I understand why everyone in France goes to the coast for the summer... its really really hot here. Well, it was hot until a wonderful rainstorm last night, and i am enjoying the cooler day today, but doubt it will last long. On Sunday Ghislain and I met up with Tania, and the 3 of us went to Musèe Picasso. YAY. Museums in France are all in big old houses/chateaus. Mussèe Picasso is no different, so the actual building just added to the expereince. For lunch Tania had her first falafel expereince at Ghislains favorate falafel place. It was Israeli style, [View Full Entry]

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To end my trip, Rach and I headed to Brissy to visit Sid, one of my friends from New Zealand. She met us at the train station in Fortitude Valley... wearing shades of course! It was awesome to be reunited after 4 years. The 3 of us headed back to her house in Spring Hill. We walked uphill from the valley to the Sid's house on the hill. Her house is fantastic... a large kitchen with huge open out windows, a living room/art gallery, 4 bedrooms occupied by 5 people total, 3 bathrooms, a great porch and a pool. Josh, the [View Full Entry]

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We spent the first night in Darwin (pronounce Dah-win) drinking with our traveling companions. Free jugs of beer kept landing on our table and the beer drinking masses (so everyone but me) happily consumed it. After drinking like an Aussie all night, Rachel and i headed back, happy to sleep in a real bed! In the morning we went exploring... down to the beach. Darwin would be an excellent resort city if everything that lived in the ocean around there didn't kill you. Between the box jellyfish and the sharks, the water (and thus the beach) is a no go, or [View Full Entry]

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Morning was not the most welcome occasion after a long night by the campfire. After a pancake breakfast (we ate really well this part of the trip) and packing up tents and stuffwe hit the road. We got to Litchfield park at about noon. Since the Air Con on the bus was broken we were all even more psyched to get off the bus an into the water by waterfall #1. The water was cold, but once you got in the fun began. We swam over to a warmer pool, which was right next to the waterfall, and really deep. After [View Full Entry]

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The bats returning from their night search for fruit woke me up in Mataranka (rachel slept through it). Next stop, Katherine, which is almost as large a city as Alice Springs. We spent an hour wandering as Tim and Daylight bought more food, then we set up camp, ate lunch and headed to the gorge. We went "canoeing" in the gorge. We'd probobly call it Kayaking, because the boats were flatter, the seats were deeper in the boat, and we had paddles with paddles as both ends, if that makes any sense. Uwe was my partner and we started out strong. [View Full Entry]

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We left the bustiling metropolis of Alice Springs on Monday. I'm not sure if i mentioned this but it was cold and raining in Alice Springs. Alice is in the middle of the driest part of the outback. Everyone who lived there was happy to see the rain, they've been a a drought for a few years, but still funny that it rained while we were there. Rachel, Uwe (pronounced oo-ver)and i got on the bus. Uwe has been with us since we left Adelade. He's german and fairly quiet. We know very little about him, but he is good company, [View Full Entry]

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After passing the Breakaways Rach, the two Irish John's, and Uver (he;'s german) and i switched busses and headed to Uluru. We camped in swags, think an candy wrapper made of canvass that you put your sleepig bag in and become a cocoon to avoid the frigid desert nights. At 5 am we got up to see Sunrise then hike uluru. Only Rachel and 2 japanese girls from our bus violated the wishes of the native owners to not climb uluru. So they when up, while the rest of us went around the base. Uluru is huge (which is why it [View Full Entry]

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From Adelade we headed North. Yay warmer! We started by stopping for a 10am wine tasting. The wine was really good too... So all buzzed up on Sav Blanc and a Rose Dessert wine we headed north through the Flinders Ranges. Lunch was a tasty Kangaroo Pie, which might be my favourate red meat. Who needs cows when you can have roos. From there we went to Alligator gorge... hiked through the river and gorge. We spent the night in the bustling metroplis of Quorin. In all seroiusness it is almost a real town. It had a decent pub. you've gotta [View Full Entry]

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were our dinner in Adelade, but i get ahead of myself.... After the Blue Mountains Rachel, Brendan and I headed into Sydneyto have drinks and dinner with my friend Beng, his girlfriend and his brother Vincent. (Beng is an Aussie who i met in Copenhagen last summer, and the 2 of us spent several days exploring.) At first i was concerned that the whole thing would be awkward. No worries, it turns out. We started immedately drinking, an activity enjoyed by all! Everyone got along, we were all quite animated and ejoying ourselves. Dinner was Pizza (for everyone but Rachel, and [View Full Entry]

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Last night Rachel and I met up with Brendan, her friend Debbie's good friend/boyfriend from Sydney. After a seafood dinner at Darling Harbour, and a drink he took us to sleep at his house (real beds!). I was a bit jet lagged and at dinner i had hit this wall where all i wanted to do was sleep. And i slept well! After Rachel and I finally finished planning-- and for the record, i love that girl to death, but we really shouldn't plan things together-- we ate some breakfast. The off to the Blue Mountains. We took lots of photos, hiking down [View Full Entry]

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