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Oceania » Australia
January 21st 2009
Published: January 23rd 2009
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To all you people in blog world i am sorry that it has been so long since my last post. To be honest, i needed a break from all of you. I just couldn't be bothered to sit and write about my life as it all panned out. I wanted to take the time to enjoy my 2nd trip to the land of Oz (Australia) instead of sitting on the Internet. so here is another fix with a few pics to show you what you missed.

the story so far...

December 20th we were greeted at the Sydney airport by Matty. My first impression of him was the first wave of relief that i am in a place that is familiar....he looked like one of us. I don't mean he wasn't Asian...i mean he dressed like one of my friends...had a Band t-shirt on...he listened to our music...he spoke English...well that's if you consider Australian English as English because i swear you can both be speaking the same language and not even understand a single word. Never the less, i was here...back to a place i loved. Now with people that were kind enough to take us in...good people...and ready to make new friends and take a break from the backpacking journey and just relax.
We headed down to Matt and Ben's place in a town just south of Sydney named Wollongong. It is a smaller beach town outside of a big city...hmmmm remind you of anything...say...Ventura. i knew this was going to be comfortable but i didn't know it was going to be a replica of life at home. Ben is Matt's younger, better looking brother. Which is also a lot like my life...oh and they have a cool little sis too. oddly enough they are all about the same age difference as Scott, Kaity, and i. Anyway back to it...we stayed at there place for a few weeks. Spending the days surfing, watching cricket and shuffling through our ipods to dig up some classic songs that we all loved while having Wii tournaments. While we sat and watched cricket, Matt and Ben explained the game to us. After one game that lasted 3 days long i started to pick it up.
Shortly after our arrival in the gong, Matt and Ben took us to a local punk show at a pub. It was a pretty comforting feeling to have good music and a familiar environment. Looking around the crowd i realized this show could very well be at home. It all felt and sounded the same. We also made a few trips to the local pokie. Which is a small scale casino with no live games just video poker and roulette. We also made it out to a few bars and had a few good laughs with all our new found friends.
i decided that the surf was something that i wasn't going to pass up so i bought a bodyboard and fins so i could surf anytime i wanted without having to borrow gear from people. And i destroyed my feet pretty bad when i borrowed some gear in Indo. I wasn't about to do that again. It paid off. After a day of sight seeing Matt and I caught a few hours of great surf. It was about Head high with offshore winds making it as hollow as one could need. When we first paddled out in the rain we were the only two in the water. By the end it was packed and even a local pro joined in the fun. that's when it hit me...even though this feels like home, i am in a foreign country surfing in board shorts, in the rain, at a renowned spot. Amazing! The great thing about the location of the guys house was that we could wake up and not even get out of bed to check the surf. One morning i slept on the living room floor and just rolled over and cracked the blinds to see if it was worth getting up to surf. not a bad place to be.
For Christmas we made our way down the coast to meet the rest of the family. We had a beautiful lunch and then made our way to the beach to get a cricket match started in the sand. Once again, beautiful beach in a foreign country in my board shorts, playing cricket on Christmas day. Unreal! We spent the rest of the afternoon exchanging travel stories with the rest of the family who have all traveled extensively. The entire family was great. We exchanged some gifts and really enjoyed each others company as well as advise on the upcoming trips. Matt and Ben's aunt had given me the coolest gift of all...it was a small kangaroo ornament with a Santa hat on. It is perfect. i plan to keep it as long as i can and hang it on every Christmas tree i get, to forever remember the great time we had in Oz over the holidays.
The next thing we had planned was a house swap with the parents. they were nice enough to trade Matt and Ben's place for there place on Bondi Beach. It was a beautiful home and worked out perfect for our plans for New years. We had tickets to a party on a hill that over looked the Sydney Bridge. That is where they set off a massive amount of fireworks. We had the best vantage point...overlooking everything but not in the mix of complete chaos. It was a blast!
We originally planned on surfing in Bondi but when we got there we realized that it wasn't the best idea. The beach was packed and the surfers were taking off on each other with out hesitation. we sat on the beach and watched several near accidents between surfers and swimmers. During the days in Bondi we just chilled out even more... on the beach again... and took in all
kids in the wave poolkids in the wave poolkids in the wave pool

i think jeff had a good time at his birthday party
the people watching one could need. Paris Hilton even made her way to Bondi for the celebration. While the girls were shopping and the boys were body surfing we noticed a crowed of people on the beach that was moving towards us. As we got out of the water to see what it was all about we noticed Paris and Nicki Hilton in the middle of the mob. As the paraded down the beach they happened to stomp right over our towels that were laid out in the sand. We were shocked to find the sunglasses in one piece. And the most upsetting part was that Paris and friends didn't even realize that they just trampled over Matt's brand new Dodger hat! jerks!
After our stay in Bondi we made our way to back to Sydney for a BBQ with some of Krista's old school friends. Once again, great people, great food and a great night. We then met up with Krista's parents who came to visit and basically spoil us for 2 weeks. We did all the tourist stuff Sydney has to offer. Botanic Gardens, Oprah House Tour, Harbour Bridge walk. You name it we did. I now know where Krista gets her organizing skills. Lori, her mom, is a master planner and can pack in more than you could ever dream of in one day. So the two weeks we spent most of our time on the tourist path from Sydney down to the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne then hoped on a plane to meet Back up with the folks in Cairns. During the time together Rick and Lori took us out for amazing dinners, bought us tons of drinks, paid for a hotel or two, rented a car, took us to the penguin march, got us on a dive boat, more dinner and drinks and even let us hijack there plush hotel for the day just to use the pc and watch some tv. They were amazing and i am defiantly in debt to them. Thank you again for the great time!
Now to break down all the events...the penguins are awesome! you sit on a freezing cold beach in south Oz and wait for dusk to watch the penguins get out of the water and walk back to there nests on the beach. renting the car...that was interesting...i had driven here before but not really in big cities. This time we had to make our way through Melbourne. just so happens that it is the only city in the world that makes right hand turns from the far left lane on while the light turns red. it is an odd thing to see. even more odd to actually do. thanks to Krista's skills we made it out alive. The dive we did was amazing too. Rick, Jeff and i are all certified divers so we dove the Great Barrier Reef together. It was no big deal...saw a white tipped reef shark...some trigger fish...a massive grouper that just followed us for half the dive. So close that we could touch him without him minding. Once again, i can't believe where i am and what i am doing. This is my life! i am unbelievably lucky!

Thanks to everybody for making this last few months unforgettable. i will be forever grateful.


Additional photos below
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Uno on New YearsUno on New Years
Uno on New Years

Claire, Dean, Matty, Me, Jeff
the view from the bridgethe view from the bridge
the view from the bridge

stupid ship blocked my view!


23rd January 2009

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! The koala picture was enough for me!!! You are in the land of dreams for me honey - Australia is #1 on my bucket list - have wanted to go since I fell in love with koalas many moons ago!!! So live my dreams for me for now and I can live it through your stories - what an amazing adventure you are on - and what wonderful people to share it all with!!! Love you

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