...

You know it's finals when you gain weight.

My mother called me fat today.

Excellent.

The Red Centre

I KNOW. 5 months later and I'm FINALLY writing about Uluru. I debated long and hard whether or not to even do it, but instead of 'blogging' about it I've decided to treat this as more of a reflection/journal of my travels in Australia. There hasn't been a day where I didn't think about Australia. It sucks, but it's life.

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Wow, to go back all those months it's sort of hard actually.. So ever since I was in grade 4 my teacher had taught me about Uluru (Ayer's Rock is the 'white man' name for it, something I never bothered to adopt since it feels disrespectful) and its iconic symbolism to Australia. For those who don't know what exactly Uluru is it's that big red rock you see in Australia books/postcards/brochures. Money was no longer that big of an issue to me at this point, I was determined to see as much as I could as my time in Australia was drawing to a close.

So I booked a flight with Jess, Xander and Hilary (bro and sis from FL, also living at the Unilodge) for the end of June, right after final exams [funny: it's the end of UBC exams right now..]. It was going to be cold for sure as nighttime temps hovered around freezing. I was just getting used to the low teens that Melbourne was going through too..

We would be there for 5 days. There are only two flights that go in/out of Alice Springs each day. One from Tiger, the other from Qantas. We arrived in the evening and it was pitch black..and chilly. We caught the shuttle bus our hostel provided us with and already, I could feel I was in an entirely different world. Strange, yet exciting. As we got settled in..we decided to see what was going on in the restaurant/pub downstairs. Since it was night, and we were warned to NOT wander the streets then, we planned for a calm night.

Next think you know, jugs were on the table, bottles of wine appeared, and I'll leave it at that.

Next day, we caught up with one of the girls I met on the plane ride over, Steph, as we went into town to explore. It was sort of chilly in the morning but by noon, it got up to about 20ish degrees. Such a nice welcome.. weather in the desert is too weird.

Sightseeing, shopping, and other touristy related activities were completed. We even found a place that sold $6 steak, chips, and a beer to go with it. Can NOT beat that anywhere. Benefits of a small town I suppose. We took a quick pit stop at the bottle shop to pick up some expensive as goon. Classy goon. $15, 2L. Oh boy, Stanley. This is where my eyes truly opened to the very visible disparity that exist in the town.

Many aboriginals of Australia have had a rough past. Similar to Canada and many other countries, when it was first colonized the settlers decided to 'ethnically cleanse the country of any natives for whatever reason they saw fit. The after effects are still seen today as the Aboriginals of Australia are now only in select concentrated areas, Alice Springs (and the Northern Territory) being one of them. Through government handouts, the natives still receive little to no assistance in forms of education or support through their lives. Thus, many fall into the alcoholic world that is so often stereotyped with this group of people. Although not all Aboriginals are like this, the ones we saw around town were just alarming in appearance. They'd sit around the street with a box of wine to themselves and drink themselves till they pass out. The bottle shop even has signs limiting sales of goon to one box/car or group of them in an attempt to control the alcoholism. Sadly, it doesn't really work. Fetal alcohol syndrome is almost a given with many of the kids, some of which I saw first hand. Heart breaking, but also a dark side to Australia. It's not perfect and I can see how it needs to address these serious issues but I digress.. back to the trip.

We went back to our hostel to cook up dinner again, ha. My appetite when travelling more than doubles, it's weird. Pesto pasta with chicken was the meal of choice. Standard backpacker's meal I suppose. I learned from this trip there are meals many backpackers will eat. Pasta, of course, rice, butter chicken (of all things), potatoes, and $10 roast chicken from Woolies..

Anyways. I believe we had a relatively easy night because we had to be up at 6am the next day to start our tour.

So I won't go into too much detail as I feel the pictures alone have enough substance to them. I'll just jot down notes here and there of any significant or interesting events to note.

....okay I'll do that soon. Back to studying.

Still holding on..

I still can't believe it was just two months ago that I was in Australia. Now, I'm dealing with graduation, courses not working out, stresses at home and ..school..

Okay I'll stop bitching.

I still need to complete my final thoughts and reflections from my Alice Springs and East Coast trips.

I'll get on that soon.

All Islands are Good Islands

I don't think I've ever gone to an island which I didn't enjoy.. Vancouver Island, Queen Charlotte Islands, Whitsunday Islands, Australia.. and even Tasmania. Tasmania, according to a friend of mine I met there is, "an island made of inbreds". Many people give Tassie grief because it's sort of like the ugly cousin of Australia. I tried not to let these stereotypes affect my view of Tassie as I had never even considered travelling there until the opportunity arose. Hell, might as well just go to it..and considering I'd be going with 14 others, it had to be fun right?

