Going Home

This time tomorrow (2:30 PM) I will board my plane in Sydney and proceed to travel back in time to 11:00 AM of the same day in San Francisco. Should be fun, maybe I can save the humpback whales from extinction.

Take care, see you all (or soe of you, anyway) soon.

I never did put up the details about Diving on the Great Barrier Reef or Steve Irwin's Zoo. Needless to say, they were both awesome, and if any of you want to know more about either of them, let me know and I'd be happy to fill you in.

No Pictures

Just Kidding!

Finally got some decent (and free) broadband, so please sit back, relax and follow me on a picture-filled journey from Perth all the way to Sydney.

So we start south of Perth, in the Porongurup.

This is where Adam and I worked for 2 weeks on a vineyard, and also where I saved several small children from being crushed by a boulder.

We then headed south to beautiful Albany,



where we witnessed firsthand the Sock Fence,

and the Dog's Head Rock.



Pretty fetching.

Also in this area is the Tree Walk, which is a series of suspension bridges 40 meters in the air,

and the Bicentennial Tree, a 67 meter climb (I only made it up 25 meters), with nothing but air below you as you climb up.



Then we started heading north again to the Margaret River Wine Region.

And what do you do in a wine region? Well, mostly you just wake up really early to go and pick grapes, but every now and then you get to spend some time drinking free wine samples, hanging out at the beach and going to concerts. Here we have the renowned (and incredible) Xavier Rudd.



After about 4 weeks in our beautiful campsite,



Adam and I began our long journey north.

First stop, the Principality of Hutt River.



Yes, there are in fact 2 countries on the continent of Australia, though Hutt River (and it's current ruler Prince Leonard, below) is often overlooked.

Check it out, this country does exist (I have the passport stamp to prove it) and is totally legitimate.

Along the way north, we stopped at Ningaloo Reef (the largest reef in the world on a western shoreline) for some serious snorkeling. While we were there, we saw tons of cool fish and coral,

and I met my Sea Turtle, who was kind enough to show me around for ~15 minutes before taking off.

Then it was inland to the spectacular Karinjini National Park,

and obligatory swim after a long hike down into the gorge.

In Broome,

we saw real fossilized dinosaur footprints

and we went to a crocodile farm

(wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley... or anywhere, for that matter).

And that was it for the West Coast (there's more to visit, but all the roads were flooded out while we were there). So we continued on to the North Coast and beautiful Litchfield Park.

How could you not go for a swim here? Well, there is one compelling argument:

Who knew? 'E nu (OK, bad pun attempt, you don't need to laugh).

But to be fair, there were a number of lovely safe swimming holes in the park.

Then to Darwin, a lovely laid-back city that is surprisingly vibrant. We didn't spend a lot of time there, but I did have the best fish 'n' chips meal ever (tons of barramundi, shrimp and calamari for less than $15) while we were there.

Southwards! To Kakadu National Park

and some thousands-of-years old rock art.

The park is actually a massive wetlands area bigger than Holland, so it isn't much to look at, but apparently there are millions of birds at certain times of the year (though not while we were there). Also, some nice swimming holes and we saw a baby wallabee that a park staff member was raising after it's mother was killed by a car.

We then headed south to the stunnung King's Canyon

And then further south to this behemoth

Yes, the famous Uluru, it's big, it's overrated, it's touristy as all get out, but it's still pretty cool.

And it is MASSIVE. To give you an idea of the scale of this rock, check out the people near the top on this photo.

Can't see them? They're not much more than specks.

The real star of the show, though, was the nearby Kata Tjuta.

Massive rocks that soar hundreds of meters above you as you walk between them, it's pretty outstanding.

We then busted across the great nothing to Cairns for our dive course on the Great Barrier Reef (more on that later).

See that blotch out on the water? That's the Great Barrier Reef (well, part of it anyway, it's a lot more impressive when you're under the water).

The tablelands inland from Cairns are really spectacular,

but we didn't spend much time there. Nope, we just drove south for 5 days (stopping at Steve Irwin's Zoo along the way, more on that later as well) until we got back to where we started in Sydney.

So long Queensland!

The Red Center

Alright, just got into Cairns (that's on the east coast), after a wonderful trip into the center of Australia. Lots of driving, to say the least. Weève gone roughly 5000 km in the past week, but we made it.

As for the center itself: really cool. Uluru (ayer's rock) is definitely overrated, but still really neat. When you first see it (and you can see it from over 50km away), it looks kind of like a painting or a mirage. It just doesn't look real. And it is HUGE! Once you get there, there's not a whole lot to do other than walk around it (which wasn't very interesting) and look at it, but I think it's still worth seeing.

More impressive are the nearby Kata Tjuta (or the Olgas), a bunch of Uluru-type rocks jutting hundreds of meters into the air. You can walk around between them, and it's pretty awe-inspiring when you glance up to see these massive rocks towering over you.

Also, the nearby King's Canyon is pretty neat. It doesn't look like much at first, but when you hike in, you end up on the edge of some sheer (like vertical) cliff faces, which is always fun. I also went for a swim down in the a really nice pool in the canyon itself.

There were some other nearby gorges and things that we checked out, but none of them are really worth mentioning.

Before we went into the center, we spent a couple of days in Kakadu park, a massice wetlands conservation area. The park itself is bigger than Holland, and there's quite a lot to see, except that most of the roads were flooded out when we went there. Still, we did see some thousands-of-years old rock paintings and swam in some beautiful waterfall pools. The nearby Katherine Gorge, however, really stole the show: A gorgeous rock pool with a waterfall falling into it, a 3.5m cliff to jump off of and not a soul in sight. Just awesome.

Anyway, those much awaited pictures may turn up some day, but it won't be today, or tomorrow for that matter. Adam and I are looking into doing a dive course out on the Great Barrier Reef starting tomorrow, and that will eat up the rest of the week. So until then, take care all, and enjoy your early spring.