Happy Birthday, Sarah!

Before beginning today’s blog entry, I’m going to say a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my amazing travel companion, Sarah. I hope that everyone has been keeping up with her blog too, which is linked to mine on the right hand side, or you can get to it through here: http://sarahmtravels.wordpress.com
Birthday Fun
The Sydney Aquarium is absolutely [...]

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Merry Sydney Christmas!

Wake up! Wake up!
Arriving on Christmas Eve into Sydney is quite the experience. Our hostel stands tall on the corner of Pitt and George Street, and right away you can’t help but think it is going to be an “up” lifting experience. Yes, puns aside, Wake up! is an imposing hostel. Everything is “up,” from [...]

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Great Great Ocean Road

The morning forecasts were for thunderstorms and rain, and so following for the rest of the week. Not wanting to waste away our days in Victoria, we set out to travel the Great Ocean Road – despite the gloomy weather predictions.
As it turned out, we arrived in Torquay to sunshine and high temperatures. Torquay is [...]

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Melbourne Fever

X-mas Fever 
Christmas takes on a feverish-like intensity in Australia. Even though the 30degree temperatures and bright sunshine contradict the snowy images emblazoned on the Christmas cards, every thing else is festive season in full force. The streets are lined with decorations and many of Melbourne’s houses are lit up by lights. The shopping is just [...]

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There are no monkeys at Monkey Mia

Australia is huge. Yeah I know, obvious, right? But it’s not until we’re barrelling down the highways, swerving against kangaroos and blue-tongued skinks in a WesternXposure minibus, that I truly realize it. The number of flies slapping against the windscreen is unreal. Outside is worse. Desperate times call for desperate measures and both Sarah and [...]

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Close Encounters of the Quokka Kind

Wildlife. I was so privileged with wildlife sightings in Africa that I keep thinking I am going to see a giraffe on the side of the road as we drive through the Australian bush. Actually, according to Lonely Planet, I am more likely to see Australian wildlife on the road than off it. Roadkill is an even [...]

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A note on Flickr

Flickr is the photo uploading site that Sarah and I have been using to back up our photographs. Since landing in Australia we have been able to upload a lot more of the photos from the earlier days of our trip, from Kenya through to Namibia. As a result, the ordering of our photographs on [...]

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Westralia

Perth. So apparently the weather here is ‘cold’ for the summer, but the sun is shining and the most isolated capital city in the world is stunning.
Perth is an extremely laidback city. The people are bronzed, healthy and far too goodlooking for my taste. The food is great, especially the Chinese food and the seafood [...]

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African Memories

We’ve arrived in Perth safe and sound. The weather is beautiful and we are enjoying a few nights in an apartment-style hotel (thanks Mum and Dad!!) while we plan the next few months of our adventure.
But what about the last few days in Africa? Jeffrey’s Bay is the South African surfing mecca, and true to [...]

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R.I.P. Mr Gorman

Before this entry, I would like to pay my respects to my favourite English teacher in high school, Mr. Gorman, who passed away from cancer on November 29th. He was the teacher who encouraged my development in creative writing, and I wouldn’t have had the courage to pursue writing without him. He taught me Writer’s [...]

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