Day One:
Our trip began at 2:30am as our flight, via Tiger Airways, was at 6am. Tiger is strict on checking in 45 minutes earlier as they will close off all their flights at this point and are rarely accommodating for latecomers.

Flight into Hobart was smooth...until we landed and left the plane. It was FREEZING. I knew it would be cold here, but I was not ready for the frigid blast of winter air on me. Thank god I was camping outside.. We picked up our rental cars and headed into the city for some breakfast. After a brief mix-up, our car (Team Asia) was lost in the parking lot and Mark's car (the Wallabeaters) managed to already hit a fence post not even 5 minutes on the road. Haha, hilarious.

Finally got into town and made a pit stop at Subway. The worker there seemed a bit overwhelmed at so many people invading her store so early but was nice enough to offer us each a free cookie after we asked! Our trip was already starting off on a good note. From there we headed to the Salamanca Market which only ran on Saturdays.

There was a lot of good food, merchandise, and even live performances by street artists there. Here's the hard part about travelling with 15 people, it's impossible to follow a strict timetable as everyone had their own interests. After gathering everyone, we drove off to Freycinet Park, otherwise known as Wineglass Bay. Here's where everyone got separated (as was the norm on this trip). Our car decided to take a small detour into some offroad driving, one car lagged behind, and the other was just too quick for us to follow. We once again bumped into some nice people who gave us their parking pass required to enter the national parks. Australians are just too nice.


Our car saw sunset at some lookout and took various pictures of the natural wonders of Tassie. It was cold, yet calming and serene at the same time. Good people coupled with good talks made for an awesome sunset.

Danny decided to scream like a little girl when he saw wild wallabies, as he's never seen them in real life yet (I don't think). I never thought such a high pitched squeal could come from a man, haha. From there, we drove back into Hobart as we checked into our hostel. It was Michael's birthday so we had a couple of beers ready and planned to eat at a restaurant by the wharf. Following Danny's brilliant idea to bring some travel-beers for the walk there, the police saw us and stopped us. Luuk was the only one who was actually "caught" by the cops for having open liquor as Danny and I stuffed our bottles in bushes. Lucky for us, they let him off with a warning as Taylor (already pretty tipsy) decided to make friends with them. Cops are really friendly in Australia and are NOTHING like the power tripping idiots found in Canada/America. They seriously could be your friend. Taylor even 'pushed' one to demonstrate a point and he just smiled.

Dinner was delicious and well deserved after a long day. We headed back to the hostel and just had fun there. I believe national anthems were sung by the Americans, Canadians and Dutch. I don't think I'll ever get the chance to travel with such a diverse group of people..

Day 2:
Woke up 'early' but the third room decided to have a bit of a sleep in so our day began late again. Today we'd be going to Mountfield where Lake Gordon and Russell Falls were. It was a long drive in, but worth it as the scenery made it worth it. Here was where I had near death experience #1 driving :) I decided to cut in front of the car I was following as it was too slow..little did I know I was going straight onto a truck.

I swear it wasn't THAT close but the people in the car were freaking out. Pfft, they just need to experience a true China man's driving style. Weak.

Got to Russell Falls after a bit of driving.. it wasn't as magnificent as I thought it would be, but still pretty neat.

We drove up some mountain to get to Lake Gordon where there was actually frost! Something I haven't seen since Vancouver..and this was May. Pictorials were taken as we continued on to the dams where we planned to watch sunset. The Wallabeaters once again took off too quickly as they lost us remaining 2 cars. We went to two smaller dams, Scott's Dam and Lake Edgar? to watch sunset. Afterwards, when we compared pictures, the other group's dam was MUCH bigger, but we still had fun. At least the three cars managed to stick together for half the journey today, ha.


Today was also the day where two cars killed a wallaby each. We saw one happen right in front our eyes as we were following car Band of Gold (haha) and one hopped right into their front wheel. But remember people, wallabies and kangaroos are actually considered a pest species in Australia because there's just so many of them. They overgraze the land and damage the ground by travelling/hopping so much. No need to feel guilty for running them over or eating them ;) Kangaroo steaks are delicious, I can attest to that. Plus, it's low in fat and very rich in protein.

