Jeff and Chels' Travel Adventures

some more pics

cjaus — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:06:00 GMT

hey everybody! just a quick note to put up a few more pics! enjoy!

Chels' albums:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014878&l=9fcdc&id=129500485

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014879&l=0389c&id=129500485

Jeff's album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16889&l=5fb94&id=507914650

ENJOY!
~chels~ and Jeff

Byron/Belligen/newcastle/Wollongong/Canberra/andMelbourne

cjaus — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:26:00 GMT

So it has been awile since we last wrote one of these. But we'll try to give you a quick break down of where we've been the last month.

Lets start off back in Byron Bay. We went on a Sea Kayak tour hoping to see dolphins. We were lucky enough not only to see dolphins but turtles, a huge unusual jellyfish, and some weird batefish that swim in like a swarm. Really wierd. Teh kayaking itself was great, water was more like a lake than an ocean. It was eerily calm but we still managed to flip our kayak while trying to surf a wave into the shore. Oh well it was fun. We were lucky enough to be joined by Liz (Jon's old Aussie exchange student) who has recently finished her PhD studying marine biology. It was great to have an expert close by. The rest of our time in Byron was pretty good. We made some close friends, had some exciting nights on the town and the weather held up so we could go boogie boarding a few times and hang out at the beach. We also went to Wet n Wild, the big water park just outside Surfer's and went up to the lighthouse to watch the sunrise on our last morning there.

Next stop was Belligen. Unlike last time we actually saw the sun- nice change, meaning we could actaully leave our hostel and do the things we missed out on last time. We went on a 25km bike ride one day through the farmlands of Belligen. The hills were a workout but we made it out ok. We also went on a rainforest walk which had some gorgeous waterfalls and stinging trees. These trees actually give you a sting thats worse than a bee sting that leave you in agony for a couple hours, so needless to say we avoided touching ANY leaves for the entire walk. During our stay this time we also met up with our friend Rhys whom we met on our trip up the coast, last time in Bellingen. We had a good night out with him again and hopefully he will be coming out to Canada so we can show him around our home a bit. All in all it was a much better stay than last time.

Newcastle came next for us. We timed it perfectly so we got three free pub meals while we stayed there. We also got into town just in time to catch the end of Surffest, the big annual surf competition which was pretty cool. We went on our first wine tasting tour in the hunter valley which took us to 5 of the different wineries in the area. We both weren't too sure which kinds of wine we liked but by the end of it all we had it pretty sorted out. Along with the wine tasting we also got to taste some cheeses, fudge, mustards, jams and relish - all very tasty. We had hoped to go to the beach to do some surfing, but the weather was horrible the days we had left there.

Finnally we had a new place to go to on our trip, Wollongong. The only trouble was trying to get there. We had to get a train in from Sydney, were directed to the wrong platform, had to run to catch our train, got off "heaps" of stops early, traveled back in the direction of Sydney to catch another train that would eventually take us to Wollongong. Anyways we finnally made it there and found our hostel, which was pretty nice- had our own room with bathroom, a kitchencupboard that locked and our own fridge. We even had our own verandah to sit on. Our buddy Dan called us the first evening we got in and pretty much kept us busy the rest of our stay which was great. Our first night in town he took us on a drive around town and we went to a pub he used to manage to have a few drinks and catch up. The next day we went to the beach because for once it was SUNNY! We hadnt seen much of the sun since Byron really so it was nice to just relax on the beach. That night Dan picked us up and we went and had dinner with he and Mel and their little girl, Imogen- what a cutie! Dan cooked up a delicious meal and we just caught up some more and hung out. THe next day we went to the beach again and did a little shopping and then that night we went out to dinner with Dan, Mel and Imogen to a local Vietnamese restaurant which was delicious- jeff is hooked! After dinner Mel had to take Imogen home but Dan took us to a couple local bars/clubs- it was a good night. The next day we just ran some errands around town and then Dan picked us up after work and took us back to their place as we were going to stay with them for a few days. We had to quickly get ready and then it was off to the footy match. It was an early game so we missed the pregame but we caught the main event. Rugby is definetly an interesting sport, but it was fun to attend and pick up some Aussie culture. After the game Mel went to drop Imogen off with her parents so Dan and us went out to get some food- we went to Amigos, a wonderful little mexican place. The food was great and according to the boys so was the worm in the Mezcal- clearly chels wasnt touching that, just a boys thing. We were joined by Dan's friend Matt as well. After dinner we finally got hold of Mel and she was on her way back to meet up with us so she picked us up and we went out to the local pub, Northgong and met up with more of their friends. It closed at midnight so next we headed over to another club close by and continued the partying. All in all, a stellar night! The next day we just took it easy; Dan's buddy Jeff came by and started up the BBQ for breakfast so we had some eggs and bacon and sausage to start the day and then hung out all day and had dinner again with Dan and Mel as it was our last night. After Imogen had gone to bed and we'd relaxed a while we finally got the opportunity to teach Dan the lovely game of Beer Pong- needless to say we've left the cups with him and he is practising for our return- he LOVED it!

Our next stop was Canberra which required us training to Sydney, and then hopping a greyhound. It was a long day of travel but we eventually made it in. Our first day there we went to the War Memorial Museum. This place is huge and had an extensive display of every battle Aussie soldiers have been involved in. Needlesss to say after 4 and a half hours we still hadn't seen everything but just couldn't browse through anymore- definetly worth checking out if you go there. That night we decided to check the big Canberra casino- we'd seen the sign and jeff had just about lost it so we HAD to go. Our first attempt Chels was dressed inappropriately and was denied entry...so we headed back so she could change her flip flops to shoes and then went and tried again. We were welcomed in this time and boy are we glad we went back- let;s just say the sign to the casino is trying to compensate for something- the casino was one little room with about 12 tables...no pokies...nothing....definetly not worth our time. Oh well. The next day we ventured out to capital hill and checked out the parliament buildings. Very large and beautiful. That was pretty much all we got out of Canberra as that night we were on an overnight bus to Melbourne.

Melbourne so far has been great. We spent our first day walking around the city just trying to get orientated and then on our second night we took in an AFL game- also a very interesting sport but the fans love it. The stadium holds 80000+ ppl which is ridiculous. We got nosebleed tickets for 19 bucks, not a bad deal really. We had a really great time at the game and then afterwards on our walk home we met some aussies who were laughing at the tourists taking pictures with possums and we ended up heading to a local watering hole with them, by the name of the Elephant and Wheelbarrow. It was a very messy but excellent night. Unfortunatley we failed to notice that we left our cel phone in the cab back to our hostel. We spent the next day calling cab companies and the pub etc etc trying to track it down when we got a call at the hostel from our friend Dan in wollongong saying he called us late last night and the cab driver picked up our phone and was dropping it off to us that night- how lucky is that! needless to say we were VERY thankful. Other than that we took in a Great Ocean Road tour yesterday which was very long but very spectacular. We left the hostel at 7am and got back at 10pm- pretty sure we saw everything we wanted to and we had a great group of ppl and perfect weather for the day. Today we got lost on the trams and then tomorrow we head to Phillip Island to see the Penguin parade- should be good!

