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Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Collaroy
December 31st 2006
Published: January 4th 2007
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New Years Eve 2006 - Collaroy, NSW, Australia (about 45 mins north of Sydney)

Dearest friends and family!

We have been in Australia for about three weeks now, and have safely arrived at Nick’s Mum and Dad’s place in Collaroy. We have had an amazing time, so full of traveling, seeing good friends, doing some sightseeing... in a way it’s hard to believe it’s only been a few weeks because so much has happened and on the other hand, yes time has flown and sometimes it feels like it’s only been a few days. We got to Brisbane at 7:30 am Sunday morning Dec 10th after a 24 hour journey (altogether) from Edmonton via Seattle and LAX (Nick flew from Vancouver and we met at the LAX gate) and then onto Brisbane. Qantas rocks, so comfortable they have really got the lulling you into oblivion thing down with constant movies you choose yourself snacks and drinks booties and eye covers the whole nine. Only drawback is of course you are squeezed like economy sausages into places no one could be expected to sleep comfortably in, so yes I watched 4 movies and loved every minute of it. Nick had better luck with the sleep thing.

Brizzy was hot and gorgeous even early in the am. We had a beautiful albeit sleep deprived day walking all around town - taking a ferry down the river (the Fast Cat is a wicked smooth catamaran ride, kind of feels like I would imagine a hovercraft might) and had a delicious vegetarian feast that night at the local Hare Krishna restaurant Govinda’s (the Hare Krishnas have restaurants in all major cities it appears and reliably serve decent vego fare which we were craving after all that plane food). However that night Nick got WRETCHEDLY ill (we think from something he had in Vancouver before even leaving) and that compelled us to stay longer in Brisbane than we had planned - we ended up leaving Wednesday once he was feeling a bit more normal, with the help of some antibiotics. The upside was John DeRuiter was in town giving meetings so while Nick was resting I got to attend two of them - just wonderful - and also great to see quite a few old friends who had also come up to see John. Wednesday we traveled down to Byron to stay with Jade and Roberto but on our way spent 5 HOURS at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary... truly amazing place... we got to cuddle some Koalas (my Koala friend’s name was Hazel) and get really close to quite a few kangaroos, some with little ones on their pouches... Lone Pine is awesome, really worth a visit - tons of birds (Cockatoos, Lorakeets, Kookaburras, Emus, and very rare Cassowaries), dingoes, wombats (SO CUTE and rather enormous), crocodiles and well over a hundred koalas who are just EVERYWHERE, hanging out chewing leaves, resting, making surprisingly unattractive noises for such lovable creatures. These guys are SO CHILL. They take in hardly any carbs or protein through their young leaf diet so they really have to conserve their energy.

Byron was great. Actually we stayed in Ocean Shores about 20 mins north at Jade and Roberto’s (and Asher’s) gorgeous place with spectacular view of the ocean. Rained quite a bit, which suited us fine - allowed more time for really good quality visiting. Spent an afternoon overlooking the Brunswick River with friends Jim and Maya at their new house - beautiful spot and so good to see them. Got to see Isaac and Micah and other friends at satsang in the evenings and on Saturday and then spent a few hours with them at Isaac’s place where Nick did some serenading... good good good. Janice and Micah even shared diksha with Nick and me and a few other houseguests, a kind of hands-on blessing. Nick got knocked right out and had a really good restful experience. My favorite part was the chanting at the beginning.

Off to Fraser Island finally which we had put off a week to allow Nick to fully recover. Fraser Island is the world’s largest sand island and is truly a treasure to appreciate and experience (as well as a World Heritage site). There are no paved roads on the island so all travel is done either by 4WD or plane - renting is quite expensive because the vehicles take SUCH a beating. Even though we camped and brought our own food, with the car and ferry passage and permits and whatnot we probably laid out somewhere between 4-500 smucks. Yowza! But worth it. Gorgeous clear creeks you can float down (e.g. Eli Creek)... perhaps the most beautiful lake we have ever seen (Lake Mackenzie - sorry, forgot the camera in the car)... a mammoth and rusting shipwreck (the Maheno)... colored sand formations... wild dingoes roaming around... wicked fun to traverse the interior roads (slow and very bumpy) and also the “highway” along 75 mile beach along the western coast of the island. Weather was perfect and though we had a gnarly row at some point it was still unforgettable and the beauty of the island gradually wooed us from our temporary argumentative insanity.

One more night on route with Jade and Roberto and then we were off to do some serious boozing in the Hunter Valley, a gorgeous region full of wineries a little more than 2 hours from Sydney. We had a blast, I think neither one of us expected to enjoy free wine tastings so much! We spent about a day tasting, resting, then driving on to the next spot for more tasting. Our faves were by far Peterson’s Champagne House (where we bought a bottle of sparkling merlot, delicious) and Tower Estates (where we got two more expensive bottles of something or other).

Then on to Sydney for some serious family time with Barbara and Barrie (Nick’s mum & dad), brother Tim and his daughter Alice and other close family friends. Wonderful to not feel rushed through this part, and have some time to be together. Got to spend a few days at Tim’s in Newtown, at his new place... terrific... and a whole day with friend Penny and her 6 mos old daughter Pia in Balmain! And caught up with some friends of Nick's from WAY back - high school and uni.

In a few hours we are off onto our next stage of the adventure - boarding a Thai Airways flight to Bangkok. Til then and until our next installment I hope all of you are well and happy and enjoying a fantastic holiday season!

Love
Isabelle & Nick

PS - SO SORRY, WE HAVE TRIED MULTIPLE TIMES TO UPLOAD PHOTOS WITH NO LUCK! APPARENTLY THERE ARE SOME FUNDAMENTAL CABLE DIFFICULTIES FROM TAIWAN AFFECTING UPLOAD AND DOWNLOADING - PERHAPS YOU HAVE HEARD. STAY TUNED!!!


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