At night, some of us decided to go to the casino and attempt to win some money. Most of us (except Paul) managed to come out on top as I made 95? or something to that extent playing blackjack with Min. Team Asian Sensation never loses.

Day 3:
We decided to go to Bruny Island (who knew Tasmania had other islands within it..) to check out some nice lookouts.

Cheese tasting was magnificent as most of us bought some with bread to eat for lunch. Walking up to the lookout to see both sides of the islands (refer to pic) was breath taking. Unfortunately, two of our travelling mates had a flight to catch back to Melbourne, so the trip was cut short on the island. Not to worry though, while waiting for our ferry back the 'toaster' dance broke out as everyone took part in this fad that Rimock and Kim learned in Nzld. Perhaps I'll show it one day in Vancouver.. haha. It's awesome.

We also experienced one of the creepiest things ever. We decided to stop on the side of the road to discuss where to go next and there were sheep in the pastures next to us. Of course, we got out to take pictures of them..next thing you knew, they ALL looked at us, baa-ed in unison and walked towards us. I'm not talking about 20 sheep here, there were at least 150 of them just looking at us and every single one of them just walking towards us. As quickly as they came, they suddenly all ran away. It was definitely creepy as they approached us as I thought they'd attack us like some possessed demonic sheep.

While one car took them to the airport, the rest of us went to Mount Wellington, a mountain located pretty close to Hobart. The drive up was pretty slow as the roads were narrow and little protection against falling off. However, the views were nothing like I've ever seen. We drove into, then above the clouds as we watched sunset from the top of the mountain. The clouds were swirling in and around us as we watched Hobart light up and admired just where the hell we were. I will never forget those views up there. My camera did it no justice as I tried to capture how beautiful it was. We decided to eat some real oven baked pizza for dinner as I scarfed down one with Tanis. Best meal yet, it was so satisfying.


Drinking games followed in the hostel as we played Kings (where I had to put a damn box over my head...) and watched some scary movie to end the night. I passed out for the entire movie with Taylor. So comfortable ;). The final day was quickly approaching as I wasn't ready for it to end so quickly..

Day 4:
Our last day was spent going to Port Arthur, a historical settlement town. The drive in was surreal at one point as the low clouds + water bodies made for an almost psychedelic experience..

We went to choice lookouts including the Tasman Arch as we took many pictures of other random scenic things. Oh right, we also went to some.. beach. I forgot what it was called, but I killed a bird heading out of it. Now all 3 cars have killed some kind of wildlife on this trip. By the end, we realised we've each taken about 200 pictures of rocks, but hey, we have proof we were in Tasmania and that was enough for me to be happy.


Port Arthur was created by ex-convicts or something like that..basically and served as a jail for new convicts. Communities were formed we learned as people were brought here to serve time for the dumbest crimes you could imagine. Bad behaviour would result in inmates going to some dark, windowless, small room for hours as many would go crazy in there. As I went into this room I was creeped out at how DARK it was in there.. I don't think I could handle it. Inmates also had to manually step on a water wheel to keep it moving. Imagine a low intensity stair master workout for 8 hours. If you lagged or stopped, you basically fell to your death. Brutal.

Following the river cruise, we headed back into the city to return the cars and boarded the plane back to Melbourne.

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This trip was definitely well worth it as I completely underestimated how beautiful and interesting Tassie really is. Many have said it looks like a smaller version of New Zealand which made me sad because I wish I had the time to check out New Zealand during my exchange here. Not to worry though, I'll be back to Australia one day and New Zealand will be conquered as well.

Paradise Found

The last part of my Easter journey concluded on a sailing boat, Habibi. It's more of a backpacker's/budget boat so it was the cheapest option out there. Despite the fact there were no showers on board and the beds gave me literally 9 inches of breathing room, it was the best 3 days of my life.

The days' events are starting to blur already but for the first time in my life (for a long time anyways) I had absolutely nothing on my mind but..well, nothing. Any stress or troubles I had going on in my life were literally left on land as I took myself out of my always-high stress world and started to truly enjoy Australia for what it has to offer. Our first day consisted of the typical mingling and getting to know you small talk with everyone on board. There was about...25? or so of us. Sandy and I lugged some choice bevvies on board and realized it would be a fun couple of days by the amount others also brought. There were plenty of English folk, an Australian (dating a Canadian), Canadian sisters/cousins, a pair of American doctors, a Spanish/Italian couple who communicate in English..sorta cool actually, and a German.