Other than that we are doing well, the weather has definetly cooled down a bit, leaving chels with a bit of a cold AGAIN but we've just learned to bundle up again...beats the snow!!!(suckers!)We can't beleive we've only got 3 weeks left, better be off to enjoy it. Looks like we'll have our last 2 weeks in the Sydney area, next stop is Adelaide and then on April 30 we fly back to Sydney. Should be good.
Anyways, love and miss you all, talk to you soon!

Oh and we've each got a few more pics up:
Chels': http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014609&l=20298&id=129500485

Jeff's: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15846&l=aa641&id=507914650
~chels~ + Jeff

Latest picture links:

cjaus — Mon, 7 Apr 2008 21:06:00 GMT

Here's some more pics:
Jeff's:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15439&l=0c04a&id=507914650

Chels':

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014447&l=6051c&id=129500485

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014489&l=4c1cb&id=129500485

ENJOY!

Cairns back down to Byron

cjaus — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:50:00 GMT

Alright, so here we are back in Byron Bay and we have 2 whole weeks to catch up on here so we will try to do it as summarized as possible so it's a little less painful for us writing and for you all reading as well.

So up in Cairns we were fortunate enough to get to party with our favorite swedes on their(and our) last night in town which was awesome. We set up beer pong using 3 square tables at our hostel and started playing with our friends from denmakr and were soon joined by 2 germans and our swedish friends. So basically we had an international tournament: Team Germany, Team Denmark, Team Sweden and Team Canada....it was a bitter fight between Team Sweden and Team Canada but in teh end TEAM CANADA won! WOO! haha it was a lot of fun and the first time we'd played since leaving so it was fun and it attracted a lot of interest from ppl standing by. We wrapped up that night around 3am and our swedish friends had to catch a plane at 5am but it sounds like the caught all their connections so that was good.

THe next day was our last day in Cairns and we were tired after checking out so we just hung out at the hostel. Half way thru the day chels came down feeling very ill and it turned out to be some sort of flu bug that held on for about a week...needless to say the following few days weren't a lot of fun. We caught a midnight bus from cairns which was 11hrs to Airlie beach...not the most fun bus trip but we made it none the less. We really didn't get up to anything in Airlie- Chels stayed in bed for a couple of days and we missed partying for st pattys day which was unfortunate but it was okay- we both caught up on some reading and just took it easy...plus the weather wasn't really great or anything so we didn't miss much. Our last day in Airlie Laura Zimoch and her friend Susan came into town so we met up with them for a drink and then since our bus wasnt leaving until midnight and they had a nice room taht they were staying in, we took them up on their offer to go and hang out with them and in their room until our bus left..it was nice to have a place to hang out and nice to see soem familiar faces again. We got on our bus around midnight and were headed to Bundaberg.

We arrived in Bundaberg around 10:30am and went straight across the street to get checked into the closest hostel we could find. Our sole purpose for this trip was to get Jeff his BUndaberg rum hat and stock up on some more liqueur. So we got checked in and hopped on a bus to the distillery. Upon our arrival we couldnt seem to find the hats so we inquired with the cashier and she said they had come in so she would grab one for us. Well it became quite an ordeal as they couldnt scan the thing thru the system so after about 3 cashiers and managers one woman just ripped the tag off and gave it to us for free - SCORE! so we purchased our liqueur and made our way happily back to theb us stop. Having been told that the bus ran every half hour we figured we would wait as the walk last time was just BRUTAL....big mistake...an hour later we were still waiting but were lucky as the woman from teh distillery saw us and stopped to give us a ride back to our hostel...she was so friendly and we were very gracious for the ride back :)

THe next morning we were back on a bus and heading for Maroochydore...we were planning on going back to Noosa but being just before the long weekend it was fully booked at all the hostels so we carried down the coast about40 mins upon the town of Maroochydore and we're quite happy we did. We got in Thursday night around 5 and found that the next day was a holiday so we needed to stock up on groceries so we wandered down to the store and then went back to the hostel and made dinner. The hostel was nice, in a suburban area and a fairly short walk into town and the beach. We had intended to be social after dinner but we both fell asleep and ended up calling it an early night. THe next day we got up and headed down to the beach- it was the first day of sunshine we had seen in some time and we were more then happy to make the most of it. THe beaches in the area were beautfiul and PACKED as it was a long weekend but we found a nice spot on one of the beaches and spent the day there. We just made dinner and played some cards that night, nothing too exciting. The next day we explored the tonw for a bit before hitting up our pool for an hour and then we got ready to go as Chels' relatives were picking us up at 2pm. We had intended to catch the bus to Brisbane but Keith and Linda(chels' relatives) insisted on driving up and picking us up so that was a nice surprise. They picked us up right on schedule and we got back to their place around 330 or so. It was so nice to have the luxury of being in a house, having our own room, a clean bathroom, and just all the other comforts of home. Keith and Linda have recently redone their house too so it's like new and tehy actually just sold it and were moving the Wednesday after our visit so our timing was dead on. Our first night we went to dinner at a friend of theirs place and it was very nice- they were very nice people and had a very lovely home. The next day we got up and went to visit Chels' great aunt alice and Uncle gord(They only live 3 doors down) so we had a good visit with them. Gord had an old video compilation of old 8mm films he'd taken of old family vacations etc which a lot of ppl hadnt seen so he shared that with us and we all had a good laugh. It was a little lengthy but neat to see some of the family in the past. We went back to Keith and Lindas for lunch with some more friends of theirs and then that night we were off to their friend Michael's place for a big bonfire. This would have marked easter day as well. The bonfire was a great time. The house was on a 5 acre lot so there were kids rolling around on ATVs everywhere and tons of room to set up a huge bonfire. It was a good night with some true aussie folk and they really made us feel right at home. The next day we considered taking the train into town but it was pretty rainy so instead we went and wandered a nearby mall(apparently the biggest mall in the southern hemisphere or something too) and it really was HUGE! neither of us were out to purchase anything but we had a good walk and look around anyways. This was our last day in Brisbane so we just stayed in that night and had dinner with Keith and Linda on our own. They were so so generous to us our entire stay it was amazing- we really enjoyed it. The next morning we went back over to have one more visit with Alice and Gord and then we were off to the train to get into Brisbane to catch our bus. All in all we really ahd a great time in Brisbane and Chels really enjoyed catching up wiht family.

