FINALLY downunder!

So it's been FOREVER since I've posted my last post and I'm sorry, but I have been on the go since Queenstown. Wow. There is so much to catch up on I don't even know where to start. Lets see...I left you guys off with Milford Sound. After Milford, we drove back to Queenstown for a quick lunch and then drove almost 6 hours to Mt. Cook, which is a magnificent mountain that we only got to see for about 2 minutes before the clouds covered it up again, but if you google it, I am sure you can see what it really looks like. We stayed at the YHA there, which was actually really nice. Wood floors and walls, and a GREAT view!! LOVE IT. We rested the first day we got there, since we got there late afternoon. It was really nice to do nothing. We tried going out that night, but the little bar we went to closed early and the bartenders were mean. There was great live music that night though. We walked back to the hostel that night and I don't think I have ever seen so many stars. It's so clear and clean over in NZ.

The next day, while Bennett, Katie, Maragret, and Jordan went rock climbing with Scott (there werent enough rock climbing gear for all of us :-( Audra and I went on a nice four hour hike up to see Hooker Valley. That was cool because of the suspension bridges we climbed to and the ice chunks we saw in the lake up at the top. LOVE it. Pictures are up on facebook. After the hike Aurda and I (along with Bennett and Katie) just lounged around the hostel watching movies and TV shows...it was the life. :) But Mt. Cook had to end.

So we left and drove to Christchurch, which is the cutest city I have seen in all of New Zealand. A good size, clearly made for tourism and so quaint. It had nice measuems and beautiful botanical gardens! I had fun there walking around taking in the sights. There was a bag pipe thing going on because there had to be 10 bag piping teams in the central square (Cathedral Sq). The hostel was really nice too. We had a balcony!! sweet!! That first night (Sunday) the group went out on the town to see the nightlife. Not much was going on, but we still had a blast. We met up with these crazy guys who just won a Cricket tournment and were celebrating. It was lots of fun hanging with them. One of them is coming to live in Boston in a few months, so we became quick friends. Some of our group stayed out till 6am, while the rest turned in by 1 or 2am. The next day was a day of recovery for some and a day of internet, laundry, secret kiwi, and gift getting for me. That second night we were in Christchurch I got to see Amanda (woo FHer for those who don't know her) That was awesome catching up and seeing an old friend. We had a good dinner. I miss Woo Hockey now :( Around 10pm we ended our dinner. Christchurch was pretty much closed up that late too. I went to sleep when I got back to the hostel because we had a 4am wake up call that next morning to go to Australia!!

But our time in New Zealand had to come to and end. I was sad to say goodbye to the mountains of that beautiful country and I was even more disappointed that I didn't see any before I left that morning because it was 4am in the morning and pitch black dark. It was super early, but I was still super exicted to see Australia, where I really wanted to go in the first place! Though we couldn't leave the country without ONE person having some issues....

We had some troubles at the airport with Dom. Dom didn't inform Scott that his passport number had changed and he had to get a new visa ASAP at the airport and then his bags were 10 kilos overweight, which is really impossible to do, but he did it with all the BOOKS he bought. He loves books i guess. OY!! He had to pay a lot more money for the extra weight, and since we is now living off of a small budget that was not good for him. sigh...i guess he'll learn from his mistakes.

After all that trouble we waited to take our 3 hour flight to the land downunder. That flight was uncomfortable, so I was happy when it was over. Going through customs again was stressful. I was worried I was going to have a problem with the camping gear going through, but where was no problem with that. Well, customs did look at my tent, but it was just because they had to, but the guy was really nice and we talked about my trip so far.

Once we got outside...we could DEF tell the difference in temperature immediately between the two countries. Australia was HOT and HUMID!! I was not prepared, but at the same time that was what I wanted the whole time in NZ when it was COLD. I got my wish, but then I found myself wishing that the temp was more like NZ. OY VEY! hahaha.