The Whitsundays are basically a collection of islands off the coast from Airlie Beach and our sailboat went around/past many of these. I forgot to mention the heat was stifling. It was easily in the high 20s-low 30s with incredible humidity. Not showering + lathering on sunscreen was a..grimy experience to say the least. I think it took me a good 15 minutes to actually get the gunk off of me when I finally took a shower.

Anyways, we sailed, we talked, we ate, and of course, we drank. Conversations flowed, drinking games ensued and problems forgotten. For some odd reason, I had a relatively early night as I passed out in my bed before midnight (I think).. but we had the option of sleeping out on deck underneath the stars. The morning was definitely rough as we were awoken by the crack of dawn each day for breakfast. However, there was plenty of dead time to just sit back and sleep. We visited the famous Whitehaven Beach.. Even though there was a lot of debris left behind by the cyclone, it was easy to see why it's ranked as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The sand was remarkably white and the waters crystal clear. By 7am, we were out on the beach exploring and doing typical group photos (pyramid, the steps, making sand genitalia).
Other random memories I suppose from the trip included 3 snorkelling sessions out on the reef again. Since it didn't rain here like it did in Cairns, the sand wasn't as swirled up so everything was bluer and clearer. The fish fauna was definitely different here as there were even these monstrous fish that would let us touch it. I forgot what kind they were called..The last day we had one more snorkelling session and then headed back to Airlie. The after party was great fun even though some had to leave early due to other travel plans, but it was still a night of great memories, many of which I've forgotten or will not divulge publically.

Annnd that was that. Easter. I wish I could take myself back there where I just sat there in complete awe and relaxation.. because life right now is anything but that.
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The goodbyes have begun and quite frankly, I'm not ready.

A flood and a tipped caravan..

Tuesday, April 6, 2010. Yes, I am that behind on my updates.. bah.

Went back to the hostel after our day in the GBR. The rain came back.. as expected. We went to Woolworths (the Australia equivalent of Safeway.. I believe it's owned by the same company) and bought pasta..wait I think I already mentioned that. Okay nvm.
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Arrived at hostel, dinnered, and checked the weather for tomorrow. Things weren't looking too great for us as tours were once again flooded out. We would know tomorrow if it would actually run.. The night was weird as I didn't really feel like consuming any beer for fear of deadly morning after-effects (even though I am not usually prone to hangovers) but these brothers from Minnesota were quite the characters. Ended up having a good 'ol fashioned fight over which country is better, USA or Canada. Suffice to say, I lost as other Americans decided to chime in.. S'alright though, met some cool English people who arrived with 16 others. Meanwhile, Taylor and French boy were playing cards. Heh.

Morning came, rain continued..and we were told our tour would run! Even though they warned us the river was probably still too high, but we wouldn't know for sure until we got there. We sprayed on 40% DEET insect repellent. This stuff is literally deadly. It chokes you but definitely helped. Our tour guide was.. I'm going to call him Tom.. and was interesting to say the least. He constantly said "No worries" in the most Australian accent. Hard to describe, but definitely something I took back from the tour as he would say it no matter what happened, good or bad. We went to one of the rainforests and walked through it. Water levels there were extremely high and the rivers looked deadly if you fell in. The currents were extremely fast.

We approached the creek that would determine if we could make it across to Cape Tribulation.. anddd........... no go. Too high. We got out and just stared at our failure. We soon learned our company was actually the only one that departed on this day.. A bit dodgy if you ask me as they probably knew we wouldn't get across and since we chose to go on it anyways, no refund. Ah well.. I guess it's their way of ripping us off and making a nice profit. We were sort of disappointed I guess.. but we did get to go into a wildlife sanctuary where we saw cassowaries, wallabies/kangaroos (I can't tell), birds, CROCODILES (there are no alligators in Australia, remember that), and a Golden Orb Spider which was scary as. Size of my hand.

The crocodiles were definitely scary. 'Tom' threw a rock into the water and the largest one in the sanctuary (I think he said it was 6 metres? long) would attack it as it was hidden beneath all the vegetation in the water. Taylor has a video, hopefully she'll post it. The rain was coming down pretty good on us but by now, I really didn't care. I accepted the fact I'd be wet the entire day. Such is life in Australia.