Our next stop was Byron Bay- we arrived on Tuesday around dinner time and got checked into our hostel and headed right for the grocery store to stock up as we planned to stay for about a week. We had been in touch wiht Greg Wightman from home as he was staying in Byron as well so we planned to meet up with him later on in the night. After we freshened up and had dinner we headed over to their hostel where we found him in fine partying form, had a few drinks with him and his buddies and then headed to a local pub where we were told we were going to catch an amazing local act- they were not lying. The guys name was Harry Healy and he was a brilliant solo artist...playing covers for about 3 hours every tuesday at this particular pub, he could play EVERYTHING! anybody could shout out a song and he would just start rocking out, it was wicked! After experiencing that we decided we would extend our stay an extra night so we can see him again next week, YAY! We kept it a pretty tame night and were back at our hostel by about 1am.

The next day was gloriously sunny so we headed down to the beach and caught some rays for a few hours which was lovely. We made a delicious stirfry that night for dinner andt hen went for a walk to get ice cream. We took our icecream down to the beach and were surpised to see a lightening storm in the distance so we sat and watched that for a while before heading back to the hostel. It was a quiet night but we were intending on keeping it that way as the next day would be jeff's bday.

Sadly as soon as we got back to our hostel that night it started to rain..and i mean RAIN..it didnt let up all night so our plans to go surfing in the sunshine for jeffs bday got tossed aside and instead we just took it easy, did a little shopping and hung out. When we got back tothe hostel for lunch we met a couple from the states and just sat chatting with them over a few drinks. Around 430 we realized we would need more booze for the evening so we headed down to the bottle shop, bought Jeff a 24 pack(for his 24th) of Bundaberg colas and headed back to the hostel to get ready. We ordered some delicious pizzas from a joint nearby and by 630 we had set up beer pong in teh hostel dining area. SO we played beer pong with Team USA(Matt and Alicia) and taught a UK girl, Issabelle, from our room as well and then were joined by Steph, another girl in our room from Germany. AFter a few too many games of that we decided to settle for some card games instead and were then joined by 3 guys from England, Chris 1, Chris2 and Dean. We played games til about 10 and then made our way down to Cheeky Monkey's- Jeff's chosen destination for his bday celebrations. The Wet T-shirt competitions were just finishing as we arrived(miss denmark won in case you were wondering) and the place was packed! the night started off a little sketchy but we soon found Wightman and our Swedish friend Andrees and it turned out to be a really really great night. We drank and danced on tables all night and finally got out of there around 2. Of course the night wasnt over yet as we had to go to the 23 hr pie shop and get jeff a birthday pie...mmm bacon cheese...deliciousness! After that we were ready for bed and so off to bed we went.
We woke up surprisingly sober this morning, no reminence of a hangover at all, which only means we will have to do it all again tonight as it is wightman's last night in Aus tonight. The sun has decided to hide again today so we are just staying low key but it looks like we may see some breaks in teh clouds soon so perhaps a little visit to the pool will be in the near future. Other then that we are hoping to do some surfing over the next couple of days as well as a kayak trip with the dolphins- SO EXCITING! we will be here until Wednesday by the looks of it so it's nice to be able to call a place "home" for a full week...saves the hassle of packing/unpacking for a little while at least.

That pretty much sums things up for now...we've loved hearing from you and look forward to talkin to you all again soon! love and miss you all!

Adventures in Cairns (and beyond) and picture links

cjaus — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:56:00 GMT

Hello all! so our location hasn't changed since our last entry but we have free internet here and the weather is crap so we figured we'd might as well do another update so here we go. SO it was a week today meaning it was Friday when we last wrote...we didn't get up to too much that day as we had a slow start and just wanted to rest so that was that. On Saturday we hung out by the lagoon and then it was off on a pub crawl for the evening. It was 25 bucks and it took you to 5 different clubs via a big double decker open top bus and included free entry to each club and a bbq at the beginning of the night and pizza midway thru so it seemed like a good deal. SO as it turned out it wasnt all as fun as it sounded like...the music was crappy at a lot of the places and often they seemed unprepared for a bus load of ppl when they knew we were coming, however we made the most of it and hung out most of the night with Anja and Ken from Denmark whom we had met several times along our way up to Cairns. One of the bars called Shenanigans actualyl had really excellent live music so that was enjoyable. At the last club they had a contest which was a different kind of twist on simon says in partners and low and behold WE WON! we were pretty proud and had most of the crowd behind us as well so that was cool! we each got to pick a voucher from a pile so we won White Water Rafting on teh Russell river and cable skiing so that was pretty sweet. After that we decided we werent having a good time there anymore so we made our way back to Shenanigans with Anja and Ken only to find the music was off and they were closing up...so that was that. All in all it turned out to be a pretty fun night. When we got back to our hostel we found we were kinda hungry so went on a mission to find snacks and low and behold who did we find outside the convenience store but Richie, our swedish friend!! so we had a good catch up with him and decided that we would try again later in the week to teach him beer pong. It was the perfect end to a good night. We had quite a productive day on Sunday, making plans for the rest of the week which was good and got a little sun time in by the lagoon as well.

Monday we headed out on our road trip to Cape Tribulation with our friends Heather(from Scotland) and Vicky(from England). We rented a car(Hyundi accent, spacious but terrible on gas) and jeff was happy to be behind the wheel again as he really misses driving. We started out on our journey and the further we drove the worse the weather got. We stopped in Port Douglas and got caught in torrential downpours so decided to head stragiht to Cape Tribulation and come back to Port Douglas on our way back. The rain slowed a little bit here and there but it really made for a hassle on our trip. We went and saw the Daintree village and then crossed the river over to Cape Tribulation. As we drove we realized that all the bridges we drove over were being taken over by creeks flowing over them so we had to come to a group decision which was to cancel our overnight in cape tribulation in fears we may be flooded in. So we explored what we could of the rainforest, saw where the rainforest meets the beach which was pretty cool, went to teh lookouts but really couldnt see anything(to many low clouds) and so after a few hours we were back on the road to Port Douglas. It was still rainy there but not as bad as it had been so we decided to overnight there instead as we had the car until the next day. So we went into town to do a little shopping and bought some groceries and made a big taco dinner together at our hostel..it was lovely. There wasnt much to do at night so we spent some time teaching eachother new card games and then called it a night. The next morning we woke up to beautiful sunshine so we checked out and headed to 4 mile beach in Port Douglas...it as pretty but there was a lot of debris from all the storms we've been having and the tide was really high so we couldnt stay to hang out. Since the weather was good we decided to head up to Karunda- mountain town area with waterfalls etc. OF course as we neared our destination the rain started up again but we still explored the town and visited Barron falls which were pretty spectacular especially considering all the rain thats been falling...lots and lots of overflow. Anyways, we spent the day exploring up there and then decided to just head back to Cairns as the weather was better there so we went ad spent some time by the lagoon again to get a little sun and relax. All in all it was a really fun roadtrip even if the weather didnt cooperate, we still had a blast and great company.

