Well I sit here writing on my last night in Surfers Paradise. Excellent, although touristy, type place. It seems like I came at completely the wrong time though. The cyclone completely destroyed the weather here and I didn't see the sun once in Paradise. Not to be outdone by a cyclone, I decided to go for a swim despite the fact that the entire coast's beaches have been closed for days due to huge rips and 10 foot waves. See, I grew up with a pool, did the whole swimming lessons thing and did a brief stint on the swim team. [View Full Entry]

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Ahhh Surfers Paradise......land of excellent surf, bikini clad meter maids.....and a tropical cyclone! In my last entry, I was talking about the great weather I've been having. I did mistate the temperature though, it's been at least 30 everyday, not 20. All the great weather has come to an end temporarily though. A very strong tropical cyclone is hanging off the coast just north of where I am right now. Fortunately, it's not expected to make landfall, but it's made us have some awful weather. Well, as awful as 30 degrees, cloudy and windy gets. Due to the inability to hangout [View Full Entry]

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Why? Because I was always a fan of the duel titles in Rocky and Bullwinkle. Anyway! I'm still chillin in Byron Bay. The weather's too good. About 20 degrees and hot everyday. I haven't seen a drop of rain since I touched down in Sydney. If things were anymore chill I'd be dead. Rough. I'm moving on from Byron today to Surfer's Paradise, although the move may only be temporary. Yesterday I had a day trip to a hippy village called Nimbin, just west of Byron. The place is essentially a hippy enclave. The main tourist attractions (and only real things [View Full Entry]

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So it's been 2 days since I left Newcastle. I decided to sell out and buy a bus pass for quicker transport for some of the way. I took the Greyhound from Newcastle to Port MacQuarie. Apparently much of the East Coast is fairly competitive amongst hostels for tourist dollars so I was ambushed by people at the bus stop. The lady who eventually sold me first took me on a tour of the city. As we were going down a non-descript road she says..."and next on the left is the koala hospital". Perking awake, I reply, "The what?!". "The koala [View Full Entry]

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I woke up this morning, shook two cockroaches out of my pants and reflected upon what a crazy two days it's been. I spent my first birthday night out in King's Cross in Sydney. Having blackened my name in the city, I decided that it was time for me to head up the coast. A few people at the hostel had rented a hippyvan/camper and were on their way to Byron Bay. I decided to jump on in for a shorter ride. They dropped me off at the outskirts of Newcastle. I've heard mixed reviews about the city, but I have [View Full Entry]

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Wow, was the ever the longest flight of life. I don't quite know how far I've gone, where exactly I am, or what time my body thinks it is, but I'm here. And by 2pm on my first day, I've already managed to get a sunburn. Holy surprise! When I think of most overseas places, I typically stereotype them in my head. I would guess that this applies to none more so then Australia. I pictured landing at the airport and being greeted by a kangaroo and a man slightly resembling Crocodile Dundee. Failure of this would result in failure of [View Full Entry]

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2 books and 2 movies (including the instant classic Death Race) later, I arrive in Singapore. Wow, what a long flight from London to Singapore. Somehow I wasn't able to sleep though. I have no idea what day/time it is, but I guess that doesn't matter now. The flight was nuts though, got to see so many countries from the air. Some of the crazy things I saw were... - An explosion near the Afghan/Pakistan border - Flying over Phuket and Kho Phi Phi in Thailand were crazy. Can't wait to get there next month. - The population density in India [View Full Entry]

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Well at least I've made it into London successfully. Almost didn't make it when my train ws stopped on the tracks and British Aiways demanded a visas I neither needed or had. Due to this (and my flight from london to Sydney being elayed an hour), they gave me some pounds to spend. It may only be 430am in Ottawa, but not too early to booze a booze in jolly old England. [View Full Entry]

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So here I am 9 days away from departing on the trip of a lifetime. In 5 days, I move out of my apartment and start living out of a backpack for the next few months. My bag is packed and I'm ready to go, I just have to wait until the calender matches up to my plane ticket. My initial flight is going to pretty much be the biggest milk run since Moses lead the Jews in Exodus. I leave Ottawa at about 2pm on February 25th on a train to Montreal. I fly out of Montreal that evening and [View Full Entry]

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