So, we were disconnected from civilization literally as there was no cell phone reception where we were. We stopped by an ice cream factory and had some decent freshly made cream of the ice. Oh right, there was also no 'electricity' that connected to Cairns. Every place had their own generators and such, sort of alarming as I was not used to this. So we were told instead of the original hostel we were going to be at (where it was between a beach/rainforest type thing..so choked) we'd be at Crocodylus. We had heard about this place from the brothers and they were spot on with their description of it: No locks. Must buy their food. Dingy. Right in the middle of the rainforest. I will say though, in retrospect, this was definitely one of the coolest places I've ever been in. Basically burned an entire day there (1pm onwards..). Happy Hour would start at 7pm.. and we were ALL looking forward to that.

The owners are a couple and they asked if any of us wanted a free dinner in exchange for a shift in the kitchen that night helping out. I jumped at it as did Taylor and we were basically the kitchen bitches for an hour. I washed dishes as they came (we weren't allowed near the food..) and basically washed for an hour. Whatever, I got a huge roast chicken meal out of it and I was satisfied. Nothing compared to what White Spot could be. Happy Hour was much welcomed and our group just chilled with Steve, Tobias, and this guy from LA. Certain people got progressively intoxicated as there was literally nothing else to do there. The lady owner also got crazily drunk.. She was screaming and talking nonsense once it was about 11pm? I don't even remember. We stayed up and talked (I don't remember what anymore) and called it a night when our bodies gave up.

I tried to spot for cane toads (as I want to kill one of those suckers..) but no luck. THe walk back to our cabin was freaky though. Picture a barely lit rocky path in the middle of a rainforest with 256 different noises of the nightlife going off.. I always walked really quickly. The ambiance the noise created was surprisingly manageable.

Woke up to SUNLIGHT. Oh bloody hell, it was sunny. I took pictures of the morning rainforest and it was great. We paid for a transfer to get across the river today (it finally subsided) and proceeded to go zip lining through the jungle! Jungle Surfing was definitely a new experience as we zip lined over the trees and learned about the different vegetation/history of the place. How they managed to build the entire thing was incredible as there is no solid ground/area for machinery. We were with a couple who was on their honeymoon, aw.

After jungle surfing we just walked around Cape Tribulation as we waited for our afternoon pickup from the company. Nothing much to do.. the internet was down everywhere as Sandy and I tried to find a place that had it. Saw a dead cane toad (yes!) and the heat got progressively worse. Finally got picked up, ate crackers/dip for lunch and went back to Crocodylus to get others. We went on a river cruise and spotted some wild crocs, snakes, and random birds. Our guide on the way back was Baz, he had a great sense of humour. Australians I find never run out of things to talk about..and it's all interesting too as they have a different take on life than North Americans.

I fell asleep as the tour went through the luxurious parts of Queensland where a night at some of the resorts could cost you $10 000+. Toook some nice pretty pics (many of which my camera decided to delete on its own..) and went back to Cairns. I decided to go to Airlie Beach (Whitsundays) this night alone as I didn't really want to waste another day in Cairns just doing nothing as the girls had skydiving the next morning.

I sort of wish I stayed in Cairns as a group of Canadians I met on the shuttle to the greyhound station were going out and we hit it off for our love of hockey. Ah well. The bus ride was ... interesting. I purposely sat on the outer seat and made myself as FAT as possible hoping no one would sit next to me. It worked :). I had an entire two seats to myself and the ride became instantly 10x more comfortable. Stopped numerous times during the 11 hour trip at random expensive pit stops. $4 candy bars, drinks, water... $13 sandwiches with bugs lurking around it.. Not the most appetising. Finally got to Airlie by noon and checked into the hostel. It was scorching hot here. Finally. I spent the day just chilling out by the lagoon and worked on my tan. It was great. I needed a day to myself and it was good to just get away from everything for a day.

Hostel room was a bit weird as the people there were all from a sailing trip so everyone sort of knew eachother and they were all going to their respective after-parties. I did meet a Scottish girl there and we went down to the bar later to watch some live music. Again, quiet night as I didn't know any of the people there and I was feeling a little tired.

Tomorrow would be the final adventure of this trip as I would go on a 2day/2night sailing trip! The weather called for perfect conditions so I was ecstatic..

Alright, post too long, continue soon. Need to write about Tasmania after this too..

Update!: Great Barrier Reef

I don't know why I've been so lazy in updating this thing, but I guess I'll stop being so lackadaisical. Even though it's been over a month since I went on my epic Easter trip, I should write about it. On the plane ride back I had written every little random thing I could possibly think of into my planner. Thank god I did that or else half my irreplaceable memories would have been lost.