The next day was our snorkellling trip to the great barrier reef...we woke up to BLACK..i mean BLACK BLACK BLACK skies but were told we still had to head down to hte marina as the captain would have the final say on whether we would go or not. As it turned out the trip was a go but what a rainy messy day it was. We thought it might get better as we saw a spectacular rainbow on the way out, but more rain clouds rolled in making for a very soggy and rough day on the water. The boat we were on was a really nice catermaran but a lot of ppl still ended up being seasick and it was too bad we didnt get to relax on the boat in the sun as there was a lot of nice places to do so..oh well. Our snorkel sessions were just off a Cay(we were supposed to have 2 locations but the weather was too poor) and despite the storms the visibility wasnt TOO bad. We got some really good pix (coming soon) on the underwater digital camera we rented. Lots of beautiful coral, colorful fish including Nemo. Unfortunatly our second snorkel was cut short because it started to hail and rain so bad that the crew couldn't see the snorklers in the water to keep track of them all. Teh trip back was a little scary.. visibility was so poor we could barely see out the windows and it was rougher than the trip out. But we made it. All in all we made the best of a really ugly day!

The next day we got early once again as we were set to sky dive. We woke up to grey skies but saw a few clear patches so were told to still get ready as if we were going. Our instructors picked us up at 730am and took us back to their offices to prepare. While we filled out all the paperwork and signed or lives away they went down to the airport and landing area to check the conditions. We went thru a briefing and then got word that there was enough clear sky to jump so we were off to the airport. We jumped into the doorless plane and within a matter of minutes we were heading up up and UP! It was just us and our instructors and our friend Anja and her instructor in the little plane along with one solo jumper. As we left the ground the sky seemed to clear more and soon we were in pure sunshine. It took about 20 mins to climb to our jump altitude (14000 feet) but it didnt seem that long at all. Before long we were all prepping to jump. The solo guy went first and it was incredible how quickly he was just GONE. Next was Anja and once again it was a blink and they were gone. Jeff and his instructor(Wayne) were next with a whoosh and last was Chels and her instructor(Ben). We both agree that the freefall was an incredible feeling. You are going SO fast but it really doesnt feel like it at all- what a rush. Once the parachute was pulled it was pure tranquility. You can talk to your instructor and its just so quiet you can sit and watch the world below you. We saw the beautiful rainforest and rivers from above and a bit of the ocean/reef but there was a bit of cloud arond that area. It was an incredible experience that we both think we will be doing again..maybe even before we get home. Lucky for you we opted for the photos and videos so you can check out our photos online but the videos will probably wait til we're home unless we find a way to get them on the net..we will see. So seeing as we jumped so early in the day we still had th rest of the day to do...well...nothing...it started to rain and we counted ourselves lucky as being the only ppl to jump that day. So we really didnt do much the rest of the day....were still in awe that we did the skydive....doestn feel real..but the pictures prove it happened.

Today we were up early once again as we were supposed to go rafting with our free voucher but due to severe rains(surprise surprise) it was cancelled as the rivers were closed because they were completetly overflowing...they said we could postpone til tomorrow but we leave tomorrow night and the rains arent really letting up and we want to party with Team Sweden(our swedish friends) one last time..hopefully. So that brings us to now...just ran some errands and hung out, hopefully party tonight and then its back down the coast tomorrow. Next stop, Airlie beach for St Pattys Day....should be good times. Love to all!
~chels~ & jeff

SKYDIVE AND CAIRNS ADVENTURE PICS! check em out!

Chels pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013906&l=13be9&id=129500485

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013895&l=a6ed9&id=129500485

JEff pics:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14104&l=ef7bb&id=507914650

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14033&l=7fdf0&id=507914650

Round 3 of Pics

cjaus — Fri, 7 Mar 2008 16:16:00 GMT

Here are even more pictures of Australia:

Jeff's Albums:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13702&l=cf52c&id=507914650

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13703&l=0e518&id=507914650

Chels' Albums:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013774&l=ee9e7&id=129500485

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013776&l=11e4c&id=129500485

until next time from our amazing Oz Adventures!

Airlie, Whitsundays, Airlie, Magnetic Isl, Mission Beach, Cains

cjaus — Fri, 7 Mar 2008 14:40:00 GMT

Well well well where did we last leave you. We think it was Just getting into Airlie Beach so lets start off there.

We attempted to go out on our first night in Airlie Beach but nobody else at our hostel wanted to join us, so we went out on the town to see what was going on. Apparentely on a Sunday nights not much goes on in Airlie. We had a couple drinks at Beaches but werent feeling it so we decided to go back to the hostel. Until this girl grabbed us and informed us of a foam party (with free cover) was going on. We have never been to foam party and thought it would be an excellent idea to check one out. So we went in there for a while and it was alright but not ahuge crowd and then the big beach ball burst so we figured the fun was over and headed back to the hostel. Conveniently enough McDonalds was on the way so we stopped for a late night snack :) The next day we went to check out the lagoon so we just hung out there and got some sun and went for a dip. On our way back to get cleaned up we ran into Jenny from our Fraser Island trip and she was leaving the next day so we couldnt turn down her invitation on a night out so that's just what we did. After dinner started into the bevvies and were joined by our Swedish friends Richie and Emil...we played some drinking games with them and some others from our hostel but unfortunatley the games got the best of Richie and he wasnt able to make it out with us for the rest of the evening. We headed over to Beaches to meet up with Jenny and her sailing crew and proceeded to have an excellent night of partying. Once we finished up there we headed over to another club called Mama Africas which was also awesome...we drank, we danced, we neckchopped(FYI never teach a Swede the neckchop...they are aggressive)...it was a delight! The next day we just hung out by the pool and around the hostel as our Whitsunday sailing adventure was departing at 7pm that night.

