Australia: The Best Gift of all.

Australia has been a dizzying couple of months, a roundabout of adventures and mishaps and windfalls. I still find it strange to divide my life into geographical regions. There is “Africa,” the past, the most wondrous, the most strange. There is “Australia,” the present, the full-of-good-friends and the feels-like-home. Now there will be “New Zealand,” [...]

Read Full Post »

The Return of Lady Luck

Anyone who has been keeping up with the blog will understand how our East Coast trip has been labelled the “worst ever.” Somehow, we managed to do everything wrong. We had fun, that’s undeniable, but it felt more like smiling through adversity than pleasure for pleasure’s sake. More than once, Sarah turned to me and [...]

Read Full Post »

Beaching in Byron

Brisbane was a relaxing recuperation time for Sarah and I, and now we are back and raring to continue the adventure. Our next Greyhound trip takes us to Byron Bay, home of surfers, hippies and many, many backpackers.
Gold Coast
Driving through the Gold Coast is a somewhat surreal experience. It’s a part of Australia that feels [...]

Read Full Post »

Crikey! That’s Some Zoo…

All down “Steve Irwin Way,” Steve’s permanently surprised face greets us as we head to Australia Zoo. The zoo is his legacy, and its reputation precedes it – Lonely Planet hypes it as a “world top ten,” and that’s not just for zoos, but for destinations. It has a lot to live up to, but [...]

Read Full Post »

Finally in Brisbane

Brisbane has seemed this impossible goal, but finally we have made it. It has probably been the most harrowing few days of my life so far. We were stranded in Airlie Beach for one night and fortunately were able to make a break for it by tagging along with Rob and Kara, the Canadians we met [...]

Read Full Post »

The Saga of the Wetsundays

It’s the kind of weather you would expect forging a path bravely across the Atlantic Ocean: lashing rain, massive waves and high winds strong enough to whip waterspouts into the sky. The rain masses into torrents of water that cascade down the portholes and into the cabins through leaky vents. Our cabin, a four-person “inner” [...]

Read Full Post »

A little R&R&R

Rain
Sarah and I aren’t cursed. It just so happens that wherever we decide to go, it decides to rain. In fact, the prediction for our greyhound trip up the east coast was for flash flooding and cyclones. In order to avoid these unseasonal storms from Sydney to Byron Bay, we decided to hop a plane [...]

Read Full Post »

Tranquil Days

Now that the intensity of holiday week is over, Sarah and I have opted for a few days of peace and tranquility unmarred by the headaches of hangovers and bad photographs. Not to say that this hasn’t been one of the most fun weeks of my life, but it is nice to get out of the [...]

Read Full Post »

Sydney, You’re Totally Crackers…

The title of this post is stolen from the Sydney Morning Herald headline on January 1st, which featured an awesome photograph of the fireworks finale and a picture of a group of guys staying in the hostel room next to us! Wakeup! is definitely the place to be staying at this time of year, and [...]

Read Full Post »

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 [...]

Read Full Post »