Before departure

Right, so landing in Cairns it was raining. It rained for a good four days straight, in hindsight I suppose it wasn't that bad, but during the downpours I certainly felt like shit. Cairns is a city where it's a total Backpacker's city and more of a gateway to all the adventure activities (white water rafting, horseback riding, skydiving etc..) with lots of hostels. We stayed at Calypso, a funky place with cool walls and colours. Luckily we got our own self contained room with a working air conditioner. The humidity was something else. I don't think I've ever experienced such high humidity. For example, I left out a box of Cheerios (best breakfast food ever) and the air con got switched off. Coming back at night the box was pretty much so moist it was no use. Our wet clothes never dried, in fact it felt like they got wetter if we left them out..The ants in the room were also unwelcomed. I unknowingly dropped a couple of Cheerios on the ground and the ants would swarm it and no jokes, the Cheerio would turn black from all the ants on it. Protein anyone?

(as I'm writing this Chicago just took the lead 2-0 over us in Game 6.. ugh. Damn you Bieksa)

Right, so the first day was spent at Woolshed. Next day basically went into town to see what there was to do on a rainy day.. the answer was sadly, nothing. Ate, shopped at the market a bit, went back to the hostel and read/chilled. Found out Sandy's friend decided to go back to Melbourne early because of the weather. Drastic, but something that didn't even cross my mind. Didn't want to go out because of our Great Barrier Reef trip on Monday.

Great Barrier Reef time. My excitement was building from the moment I woke up. We went on a day cruise offered by Ocean Spirit Cruises. It was one of the cheapest options available, but by no means was it a bad boat. For the first time in two days there was SUNSHINE. The marina where we would board was perfect, even at 7:30 in the morning. Warm, not too humid, and the bright sunshine rejuvenated everyone's spirits. Tea/coffee & cookies were served. There was a significant number of Japanese tourists on the boat, I say this because they hoarded like 20 bags of cookies. Asians living up to their stereotypes, I love it, ha.

(f--ing eh, 3-0 now. This hurts)

Since we were all pretty tired from waking up so early, we napped [uncomfortably] as the boat headed towards our first destination, Oyster Reef. During this we got debriefed on how to breathe underwater for our introductory dive and basic skills and things we should do/know. On land, I thought it was all pretty basic.. until I actually got into the water. We were the first group to go on our dive while other people snorkelled first. The tank + weights were surprisingly heavy as we were strapped in. The stinger suits (to protect us from jellyfish stings as it was jellyfish season) were a bit awkward and they charged us $8 for them. Rape. Once we got into the water, we practiced clearing our mask and breathing properly. I was first. For some reason I could not get the hang of it..and I forgot how to clear my mask. Embarrassing because the instructor seemed to be getting annoyed at me. Oh well, she's being paid to deal with idiots like myself.

The sensation of breathing underwater was something new and a bit scary. You had to take deep breaths and only through your mouth obviously. I'm the type of person to usually only rely on the nose to breathe so that was an adjustment.

Once everyone got used to it, we "dove" down about 12 metres? I think it was.. Something pretty shallow. With my trusty underwater digi cam, I went crazy snapping pictures of everything possible. It was pretty neat. We even got to see this huge stingray! The guide said those are rare to see, it was massive. Nemo was found, I think that was everyone's goal. And the rest of the dive went relatively smoothly. It was sometimes hard trying to avoid hitting the corals as we'd sink down due to the tanks + weights. Kicking continuously seemed to help but I was apparently too fat and started to drag the group lower into the coral. :) I don't think I'm capable of diving, ha.

Stingray!

After that, I started to get seasick.. really bad. For some reason the dive made it worse. There were ginger tablets the boat provided to ease/prevent nausea, I took another two (4 total now for the day) in hopes it would chase it away. Lunch was being served too, sadly I was feeling too nauseated to eat much. Shame too, there was a good selection of fresh salads, fruits and meat. The prawns looked disgusting and made me want to vomit some more.

I snorkelled a bit after, fighting through my weak ass self for being prone to sea sickness. Min had it worse though, she was out for a good hour, ha. Snorkelling was a bit cooler because you could sort of go out on your own to the coral and see the marine life in its full glory. A lot of fish were spotted, none of which I could name or recognise, but it was still awesome.

We departed for Upolu Reef after lunch. During this, it was still relatively sunny, although the boat would literally go through rain clouds, then out into clear, sunny skies, then back again.. this went on the entire day. When it was sunny, I ran out on deck trying to soak in some rays. It was glorious.