So we boarded our ship, the grand Solway Lass at 7pm, were shown to our cabins and gathered on deck for a briefing. We had a group of 32 ppl, mostly english girls, a few canadians, a couple germans and irish folk and a few other randoms of all different ages. Our crew was Captain Mark, Bunsen was Millsy, MIkey was the deck hand, Kylie was the cook, Tess was the bar girl, and Benny was the volunteer for the trip...the whole crew were really awesome ppl and made the trip what it was. So we cruised a bit that night, had some dinner around 10 and then we played Connect 4 with Tess...she was very excited as it was the new game on teh ship. We headed to bed at a reasonable hour as we had to get up at 7am the next day. We both slept really well on teh ship, no intense rocking or anything so that was good, so we got up at 7 for breakfast of cereals and toast and then cruised over to Whitsunday Island to go to White Haven Beach. On the cruise over the sea was very angry. A lot of people from our group got seasick but for the most part we were ok. Whitehaven Beach was beautiful... we relaxed, went for a swim and played some cricket. Cricket is actually really easy to play just a lot of wierd rules. Back to the boat for lunch and then we set sail for the afternoon. Once we ancored we got to try out the rope swing on the boat which was excellent. We were the envy of every passing boat not only because we were a pirate ship, but we had a rope swing. We ancored there for the night, had a delicious dinner (they just kept feeding us AND the chef was also GF so there was still plenty for chels to eat too!)and played some poker. The next day we did three different snorkels, all with beautiful fish and coral and we even swam with a couple of sea turtles. Supposedly there was a sting ray but we didnt see it. It rained most of the day but we were already wet so it didnt matter. The clouds broke a bit late afternoon so we took the evening snack with us to the beach where we watched to sunset. They took us back to the boat where we had yet another delicious dinner, watched the sealife at night (first the fish came, then the squids chased the fish, then the reef sharks chased everyone away) and played some more poker and connect four. The days on our voyage flew right by but we had an Outstanding time and went out with the crew that night. We started at a restaurant called Fish Divine which was delicious and had a few drinks there as well. We bought a round of Sambuca for the crew and in return a very drunken Millsy bought us around as well. The crew have to be completely dry when they are on the ship so back on land they really like to party. From the restaurant we headed over to Beaches again and spent a while partying there which was a lot of fun. Then some people went to Mama Africas again but we went to Paddy Shenanigans which was a lot of fun...most of the group ended up there at some point but we spent a lot of the night with 2 Germans from our boat, Ralph and Marco, Kylie and a couple others...it was a lot of fun! The next morning we were a little slow to start but eventually made our way to the lagoon for a lazy afternoon. Not much else went on in Airlie after that for us...we just took it easy.

THe next morning we caught the 9am bus to Townsville from which we ferried over to Magnetic Island. Unfortunately the weather didnt cooperate for most of our stay so we didnt get the best impression of the island and were glad to only have sta yed 2 nights. Our hostel was located on an Eco reserve so we could have done a tour with koalas, snakes and crocs and stuff but we had already seen so many Koalas etc we figured it was best to save the cash. We did a big hike one day where we walked up thru an old fort from WWII...it was quite interesting actually and a good workout at that. The hostel had its own restaurant and bar and our rooms were separate little cabins with 8 ppl per room but nothing too exciting really...somehow the hostel just won best hostel in Australia but we couldnt really figure out how.

ANyways, after 2 nights there we headed back over to Townsville and caught a bus up to Mission Beach. About an hour before we got to our destination the rains came...the fields on either side of us were flooded and there was so much water flying at the bus it was insane. Our whole purpose of going to Mission Beach was to do a skydive with a beach landing and to go white water rafting but with the poor weather we were unable to do either. Seriously we had never seen rain like this, it was a complete washout. The hostel shuttle picked us up and took us to the hostel which was called the Treehouse...it was a neat little place but so far out of "town"... and I say "town" because there really wasnt much of a town as much as it was just a street with the grocer etc...so we spent 2 very soggy nights in Mission beach...other then going to the grocer we didnt leave the hostel at all ..it wasnt so bad as the hostel sold booze haha but still, it kinda sucked. We had originally planned to spend 3 nights there but with the storm we figured it best to change that to 2 nights. The rain was so bad that even teh white water rafting wasnt operating. Anyways, we met a couple of nice people there and played a lot of cards...again. ON our second day we were told we might not even get out the next day as the buses couldnt run due to flash flooding. Lucky for us we were bumped up to the 11am bus the next day and this ended up being the only bus that ran all day so we were 2 of 50 very lucky people to make it up to Cairns. Apparently Cairns just had the heaviest 24 hour rainfall in over a century...madness! So we got into Cairns yesterday, on our way to find the hostel we saw our Scottish friend Heather and found out it was her bday so we made plans to meet up with her and her friend Cathy that night. The weather wasnt great so we explored the mall, bought some new clothes, and then got cleaned up and made some dinner. The hostel is nice, very clean, great kitchen/bathrooms, and a nice pool...so far so good anyways. We met the girls over at Gilligans and had some drinks there and then headed out to a club called Woolshed. It was another great night of partying. We ended up running into another girl from our Fraser Island trip, Harriet, which was funny. That pretty much brings us to now...we are currnetly booked in here until SUnday but we are gonna see how the weather looks. We want to head farther north but the roads are s till closed I think so we may hang out here a little longer(which isnt so bad...we like it here so far) and see if we can make it up north, otherwsie we wil lstart back down and hopefully get our skydive in at mission beach (fingers crossed). Anyways, think that's it for now, its been great hearing from you all- keep the msgs coming, we love you and miss you! Ciao for now!

More pics

cjaus — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:57:00 GMT

Here are our pictures from Brisbane to Airlie Beach. Enjoy:

Jeff's Albums

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13117&l=875a6&id=507914650

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13170&l=01bd1&id=507914650

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13172&l=e2ce1&id=507914650

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13173&l=a279f&id=507914650

Chels' Albums

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013529&l=5c92c&id=129500485

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013530&l=39554&id=129500485

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013541&l=38c83&id=129500485

Surfers to Aerlie and everything in between

cjaus — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:39:00 GMT

Alright well where do we start? First of all, the weather has gotten better....hope this doesnt jinx things but we have both been getting roasted the past few days...and for some reason we've decided to do on long treks in unshaded areas...clever we know...we are surviving anyways. Okay so lots to catch up on so lets start with where we left off in Surfers.

All we did in Surfers was hit the Amusement Park, Dreamworld along with it's counterpart Waterworld. We spent a full day at each and had a pretty good time. The lineups at Dreamworld were a little long and the rides were few and somewhat disappointing...it was no Disneyland...we kinda wanna go back there(to Disneyland that is)..but it still gave us a bit of a thrill. The best ride we found was called The Claw and it was like a swinging pendelum mixed with a giant tire swing at the bottom that has seats all around it facing outward and it swings you back and forth way up in the air while spinning around...it was pretty crazy. The park also had a Hellevator type ride only it was about 3 times the height..RIDICULOUS! oh and they also had a cool Tiger World area with Bengals and Siberian...neat to watch. Waterworld proved a little more entertaining...shorter lineups, better weather, and some crazy water slides including a hydro-magnetic roller coaster which was just insane and a couple that pretty much dropped you down funnels...all in all it was a great day and we both got a little bit burnt but felt great after climing a ridiculou amount of stairs all day.

