I ended up in another contest on stage where I had to play a didgeridoo. It sounded bad so I didn't win anything but I noticed a lot of people I reconized from my bus trip between Melbourne and Sydney. Most of them stayed in Sydney for a while and managed to catch up with me in Byron Bay that night.

Byron Bay Day 4

I ended up on a tour bus to Nimbim. Originally a place named for the spiritual rocks that the aboriginals would climb up to have cicumsisions done, it later became a dairy farm industry area but the industry collapsed. In the 60s there was supposed to be a big concert against the vietnam war but the was ended before they had the festival so they made it an environmental festival instead. most people who came for the show just never left.

It was a pretty far out place. They are really big on trying to legallize weed. The minute I got off the bus, I got asked if I wanted weed about 12 times. There was this funky 'museum' and accross the street was the Hemp Embassy where they are really trying to legalize the drunk as well as sell weed related items.

After Nimbim, we skipped swimming in a waterfall because it rained but ended up at a barbecue area and had a gigantic lunch. Then it was back to Byron.

Pictures!

Ok I have so many pictures and it's too nice a day to stay inside on the computer so here are a few pictures to wet your pallate:

Street Art in Melbourne
Pictures of the last two pieces I did in Melbourne: Bartman and Dead Pool

Suggan Buggan School House
A really old school that was used way back when.

Mt Kozciviszko
Pictures of my hike up the halfway on the tallest mountain in Australia. Includes Blue Lake.

NSW/Victoria Border
Pictures of me at the Victoria/New Douth Wales border.

Enjoy!

Byron Bay Day 3

Yesturday I met some really cool guys in the hostel, one from Switzerland and th eother from Italy and we ended up on the beach all day. I didn't realize how close my hostel was to the beach! Not even a 5 minute walk. The beach was beautiful and i decided to take a walk along it to a light house. On the way I ended up the most eastern point in Australia and even got to see a bunch of dolphins in the water.

At night I decided to take it easy instead and hung out with my new friends in the room 2 doors down and we played some card games and then snuck onto the beach before calling it a night.

Today I'm going to try and book a day trip to this very popular town nearby called Nimbim. It's supposed to be a really laid back place and worth the trip so I"m goign to try and make my way there.

My plans for the rest of the day are to go and chil on the beach and possibly join my new friends at a bar. Unfortunately the great people I met are all moving on tomorrow but hopefully I can meet up with them in the future.