Archive for the Australia and NZ category
Australia and NZ
Western Australia
Western Australia had been the only part of Oz I hadn’t seen yet, so I decided to take a quick trip over to Perth and see what it was all about. Perth is a really nice city, and I think my second favorite in Oz, after Melbourne. At night especially, I got [...]
Australia and NZ
Byron Bay roadtripAfter arriving in Canberra, Australia, I immediately met up with an old friend, Virgina. She’s a great friend that I spent a lot of time with in Mongolia, and it was great to catch up with her and her room-mate, Rebecca, who also hails from Mongolia. We spent the first couple of days just hanging [...]
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Australia and NZ
Almost done with AustraliaWell, it’s been a busy week. I started out with a camping tour of Kangaroo Island which is the third largest island in Australia. Located off the coast of Adelaide, highlights include seeing penguins (finally!), koalas, seals, sea lions and of course kangaroos in the wild. We drove all around the island, checking out [...]
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Australia and NZ
Mom’s VisitMom has come and gone. It was a nice 10 day visit, but it’s time to get back into the traveling routine again. I met her Christmas-eve morning at the Sydney airport, but it took quite a while. Apparently the airline had lost her luggage, so I spent almost two hours in the arrival [...]
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Australia and NZ
Byron BayI spent three and a half days exploring Byron Bay recently. It’s a small town that lives on it’s counterculture. Wandering the streets at night you pick up a huge smell of incense and pot smoke in the air. It’s got much more than that actually…the people are friendly, the surfing is decent, and there [...]
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Australia and NZ
Fraser Island adventuresOn the way to Fraser Island, driving with the Dutch girls, we had the most astounding meeting. We were packing up to leave our hostel where we’d stayed for one night. Suddenly the door opens, and Dar Gibson from the pole walks in. He stared at me, and I stared at him, [...]
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Australia and NZ
Sailing the WhitsundaysI’ve spent the last three days lazing about on a sailboat thru the Whitsunday group of islands. The beaches and water were exactly what I’d been dreaming of for the last several months at the pole. Compared to the rest of Australia, this has been the lowest amount of energy I’ve had to expend [...]
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Australia and NZ
The Oz ExperienceIn order to get down to Sydney, I’ve booked with a company called "The Oz Experience" They specialize in multi-day bus trips stopping at interesting places during the evening. I’m a little older than their target audience, but its been a lot of fun. The only real complaint I’ve got is that [...]
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Australia and NZ
Advanced dive certified!I just upgraded my dive license to a PADI advanced card. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, and what better place to do it than on the Great Barrier Reef! I flew from Alice Springs to Cairns, and somehow I got upgraded to first class on the flight. Unfortunately I [...]
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Australia and NZ
Uluru or Ayers rockI’ve just gotten back from a 3.5 day trip to Ayers Rock. It was great! The people were fun, and the scenery was breathtaking. Day one we visited Kathleen springs since it was stormy at our primary destination of Rainbow Canyon. No big deal though…the real highlights of the trip were the next couple of [...]
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