After Surfers we were off to Brisbane. We got in late at night so just stayed in and tehn it rained all day on our first day there so we wandered down to queen street mall and shopped a bit and uploaded our pics(see last post). The next day we met up with Chels' relatives. they picked us up at 10 and we were just expecting lunch but they showed us around a bit, took us to their place where we visited with them and their daughter and son in law and then we went to a little village for meat pies..mmmm...obviously jeff's new favorite. They took us to a cute little museum that actually had some interesting stuff about the settlement of the town and a really cheezy but good video. Then we just went back to their place and then it was off to Sizzler for dinner...it was a lot of food, the first time jeff has eaten there...not sure if he will go back...but it seemed to be a favoritew ith the relatives so it worked. Oh and the place was packed! we got there before 6 and it was already lined up out the door and then when we left it was still lined up...must be the all you can eat feature. oh well....it was great to get a visit in and we may stay with Linda and Keith for a few days on the way down...we will see how time is going. The next day was Valentines day and we were planning on taking the 7pm bus to Noosa so we figured we would take the train to the Australia Zoo(the Steve Irwin zoo) so we got up nice and early and as we called greyhound on our way to the train station we found out there was no 7pm only a 5pm so we werent able to get to the zoo that day :( Instead we took the ferry around the river in Brisbane and wandered around Southbank which was actually a neat little area filled with different restaurants and a man made beach...it turned out to be a pretty enjoyable day in the end.

We got into Noosa late once again and got to our room only to find we had the same roomates as we had in Surfers- too funny but it seems to happen when you're all travelling the same route. The hostel was at the top of a big hill which wasnt too fun climbing up with all our bags but it was a neat little heritage type building. We took it easy that night as we had booked our bus to the zoo for the next day. So once again we wqere up bright and early the next morning and off to the zoo we went. The bus picked us up just down the hill from our hostel and they showed us a Steve Irwin video on the way which was nice. We travelled in style to the zoo in a double decker zoo decorated tour bus- pretty sweet. The zoo weas even better then expected. Though they didnt have as many animals as most zoos but the enclosures were big and beautiful and all the animals seemed happy and active which was a change from most zoos we've seen. We saw more koalas and caught one making his call which was really deep and sounded like a camel which was surprising and we even got to take a turn holding one- dont be jealous(we'll get those pics up soon). Lots of Kangaroos once again and of course lots of Crocs...we went to the Crocoseum(5000+ person stadium where they hold the croc show) and saw the morning croc show which was really cool- they also did a segment on snakes and birds but the croc part was the best..on a whole it was very entertaining though. The elephants were also a sight to be seen- they usually have 3 but one was off filming a movie down south so we only got to see 2 but we got there just in time for bath time which was amazing to see how gentle these huge animals can be with people. It was also good to see hwo active they keep them with different tasks to keep their minds in motion. We saw a beautiful tiger but it was a hot day so he was pretty chilled out and we were supposed to see cheetahs but we couldnt find them. Oh and we saw 2 small clawed asian otters which were just adorable...they were extremely playful and chased eachother around their pool area acting all nimbly bimbly. We took some time to walk through the Steve Irwin memorial which was quite moving to see- there were pictures/letters/etc sent in from people all over ther world and just countless khaki shirts signed by fans/friends...it was quite emotional to see but amazing to see how much he is still a part of the zoo and you know he always will be. We ended our day around 4 and have to say it was a great day with hot weather and just an all around great place to visit. Oh and it was interesting to hear that the zoo is currently 72 acres but in the next few years they aim to expand it to 500 acres!!! and even crazier they hope one day it will be 1000 acres! HUGE! We attempted to have a couple of drinks that night but found nobody to be too social so we had a few to ourselves and called it a night. The next day we went to get some groceries and headed to the beach for a bit but of course by the time we got there the sun began to disappear so we just stayed an hour and then wandered around the town. We had a delightful call from Jen (and Kiri) which was really great- loved hearing from you guys :). That night we ended up having drinks in a room with a bunch of Swedes and Brits but that got cut short as there was really no off premise drinks allowed as the hostel had a bar as well but by that time we were set to go so we wandered up to this club called the Reef...DISAPPOINTING! the music was crap and it was pretty quiet but we hung out for a while and then our random adventure began...some guy came up to Chels and asked if she drove manual...confused she told him know but pointed towards Jeff and said he did...so long story short these guys were locals and they had had too much to drink at this club but wanted to go to another club but didnt want to leave their vehicle so Jeff had only had 2 at this point so he was deemed their DD for the trip. So a few girls from the hostel and the 2 of us piled into this huge 8 person van with these aussie guys while they gave directions to jeff and he got his first taste at driving on the wrong side of the road- and he did a really good job too! Just before we got to the next club (called Villa Noosa) the aussies realized jeff was wearing shorts and that wasnt going to fly where we were going so we stoppped at one of their houses to pick up a pair of pants...not just any pants tho...whitish tiny jeanss....so being the good sport that he is jeff pulled these suckers over his shorts and managed to get in...somehow....it was really funny...but he definetly had a hard time dancing trying to drink with one hand and hold his pants up with the other...but he managed...anyways, this club was better, music and crowd were all better..so we partied the night there and then made our way back to the hostel by cab. A great night all around though. We checked out the next morning and headed to teh beach for a few hours before our bus left at 1pm. Good thing we beached in the am as the rain just started to teem down as we waited for the bus..we were sheltered though so it was alright. Our bus was a little late, which isnt unusual, but we were on our way just after 1pm.

We arrived in Hervey Bay around 5 and went right to our hostel- definetly a neat little place. It was kind of set up with separate lodges, very relaxing with a duck pond out back and streams running through it, as well as a nice pool and deck and tennis courts/basketball courts. Good deal! We played some cards and checkers our first night and then hit the hay as we were exhausted. The next day we got up eaerly to do laundry and then we played tennis for a while..it was SO hot out so itw as tough but a lot of fun and nice to get some exercise. We spent the afternoon by the pool and then got our stuff organized as we were off to Fraser Island the next day.