So, got to Upolu, and just snorkelled for about a good 45 minutes here. I used a noodle because I was too lazy to swim on my own. Swimming felt good though, I sort of miss it after a couple years of not getting into a pool. More of the same thing as before. A lot of pictures, some failed ones, and just some perfect relaxation out in the ocean looking at the corals and unique fish species. Hard to describe, but this was finally a lifelong dream achieved. I let out 'holy shits' and 'wows' subconsciously many times. Everyone needs to experience this especially with the deteriorating conditions the Reef is in now. It won't be around for much longer with current predictions (I'm learning alllll about this in my Ecology class, it's great).

Had cake and a glass of sparkling wine on our way back to Cairns. The rain started to set in halfway and didn't let up as we were going back to dark, grey clouds. Oh well, the sun was good while it lasted. :( Got off at around 5pm and headed to Woolworth's to get some groceries for dinner. Eating out every night eats a hole into your pocket, well mine especially, when you're trying to save. Pasta + soup was on the menu tonight. Cost us a total of $2.60/each? I think. We left a bowl of leftover pasta in the microwave.. I wonder if anyone actually ate it.

Gorgeous eh?

Again, we had an early day the next day as we would attempt to get to Cape Tribulation. The past couple of days all the tour buses couldn't even get up to the Rainforest because of the massive flooding. The only road leading into Cape Tribulation just so happened to be on top of a creek and because of the torrential rain, water levels prevented many cars from getting across. We had our fingers crossed that it would subside enough by tomorrow to let us go..

Funky pool at Calypso

Okay, update #1 done (EFFING HELL. 4-1 NOW. ASJKHAKSJDHAKSJDHASJKLDHALSD :'(...)
Will update again when I'm not as depressed. (OH GREAT. 5-1)

Rain rain go away..

Okay, so Queensland so far's been a bit of a bust. I'm currently paying $5 for an hour's worth of internet so this is going to be quick.

Arrived last night to pouring rain. Saw a bird protecting two other birds with its wings from the cold?or something underneath this canopy. Arrived at Calypso hostel. It's a neat little place. Hopefully I'll get a chance to take some pictures of it soon.

Happy hour ensued with a buffet BBQ dinner. I was starving, I ate 2 good sized plates of meat, meat and more fries. Screw it, I'm going to come back fat and damn proud of it. Went out after to the downtown core and chilled out at the Woolshed.

Awesome awesome music. Drinks were relatively priced. I had more Bundaburg. NEVER drink that. I repeat, NEVER. Called it an early night, time difference and all.

Woke up today to more pissing rain. Great. It's rained continuously for the past .. 12 hours now. And it's a heavy downpour too. Not that I'm not used to it, just that I'm here on vacation and not being able to do anything and explore the beaches really sucks. I guess I took a gamble coming up here during the rainy season.

So, tomorrow's my diving trip out to the Reef. I will make damn sure that I have fun on the boat there. No way is that going to be ruined for me. Hopefully. This rain really needs to let up.. like now.

Nearly two months in

As I take a break (at 11:39pm) from researching the teeny bopper culture, while listening to O-town, I'm trying to get into the feel, I felt as if I needed to update this thing. Oh wait, Kiss - Because I'm a Girl is on now. Wow, I love my old music folder. And when I say old, I mean high school..elementary school music, the kind KaZaa and Napster provided, I digress.

Traveling wise during my stay here, it's been at the best, minimal. I've only gone on a day trip to the Great Ocean Road and a weekend at Phillip Island. I wish I could have spent more time doing the GOR but Priscilla and I needed to find a quick trip to go on.

Pictures from that trip are up on Facebook. Hmm, I grabbed the itinerary so bear with me as I try to recall just what the hell happened at each place. Our day began at 6:30am as we woke up dreary eyed on a Monday. I'm desperately trying to remember what we did the Sunday before.. but nothing's coming to mind. We walked down to Federation Square, which in itself deserves at least half a day to explore it and the Southbank area, and waited for our tour bus. We had some random South African guy take us around, his accent was so peculiar.. It was hard to understand him at times, but whatever. I was there for the views.

