Our time in Melbourne was short but sweet, with only two days to spend on it's beautiful streets. We spent our time walking throughout the downtown area, seeing the sights and eating as much of the delicious food our stomachs could hold. With so many little streets filled with shops, restaurants, musicians, artists and other interesting sights, there was never a time that we had nothing to do. The city seemed to be a piece of art with so many old buildings, trams running through the streets and tall buildings scattered throughout. Our hostel was actually built in 1812 and had previously been used as a homeless center before being turned into Nomads Backpackers. After our two days in Melbourne, we bid farewell to Australia and headed for the Philippines. First, we had a 7 1/2 ... read more

Hello again, It's been quite a while since last I wrote in this blog (me, being Jordan). I'm very happy to report that we finally have something worthwhile to post here in our travel blog. Just yesterday Krista and I returned here to Mackay after a 5-day trip down to Brisbane, which will be our last adventure here in Australia until we leave for the Philippines from Melbourne on December 18th. The two main highlights of the this little journey were the Australia Zoo, the most infamous of zoos in perhaps the entire world. Founded by Steve Irwin's parents, and made famous by Steve Irwin and his show The Crocodile Hunter, the zoo was at least 100 acres in girth, and was filled by an equally impressive number of animals. I'd never been to a zoo ... read more

Well, there isn't much new to report since our last entry, seeing as life in Mackay has just become a routine for us. During the day we walk around the town for a few hours, do some grocery shopping, cooking, and relaxing. and work keeps us busy during the evening hours. Slowly, the days are getting hotter and hotter here, and frighteningly enough, it's only the beginning of their spring. The bats here are as big as foxes (which is why they call them "flying foxes") and that's been a constant scare for me during evening hours. Around 5 o'clock every evening, the rainbow lorakeets come out (beautiful colourful birds that we mistakened for loud parrots at first) and I've been meaning to get some pictures of them. Anyways, I have a couple of photos to ... read more

After an incredibly long, 18 hour bus trip, we are finally settled in Mackay. We arrived shortly after 7 this morning, picked up by our Filipino friends Lilibeth & Jerry, who definitely did not have to wake up early especially for us. They showed us our room, and we had a quick, four hour nap. I didn't even feel my head hit the pillow, I was so exhausted. After we woke up, they drove us through town to the mall, where we found a few job openings that we are hopeful for. A short drive to the marina had us meet up with Jerry's boss, with whom we had a good chat with. Besides a couple hours of Karaoke with Jerry, there's nothing much else to report. But, I've finally a chance to upload photos, so ... read more

So, I'm having an extremely difficult time uploading multiple photos, because of the painfully slow wifi connection here at the hostel. However, I have managed to upload a few photos of our trip so far, though I had to do it one at a time. Hopefully the next place we're at has better wifi. Anyways, Jord and I were out and about Byron Bay yesterday on the bikes that our hostel provided (though they were not the best bikes we could have had) and we were meaning to get to the beach but it's been so chilly here that we decided to pass on that until today. We did pick up some groceries though, and had a great, hostel-cooked meal last night. Mmm, spaghetti. No luck at all so far with jobs! Apparently it's very difficult ... read more