Our bus picked up at 8am for Fraser Island and right away we met 2 German guys who were staying at our hostel who were doing the same tour. They turned out to be really nice guys and we spent a lot of time with them over the next few days. The ferry ride was about a half hour and we were greeted by 2 guides, Wayne and Jennifer, and split into 2 buses(one with 33 and the other with 7) as teh big bus had broken down. We were in the big bus with Wayne and itw as awesome. We won't go into every detail of what we saw but we can definetly say we now know why everybody raves about Fraser. Our first day was REALLY crappy weather and it amde us happy we booked a guided/accomodated tour but the second 2 days were absolutely stunning...hot and sunny without a cloud in teh sky, just perfect. Unfrotunatley we didnt get to see Indian head or the Champagne pools because even at low tide the tide was too high and the swell was just huge so it was too dangerous even for our big bus. We met some great people on the tour and our favorite spots were Lake Mackenzie(on the sunny day...on the cloudy day we really didn;t appreciate it), Lake Wabby and Lake Beerigin(or something like that)...we'll get pics up soon so you can all be jealous. So we lucked out with great weather, great people and an excellent guide..Wayne had SO much knowledge and made the trip a lot of fun as well...if you havent been to Fraser Island the tracks reminded us of Indiana Jones ride at disneyland only 10 times as unpredictable.(insert Indiana Jones theme now)..and it;s a registered road!!! We stayed 1 more night in Hervey Bay and lucked out with another sunny day which was spent biking around the town...they have a 14km bike path around teh waterfrton which we explored..it kinda reminded us of White Rock except MUCH longer...it was fun though. That night the bus picked us up at 6 and we were on our way to Jef's new favorite place, BUNDABERG!

We stayed in a hostel called the Cellblock and it is actually an old jail(closed 7 years ago) so the rooms still have jail doors and barred windows..its just a theme to it but it was kinda cool...we got in late again so there were lots of bugs and it gave us a bad impression of the place but for about 30 bucks each a night we got our own room with A/C and our own TV and fridge so that was pretty good...we were just there for one night though so it really didnt matter. Anyways, the whole point of our trip to Bundy was of course, the RUM DISTILLERY! For 25 bucks we did a tour of the distillery and learned how the rum is made and fermented and stored and we got 2 drinks out of it too. They had 300 million litres of rum on site - what a party eh? Our tour guide Katrina was great and at the end of the tour she whisked us to the bar where we got some much needed refreshments...it was bloody hot again. They had all the regualr bundaberg drinks but they also had a royal liqueur only available at the distillery...it has a chocolate/coffee taste to it but it is nothing like anything you've ever tasted...HEAVEN. New favorite bevvy, too bad we can't get it anywhere (we did buy a bottle for our travels though :) ). The best drink was probably a Pinik Polar bear which was the liqueur, cream, grenadine and lemonade...mmmmm...kinda tasted like a float...so refreshing and delicious...and yes we did buy all the ingredients so we can make them at our hostel tonight....yessssssssss. We made the silly decision of walking back to our hostel in the scorching heat...whoops...but we made it after we stopped at a subway to enjoy the A/C. Didnt really do anything else in Bundy...would have liked to see the turtles hatching but without a car and time we just couldnt do it...we'll see on the way down. Our bus left at 10pm that night and we were on it until this morning when we arrived in Aerlie Beach at 9am. We couldnt check in until 12 so we layed by the pool until about 2, met some Irish folk and talked to them there and then got our room set up and set out to buy some groceries...once again we decided to walk there, stupid mistake...we really should figure out how far things are before we set ou but we made it anyways. And now we're here. We were gonna upload our pics again but these computers don't do it so we'll try again some other time. We are here for 2 nights and then we head off on our Whitsunday Sailing trip- we;ll be on a tall ship that has a really great rep around here, called teh Solway Lass. The weather seems to have taken a turn for the better, knock on wood, and we;ve seen nothing but sun the past week. We hope to upload our pics before we set sail.

So as you see we are both alive and well, hope all of you are as well. We miss you guys and love hearing from you so keep us posted on what you're up to when you can. Cheers!
~chels~ & Jeff

Pix Links

cjaus — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 17:42:00 GMT

So we finally uploaded our pictures so far. But we uploaded them to facebook. So for all you non-facebookers here are the links to our albums.

Jeff's Albums:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=12394&l=c8cf2&id=507914650

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=12397&l=4e6ef&id=507914650

Chels albums:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013222&l=d4136&id=129500485

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013223&l=c0311&id=129500485

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013224&l=b0075&id=129500485

Enjoy

Jeff & ~chels~

A bit of catch up

cjaus — Sat, 9 Feb 2008 22:24:00 GMT

G'day friends and family, it's been a little while since we had a chance to message you so this is going to be a brief overview of what we;ve been up to. Let's go back to Newcastle- we went there right after Australia day (Jan 27) and spent 3 nights there. Basically, it was awesome! Weather was cooperative and we got to the beach a few times; we managed to get 3 free dinners out of it - they catered to Chels' problem(ie her gluten allergy) and jeff got his first taste of a meat pie...lets just say hes hooked now. We met some great ppl there - 2 from Kelowna, 2 from Toronto, and a few other good ones too and spent our days with them. We went out to the Blackbutt Reserve and got to pet a Koala- her name was Suzi and was she ever cute...and soft....the hostel itself was really nice, huge common area with big leather couches...we watched the tennis finals there too...all in all a great time and we plan to head back there on our way down.

Next was Port Macquarie....we got in late(1030pm) but managed to find the hostel in the dark down a urban street and by 11pm we were ready to move on. Lets just say it didnt have much to offer us. You know in Waynes world where they do the green screen bit and end up in Delaware and they dont really know what to make of it...that's how we would describe Port Macquarie..but at least we can say we went there and again the weather was good so we got to the beach.

After that we were off to Bellingen which is about 15km inland from Urunga. This was probably one of our most favorite places but we didnt even get to really do anything while we were there because the weather was so crappy...it honestly rained for 3 days straight...but of course we found the bar close by and we played an exceptional amount of cards and learned many new games. It was a fairly small hostel with a big verandah overlooking the rainforest so it was really pretty and we definetly plan to head back on our way down and hopefully we can do the rainforest tour, do some bike rides, float down the river, etc. Oh and to make it even more like a home, there was a hostel cat named Bella...she slept in our room one day too...very cute.

After Bellingen we went to Byron Bay..again we ended up getting in after hours but managed to find a night manager to let us in. It rained on us the first couple of days so we did some shopping, watched some great thunder and lightening storms literally right over head. The sky cleared at one point and the sky just went orange and pink for about a half hour..it was kinda eerie but really cool. We found ourselves at a pub called Cheeky Monkeys on our first night and met up with some ppl we'd met the town before and even ran into, for those of you who might him, Scott Hetherinton from Tswassen...really random but quite funny. The club was pretty cool...great music and absolutely everybody was up on picnic tabels dancing...awesome! We went out to a club called Cocomangas with our new Irish friends the next night and ended up meeting a group of Torontonions but we were convinced they were from New York...one of them started freestyle rapping on the corner of the street and in turn attracted an 18 year old Aussie wanderer who decided he wanted to join us. We went to the beach on the one really sunny day we had with our new friend from Kentucky...hes been to 46 countries...and every US state...pretty crazy. The rip was so strong, its amazing that ppl were able to be out there surfing as we could hardly stand up in it and got carried out to sea and had to be rescued.....okay....maybe not but thats how strong it was. While we were there we also met up with Jon(Chels' bros) old Aussie exchange student Liz Hawkins. She came and met us for a drink and drove us up to the Byron Bay lighthouse...the most eastern point in Australia and quite a nice view. It was really cool to see Liz after all these years, and yes Mom, we got pictures. She was pressed for time but insists on taking us around some more when we come back down. Oh and the hostel at Byron was really nice...like Melrose Place some said. Kinda more like a Motel with a pool and everything..sweet deal.