After getting our rental van, we loaded up and headed to Brisbane. It's a nice city, but I don't really want to go back. I liked Christchurch better. We ate in a food court and then went to the museum, which was free and fun inside. After that, we drove to Noosa, a little beach town, which was soo cute and I wanted to stay there FOREVER. The houses were nice, the beaches were great, the town was quaint. I loved it, but we were only there for a night. We took a night hike out FIRST night in Australia (Scott said that was impressive considering all the dangerous animals and insects in the country) and we saw a rare Powerful Owl and some toads and spiders. We walked on the beach by moonlight and saw lots of crabs. Then we got lost...oy! but we found our way. I was exhasted, took a rinse shower, packed for our last adventure trip and went to sleep in our HOTTTTT room. I managed to sleep fine, since thats how hot my room is in the summer and I am used to it, but others complained the whole night. I guess its good to live in hott summers. :)

That morning we left around 8 and stopped at a huge market, which had a lot of cute things for sale, but I managed to purchase nothing. It was fun, but i was sweating from the heat and the sun. When we left the market we drove to the barge that would take us to Fraser Island -- our second to last ADVENTURE (last hiking) trip. That was about a 2 hour drive. Once we got there we had to repack our bags with our food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. OUr bags were really heavy this time around. I was exhausted after 50 feet of walking, but you gotta puch through that and you find you walked 5 hours by the end of the day.

The barge ride was about a 1/2 hour long (some of us ate some icecream -- its my new thing here -- i love iceceam -- thanks KATIE). Once we got to the island (the whole island is made out of SAND -- but rainforests, mangroves, etc has managed to grow out of it) we jump in a 4WD jeep and drove for about an hour -- this was a bumpy, jerky, sandy hour ride across the island, but once we got to the beach it was smooth and beautiful. If you ever get a chance to drive on a beach -- DO IT! We finally got to our destination - Dilli Villiage -- where we would be staying our first night. It was nice, but the BUGS are INSANE. The horseflies was HUGE and the mosquiots don't quit. BUt our accomodations were nice. There was flush toliets and showers. There was a lake close by (more like a pond) and it was tea colored (almost blood colored), so that was weird swimming in it. It was also warm. YUCK. No warm water after a hott day in the sun. Oh well. It still cooled us down.

Day 2 of Fraser Island -- We started our expedition! And it was immediatley hot and sweaty. Our bags were heavy, but the good thing was that this island isn't that hilly. Though we still managed to hit some -- but they aren't as bad as NZ hills which are MOUNTAINS. We rain into a lot of spider webs with HUGE spiders in them, and saw some cool lizards. One that first day we saw some amazing sand dunes. It looked and felt like we were in the middle of the desert, with vegetation all around it. Bennett said it looked like a mirage, and he was right. Could we really be on this huge sand dune in the middle of lush forest?? I guess so. We stopped at a lake for lunch, and we all dived into the tea colored water. It was glorious after 2.5 hours of hiking. We ate lunch and then proceeded to walk in the blazing hott sun without any shade for a half hour. It was torture. I drank half my water after that little walk. Our final destination was at Lake Benaroon, which wasn't as tea colored and really cute. Our campsite didn't have any dingo fences (dingos are the wild dogs) so we had to becareful with our food. They had dingo bins at the sites so we put all food in those. After dinner we all had a night swim, which was so much fun and refreshing becuase all y ou do in Australia is sweat.

Day 3 - That morning we packed back up and went on our next 4 -5 hour journey. We crossed paths with Central Station, which is the middle campsite of the island and it was busy with lots of people. First people we had seen since Dilli Village. We ate a snack and then proceeded to Basin Lake, which was small, but had crystal clear water! AMazing and COLD! Margaret, Audra, Bennett and I stayed there for a while, while the other went on to the campsite. Once we deicided we should pack up and go, we had an hour in front of us of hiking. It went by slowly, but at the end was the most beautiful lake I have ever seen. Lake Mckenzie. The water was also crystal blue and the sand was white and it looked like you were in the ocean, but with fresh water. Perfect. I was content, until Scott brought out the cookies (our last bag) to eat, and then a DINGO stole them!! I thought it was a cute dog at first, but when I realized it was the wild dingo it was too late. It had stolen them. Bennett and Scott tried to get them back, but it was no use. They heard the dog eating them in the woods. AND then it had thr audacity to come back out to the lake (in front of us) and take a drink. He strolled away like he was the king of the world. We were not happy.

