Lish87

From Cairns, I caught a bus south to Townsville; then I took a 30 min ferry across to Magnetic Island. I stayed at Base hostel and it was so beautiful! My first full day on Magnetic Island and I headed to Horseshoe Bay to do some hikes. The first hike was a 1.5 hour walk to Balding Bay, where there was some beautiful forests and rock formations; part of the forest had recently burned and was all black. It was a beautiful Bay. I went for a little swim then headed off to Radical Bay. Another beautiful bay with amazing blue water, forests and rocks. After making it back to town and having some lunch I was off to the Forts walks and to hopefully find some koalas. The walk was amazing and overlooked a few ... read more

For all the pictures from this part of the trip: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2321085&id=16912798&l=e3d2e60f27 After being able to sleep in for 4 days, I had to get up early to leave the lovely town of Broome and head towards Darwin. Our first stop was to see the Prison Boab Tree. It was used as a "prison cell" in the 1890s by the local police to lock up Aboriginal prisoners over night, on their way to Derby for sentencing. Our next stop was Windjana Gorge Nat'l Park. The Napier range is an ancient reef system that was pushed up into mountains. You can still see some coral in the rock. At Windjana Gorge we saw some freshwater crocs! Winjana Gorge was a starting point for an Indigenous man who ended up becoming an outlaw in the eyes of the Europeans. ... read more

For more pictures from this leg of my trip check out the link... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2318214&id=16912798&l=86b3acb5c7 Wednesday morning, Rowan dropped me off in Perth so I could catch the bus at 7am. We drove a few hours north through some rain to Nambung National Park, where we walked around and looked at Pinnacle Desert. They think the formation were caused due to acidic water disolving the limestone in the soil around areas where trees were growing. It was very interesting!! This is a view looking at the Pinnacles. After lunch we headed to some sand dunes near Geralton for some sandboarding. Harder than it sounds! It's like snowboarding but on sand dunes with nothing holding your feet on the board. I had some very impressive wipeouts and tore an 8 inch hole up my pants. Haha. A good ... read more

So here I am... finally! After nearly 48 hours of travel I made it to Australia! I still can't believe I am here. I think once the sun comes up and I can see the country it might sink in. I arrived last night and was picked up by Rowan at 6pm after two long flights and a nine hour layover in Auckland. (I know Rowan from Glenfield Rugby Club and I'm staying with him and his uncle for the time being) It was better than it sounds since I slept a majority of the time on the planes and I got to catch up with some old friends in NZ. I can't believe its been almost 2.5 years since I'd seen any of them. Fee, Ash, and Tay picked me up from the Auckland Airport ... read more