Bell's Beach was our first stop and then we proceeded to rush off to Torquay (surfing area - going there this Tuesday to surf actually :)), Lorne, Apollo Bay and I believe Port Campbell as well. Of ourse, we went to the Twelve Apostles, but one's fallen and erosion's been their worst enemy as each year the apostles and cliffs are being eaten away. (Eason Chan - Shall We Talk is playing now). Lunch was had somewhere, and once again, we were rushed for time. I barely had time to finish the chicken before we realized we only had 20 minutes left in the town. I ran out to take random snapshots of the beach and whatnot.




The weather was not the greatest as we got rained on at Loch Ard Gorge. Mother hell, it was brutal. One moment there were just a couple of raindrops, then within another minute we were soaked - head to toe. Our tour bus (of 15 people) smelled wonderful. We did manage to see some Koalas during our trip too, but they were really high up in a tree.

Nothing really exciting to say about the trip. It was a nice day trip and I can check off this part of Australia that I've seen. (Why - 98 Degrees is now on.. HAHA).

So, a week later I went to Phillip Island with Taylor, Mark and Fleur (who's Dutch, I don't know why she has a French name :)). We decided to rent a car for this mini adventure. Mark drove most of the time..and actually got caught for speeding, ha. He pulled the tourist card and got off with a warning, lucky guy. He was only going 20 over too, damn cops here need better things to do.On our drive there we saw signs for FREE WINE AND CHEESE TASTINGS. Of course, we went in and true to the signs, free cheese and wine. Taylor enjoys downing her wine in one gulp. Ha.

(Richie Ren is playing, only my Chinese friends will have a clue which retarded song is playing.. something about the girl next door is looking over?)

As we got onto the Island itself, another sign! Free chocolate tastings! Again, we made a quick pit stop there. The rest of the day was spent exploring the island. It took us no more than 20 minutes to go from one end to the other. It really was quite small. We went around to each lookout point our trusty map had marked. The motorcycle grand prix (or something to that extent) was actually taking place that very weekend. Mark was happy to go watch it, I didn't really feel up for it..

Loved these signs.. there were more

So, we checked into our shitastic $40/night rapage of a hostel and prepared to go into town. But not before Fleur made her move on this poor unsuspecting Dutch guy who was working there. I'm telling you, the Dutch just find eachother without even trying. (I had to fast forward Simple Plan, Savage Garden's on now, woo). Walked into town to get some Fish and Chips! Taylor said she overheard them say something was 'wrong' with my order but she didn't think much of it. The fish was great, my stomach paid for it a couple days later as I was bedridden for a good week. But I won't get into those details.

Hmm, Taylor got drunk and yelled at 14 year old girls..while carrying her bottle of wine. The rest of us were sober so walking around with a semi-obnoxious American was slightly embarrassing, but funny as hell. We bought more wine and made plans to go back into the 'city' of Cowes later on to see how their night life would be like.

Look at all them motorcyles.

Big mistake. It was the most awkward and lame night out yet. Old people were in the club and everyone was stuck up, old, stuck up, old and expensive drinks made it not very appealing. Something about seeing 30-40 year old men grinding with large ladies or young partially attractive, probably gold digging women bothers me.

Had an early night I guess as Fleur had to be up early for her surf lessons! Breakfast was included and it was decent. Went to Smith? Beach and dropped off Mark at the motorcross races. Lucky bastard ended up sneaking in for free.. Taylor and I took turns driving around the island just seeing what we could find. I swerved left many times, but I'll get better.

Picked up Fleur, had lunch, laid out at the beach, Fleur reconnected with Dutch guy who she decided to ditch later on, got Mark, and headed home. All in all, a pretty relaxing trip. The views were breathtaking and I wish I could go back (maybe I will..) and just stare out at the ocean again. Problem is, there are snakes there. I fell in love with Australia some more after that weekend.

(Robbie Williams - She's the One.. sweet song)

Okay, break time over. Have to get this essay started tomorrow and completed by Friday. Ecology prac write up is also due on Thursday.. So much work to do before my Easter break. I'll be up in Cairns and then to the Whitsundays. Great Barrier Reef, Cape Tribulation (rainforest), ziplining through the jungle, sailing for two days, and white sandy beaches await me. I'd be more excited about it at this very moment if I didn't have school to stress over. The snorkelling and diving is what's going to make me piss my pants from excitement though. One my life goals is about to be accomplished, huzza. It's going to be so worth the $1500 I'm forking out for it. Hopefully.

And I get to go Australian bird watching this Wednesday, HAHA. That's going to be interesting. (Wave - That's How)

Only in Australia will I type "Miley Cyrus" into Google scholar. Sadly, nothing promising found. Damn.