That night we were sad because this was the last time we were ever going to camp together and the last time Katie, Audra and I were going to be in a tent together. :( But we got over our saddness. We had some night swimming again and then Scott informed us that Dom was bitten by a scorpion!!!! We couldnt believe it! We thought he was joking, but I guess he was stung by a nickle sized scorpion. yikes! It happened in the bathroom. I did not want to go to the bathroom after that, and I didn't. I guess since it was a baby the venom wasn't that bad or the sting wasn't big enough to do any damage (something like that). He's fine though.

Day 4 --- Our last day hiking EVER....It was hard and steep. We thought it was going to take 5 hours but it ended up taking 3 hours, so that was a nice surprise. Dom had difficulty climbing because of his sting...i dont know if i believed it (i know thats terrible, but he was perfectly fine when we stopped at the end of the hike). We were ALL exhausted beyond belief. Scott ended up carrying his backpack and Doms. It was sad. I was on my last legs when we got to the barge. We got there 3 hours early, so we sat around and sawm a little and watched the SWARMS of carbs surry around on the beach. That was cool. Ate icecream and made pb&j sandwiches. YUM! Once the barge came, we started really planning out Scott's birthday, which was on the 8th. We were going to make him a scavenger hunt around the hostel (or beach cottages). and then have a big party. We were all excited to make it all happen. But that night, we were going to Hervey Bay to the Friendly Hostel -- which was super nice (it was an apartment just for us -- nicce) We ended up staying in that night ordering pizza and watching Trainspotting -- good movie by the way.

After Hervey Bay we drove 6 hours to Byron Bay. We dropped off Dom half way because he was going off to visit a friend on our free days. Once we got to Byron Bay we shopped for food and presents for Scott's birthday. We made it a mexican theme. We made gucamole and quesidillas (sp?). We also had chips and salsa, lots of decorations and drinks to spare. He had no idea what was coming to him. Katie ended up making him this awesome sombrero hat out of ferns and the decorations we had. It was so cool. Anyways....

...When we arrived at our beach cottages we were blown away. We had two of them and they have two bedrooms, a living room and kitchen and bathroom. SO nice and it has AC in it too. The beach it is on is BEAUTIFUL. Clear water, white white sand, awesome waves, and good sun. haha. Australia's beaches are amazing!! I wish they were like this on the east coast. ugh! oh well.

Well...skip forward to Scott's birthday night. It was so much fun. We started off with the scavenger hunt, which was ahige success, and then we proceeded to dinner and drinks. We played lots of cards games and it was just rowdiness. We had a night swim in the ocean, though I was super aware of the tide and waves. I did not want to get swept away. YIKES. But it was so much fun. We had sparklers and then had a dance party in our house. Scott was so surprised. He did not expect everything we did for him, which made the nigh so much better. I am so happy we gave him a great birthday, and it was in a beautiful location. Lucky man.

Today -- the 9th -- we woke up early to go sea kayaking, and it was sea kayaking. We had to fight the waves to get into the ocean and then it was up and down on the waves for 2 hours. I didn't get to see any dolphins (well most of us didnt), so they offered us another free ride at some point if we ever wanted one. I guess dolphins are usually more present in the rides. Oh well. It was still a lot of fun being out on the clear blue water. Though I did feel sick an hour and half into it. I was glad to be back on dry land. After kayaking we all came back to the cottages and hung out. Ate, watched TV, napped, went to the beach. I have a killer tan. I am so dark. It's nice. Now we are in town and I can write this ridiculously long blog.

Some other things I would like to mention...
-- the first kangaroo I saw was dead on the side of the road :(
-- Australia has rest stops like the US -- NZ didn't
-- hitch hiking is very prevelant in NZ and Aus.
-- the accent here isn't has pronounced as NZ accents
-- things feel more expensive in Aus compared to NZ
-- its a lot flatter in Australia
-- the beaches are amazing here
-- there 50 cent coin is 5 times as big as there 2 dollar coin
-- there is no daylight saving time in Queenland (on of the states) and there is daylight savings in New South Wales
-- Different time zones between the two east coast states....

Ok that's all for now! I miss you all and I will get pics up soon. This internet cafe doesn't have a USB connection. I hope you enjoyed reading about the last ten days of my life or so.