The Reef

Me in my stinger suit at the Reef. In March at the reef there are jellyfish and stingers. Hence the suit that makes me look like The Tick.
Look fish. There was an underwater viewing area. So you didn't even have to get wet to see fish.
Look coral. There was a semi submersible that took you around the reef so you could see more of the reef.

Post for Treeger

All the photos on this post are from Cairns. That is where the Great Barrier Reef is. It rained every day I was in Cairns. It didn't rain all day but it rained part of every day. 

From the top: Child chooses an avocado at Rusty's Market. 

View of the pool at the Cairns Colonial Club Resort. (the "resort" was super ghetto)

A man weaves a wicker basket on a street in Cairns where he sells his wares.

Gift Shop in Cairns. Kangaroos even need umbrellas.

Native Show.

Me in my room at the ghetto resort before the tour started.

march 28 Maroochydore

I am sick of Australia. It is an expensive version of the states. I am over spending $4 for a Coke. I am complaining sitting in an internet cafe looking at the ocean. yeah the weather is great even when it is raining. The people are nice for the most part unless they are in the service industry. The phone company isn't open on weekends or public holidays. Which is really convient when you get 5 days off for easter. And that is when my mobile phone decides to stop working.
So here I am bitching in my bathing suit and shorts after my walk on the beach. I have a little less than a month until I go home. Sadly I am counting the days. Not like I have anything to go home to. I am still unemployed. I will go back to living with my parents. Woo hoo. fun fun fun.
What the hell is with the malls in Australia having bankers hours? Really the mall closes at 5:30. Why would I make that up. There is also no wireless. They sell the computers and phones and such but you can't use them. I saw a $15 movie yesterday. It wasn't that good. But it gave me something to do. I was homeless. I couldn't find a suitable place to stay in Brisbane so I had to come to Maroochydore a day early. Just what I wanted to do. Get back on a bus.
I am complaining but I really am having a lot of fun. The reef is the coolest place on earth. Even in the rain it is amazing. Go see it before it disappears.
I heard the dumbest thing ever on monday. A girl on my last tour decided she wasn't going to take a surf lesson because "I know how to snowboard, so I will teach myself to surf" her words. I just turned to her and said "that is the dumbest thing I have ever heard"and laughed for about 15 minutes. I clearly won't be keeping in touch with her. She is an elementary school teacher. If I had kids I wouldn't want her to teach them.
Australians need their own culture. There is nothing truely Australian. We stayed at a farm the last night of my part of the tour. We Square Danced. The caller called it something else. But I know a square dance when I see one. If it weren't for the kangaroos I would have thought I was back in Texas. And that is not a good place to be.
I am just pissing myself off.
I am going to enjoy the ocean.

march 12 blue mountains

The Three Sisters at the Blue Mountains. Another beautiful day in New South Wales. I walked really far. It was like 8 miles around. I am so sore right now. I take the train one stop because I am so sore. This was March 11.

march 12 sydney

Today I ate lunch looking at the Opera House. Lunch was great but the view was fabulous. Judge for yourself. I also went to Manly Beach but the opera house is way cooler. The weather while I have been in Sydney has been perfect, minus one day, but beautiful otherwise. I am glad that I skipped winter.

feb 23

My New Zealand adventure has ended and my Australian one has just begun. I arrived in Melbourne on Thursday without inncodent. It did take 3 hours to get thru customs. There were 6 international flights that came in at the same time. It was bittersweet to leave New Zealand. I actually made a lot of friends on my contiki. Yeah I know amazing I didn't hate everyone after 14 days. I was glad the tour was over just so I could get some sleep. The days following the tour finishing were no better for getting sleep. The day before leaving New Zealand Kailey decided she needed to get a tattoo. The only time she could be fit in was 9pm on wednesday. That would have been fine except that our flight was at 7:30am the next morning. The tattoo took 4 hours to finish. We didn't get back to the hostel until 2am. we were up at just after 4am to get to the airport the recommended 2.5 hours before the flight. Check out kailey's blog to see photos of the tattoo. http://peckandfind.com . I didn't see much of Melbourne yesterday because I needed to catch up on my sleep. Last night I did attend my first Australian Rules Football game. It was good fun. I have no idea what was going on but it was entertaining. It was also cheap. $15.50. You can't even step foot in a farm baseball game for that in the states let alone a pro game.
There is so much to write about it is overwhelming. I am still trying to process all that happend on tour. It is amazing that I didn't know those people even existed 3 weeks ago. The group was really good. The 16 of us left in Auckland after the tour ended went out to dinner. That never would have happend after my russia trip ended. We all continued to get together until kailey and I left. The second night there were 9 of us. The nine of us ended up stumbling into trivia night at an irish pub. We ended up coming in second. But we think we were robbed because the Emcee was friends with the guys who won. In any case it was fun and we cleaned up in all catagories except for sport. What the hell do 3 canadians, an american, 3 Brits, a german and 1 aussie know about cricket, aussie rules football, squash, soccer and rugby? We got a respectable 4 out of 10. We said good bye to 3 more that night.
That is all for now. I am going to watch some penguins on a beach tonight. It is a long drive.
More babble soon. Keep reading.

Feb 14 buyers remorse

Hey loyal readers,

 I know I haven't written anything lately. Internet access has been hard to come by and unfortunatley blogging is not high on the list of things to do when I get access. 

So many things have happend that I should write about but I am just a tease and am writing now to apologize. I am tired. I will share the story of the hilarity that did ensue. Trust me hilarity did ensue. Wellington was an interesting place. More fun was had in Tapua. Today was Rotorua where fun was had to a lesser extent and on top of all that I didn't really write about Queenstown. Be patient my friends. All will become clear soon. Yeah right about as clear as mud. 

For now here are a list of songs that we have played influential roles in the soundtrack of the trip:

How far we've come by matchbox 20

Baby got back by Sir Mix-a-Lot

Sweet Caroline- Neil Diamond (bum bum bum; So Good So Good)

Right About Now- Fat Boy Slim

Running Up That Hill- Placebo ft. Kate Bush

The way I are- timberland

Lover I don't have to love- Bright Eyes

Tiny Dancer- Elton John

Dani California- Red Hot Chili Peppers

Sweet Home Alabama- Lyndyrd Skynard

Throw Your Hands Up- some random aussie singer

Yeah well you get the idea.

thanks for reading.

more soon. really.