Word-up from Down-Under.  I hope this report finds everyone
well.  We’re still having a
great time and really liked Australia.  After traveling in very cheap countries
such as Argentina, Australia
seemed unbelievably expensive.  Our budget took a major blow over the 7
weeks we were there.  It became “out” with the days of big
steaks and nice bottles of wine and “in” with camping and cooking
meat on the 'barbie'.  Oh well, it was a beautiful place to visit and very
easy to travel in.  It was nice to ask for things in English again.
By the way, they don't use the word shrimp there so that whole "Throw
another shrimp on the barbie" thing is an Americanized term.
Anyways, we spent 7 weeks going from Melbourne
all the way up to Cairns (Great
Barrier Reef) in a car and campervan.

Melboune and the great Ocean rd.

After adjusting to losing a whole day and 18 hours we
toured Melbourne
then drove the Great Ocean
Rd. for 2 days.

After that we
spent about a week camping along the coast between Melbourne and
Sydney.

Then we met up with
Jaime and Jessica to camp near the beach.
When we were down on the beach some kangaroos came into our campsite
looking for food.  Our neighbor hid
our food but the kangaroos were there for a while and they shit all over our
tarp.  Good thing it wasn’t my
tarp.  The kangaroos were not at all
scared of people and it was cool seeing them hang around the campsite.  That night it rained on us all night
long.

Sydney

We stayed at Jaime's place in Bondhi Beach
for 10 days.  This is an amazing beach for a large city.  It has
clear water, good surfing waves and a good amount of Brazilian Floss.

We also did all the touristy stuff you do in Sydney like go to the Opera House, walk on the Harbor Bridge,
and walk through the Royal
Gardens.

After that we picked up our campervan and started heading
up the coast towards Byron
Bay.  We stopped off
at World Heritage listed Blue Mountains.

While we were
there looking into the valley there was a lightening storms that was very cool
to watch.  It was a very surreal experience watching the lightening while
holding onto a metal handrail right up until the point where I thought I was
being struck by lightening.  I don't know when the last time I screamed
like a little girl was but I sure did here. Both Caryn and I felt all of
this static energy (I'm guessing) coming out of our foreheads right as a
huge crashing sound of thunder erupted over our heads.  It scared the crap
out of us and we basically just got in the camper and went to our campsite for
the night.  It was a strange experience.

Byron Bay

we went to the small beach town of Byron
Bay that I would love to
go back to.  If you hear me saying something about being a beach bum and
disappearing you will probably find me here.  It had a really good vibe
full of happy young people surfing and playing on the beach.  Our Lonely
Planet book said it was the kind of place you show up to and end up staying a
lot longer than you planned.  That was very much the case for us as
well.  Byron was my favorite beach town on the entire east coast of Australia.

After that we continued north up the eastern coast
stopping off along the way in touristy places like Surfer's Paradise, the Gold
Coast, and the Capricorn Coast.

Fraser Island

For me, Fraser was the highlight of Australia!!!!
It's another World Heritage listed place that is listed because it is the
largest sand island in the world.  We rented a 4x4, took our camping gear,
and headed off for 2 nights on the island.  You can drive on the beach at
low-tide and we drove about 30 miles on the beach to the end of the island.
It was a lot of fun driving through sand dunes and on sand trails.  Our
truck was a beast and we could drove on stuff other people couldn't.  If
you like off-roading then this should be on your list.

We also went to the lakes that are on the island and they
were amazing colors.  The lakes we cool because normally the sand would
just absorb the fresh water but organic material has built up and it suspends
the water on the sand.  It is interesting walking on a perfect white sand
beach and then getting into fresh water.

We camped inland with all the bugs the first
night then decided to camp on the beach the second night.

It was really nice to
wake up on the beach and look both ways and not see a soul.  I want to go
back to Australia just to do
Fraser Island again.

Whitsundays

Getting pretty far north now we drove up to Whitsundays
which is a series of islands just off shore that are full of resorts and
restaurants.  This place is very beautiful and I want to come back here on
a different budget.  It had some amazing water color and coral.  We
snorkeled in a spot that has something like 275 of 330 different species of
coral on the planet.

I saw a lot of marine
life that I had never seen before.  The only problem is that from Oct. to
May there are jelly fish the size of your thumbnail that can kill weaker
people.  In those months you're supposed to wear a stinger suit.
It's too bad because the water looks so inviting.  This is a perfect
honeymoon type place but should be visited only during the non-stinger
season.  We also me another couple that was snorkeling with us that day
and they convinced us to go with them to a foam party.  That was the first
time I’ve ever hung out in waist-high suds.  We had a great time
that night.

Cairns (Great Barrier Reef)

We drove all the way to the northern part of Australia
to spend some time out on the reef.  This was something that I have wanted
to do since my Dad got me certified to dive as a kid.  It is hard to take
pictures of the reef so I don't have many good ones but it was definitely a
highlight of my Australian experience.  They don't call it the Coral Sea for nothing.

We also did some hikes in the surrounding areas of Cape Tribulation
and Port Douglas.

All in all, it was a killer time.  We did everything
we wanted to do and more.  We could have probably cut a week off around Melbourne, especially
since it was surprisingly expensive.  But, I wouldn't change
anything.  We are in New Zealand
now and will be heading for Southeast Asia
soon.  I will do my NZ report as soon as our pictures are sent home.  I hope all is well with everyone.