We arrived in Surfer's Paradise yesterday and honestly so far we arent overly impressed. The hostel is really far away from town...5km...which when you are on foot adds up. Kitchen and bathrooms are probably the worst we've seen so far but we're only here for a few more nights so we'll be okay. Our friend Dave Patterson drove down from Brisbane(for those of you who don't know him he's from back home and has been living here for several months)and stayed with us last night at the hostel...we went out to the Billabong outlets with him and then ended up drinking at the hostel with some ppl and headed into town for a bit to a place called Cocktails and Dreams...it wasn't too great...not Cheeky Monkeys, thats for sure. Jeff was excited to see a pizza place open after our night out but it cost him 2.80 for a slice rather then the 89 cents back home...and it really wasnt worth it.

Today we went to the beach with Dave for a few hours and then he had to go as he's leaving for Asia on Monday so we just hung out and then took a bus into town for a bit and layed low tonight...we made an amazing stir fry though...mmmm...so good!

Tomorrow we are heading to an amusement park/water park type thing...should be fun...we leave here on Monday(maybe Tuesday) for Brisbane where we will meet up with Chels' relatives and who knows what else...we got ourselves a cel phone but dont have the number on us...if you want it, you can msg us and let us know....incoming calls are free for us so it's a pretty good deal.

Well that's all for now..we havent been able to post photos yet as the uploaders all seem too slow but we will try again in Brisbane...love you all,

Jeff & ~chels~

Toranga Zoo, Surf Trip, Australia Day and Newcastle

cjaus — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:02:00 GMT

Hello all,

So quite a bit has happened since we last wrote- we'll start off where we last finished. We took the ferry from Cirqular Quay to Toronga Zoo on Tuesday of last week- we lucked out as the weather finally decided to cooperate with us and we go ourselves a bit of sun. The zoo itself was pretty neat- lots of wildlife to be seen- we saw them feed the gorillas, listened to a zookeeper talk about the koalas and got to see several lions right up close (usually the wild cats seem to sleep at the back of their enclosures so this was quite a treat for us). Other then that a pretty typical zoo but the set up was really quite neat - also jeff was quite upset as the red panda was nowhere to be found...we may have to go back next time to seek him out.

Wednesday we relaxed by the pool before heading out on our surf trip. It was about a 3 hour bus ride north of sydney, with a bottle shop stop about 30 mins into it and a McDonalds stop about halfway thru. Needless to say the ride went pretty quick and we all got on great by the end of the ride after a few brews. The couple from Chicago we met our first night ended up beingo n the trip and a big group of brits...they were all very nice and we had a lot of fun with them. Our instructors were great - Hannah, Rob and Harley. We arrived at camp(well cabins) around 1130, went to the bar for a bit and then hit the hay as we were woken up at 730 the next morning. The next 2 days were full of surfing which was a lot of fun. The waves were a little bit intense in the morning but the afternoon session was a lot better and of course we both managed to burn both our hands and feet- ouch!! oh well it was well worth it. friday was just a half surf d day but the conditions werent great unfortunately..but we did both manage to get up on a few waves so that was just fine.

We got back to Sydney that night and rested up as Saturday was Australia day. We spent the whole day just wandering around sydney experiencing the differetn celebrations. Started out in Darling harbour and wandered over to Cirqular Quay...the Rocks had a big music fest on with various stages set up thru the town..it was pretty sweet! We finished the day back at Darling with a great fireworks show..all in all a great day!

Sunday we headed off to Newcastle..we'll have to fill you in on that trip next time as our time is up here. Hope all's well back home, miss you all and cant wait to hear from you!

~chels~ & jeff

still in syd

cjaus — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:27:00 GMT

So as you can tell by our title we are still in Sydney. Our first 3 days in Bondi were nice except the weather was crap. We went out with our friend Dan on Saturday night which was a lot of fun. Grabbed a bite and went out on the town with him and his friends. We were supposed to go to the Sydney festival but the weather put a damper on the show we were supposed to go to apparently but we still had a great time. Dan showed us the sights and toured us around the town before hand too which was nice. A long night but well worth it. We arrived in downtown Sydney yesterday by bus and train- the train system is pretty incredible! Our hostel here, the Railway Square YHA, is really really nice...its fairly new and really more like a hotel. We wandered over to Darling Harbour yesterday and today we went to the Aquarium. We have booked until Wednesday at this hostel and were going to move on to Newcastle but have decided to stick around as Australia day is on Saturday so why not be in Sydney for that. So we are booking a surf trip for wed-fri and then will stay here again on fri-sun. The weather is supposed to clear...we hope they are right as this rain is getting right old fast. We saw the sun a little bit yesterday but only for about an hour and we were soaked once again. Oh well, still making the best of it. Hope all is well at home. Rumor has it you had a little snow back in Van....hahaha! enjoy!
~chels~ & jeff

Arrived!

cjaus — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:24:00 GMT

Hi All,

So we arrived safe and sound 14.5 hours later. Flight was fairly easy, slight delay but we still arrived on time. Weather has been crummy...still fairly warm but cloudy and RAINY believe it or not. Also very windy! Hostel is nice and the people are friendly. Met some nice ppl in our room but of course they are leaving today. Guess we'll be getting used to ppl coming and going as the trip goes on though. Not much to report yet, just wanted to let you all know that we arrived safe and sound. Also, eating hasnt proved any difficulty yet..there is even a pizza shop down the road with GLUTEN FREE PIZZA- guess where we're having dinner tonight!! Meeting up with Dan from Wollongong tomorrow night; he's meeting us at the hostel at 6 and taking us to Sydney Festival..should be fun. We'll talk soon, love to all!
~chels~ & jeff

Leaving Tomorrow

cjaus — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:17:00 GMT

Hello friends and family,

We've set up this travel blog with you in mind to keep you all updated on our adventures. Not too sure how often we'll be updating it but we will try to keep it regular. We'll miss you all and hope you enjoy our stories!
~chels~ & jeff