Hi!

Sorry I haven't had any updates. The last few places we've been staying haven't had wireless. This means I can't get the pictures off my laptop. We're in Coffs Harbour at the moment. It's beautiful here! I can't believe I've just been in Australia for 2 weeks! It has felt like I've been here for months now! I guess we've just seen so much. As we move North up the eastern coastline, it's getting warmer and warmer. I'm actually glad winter is approaching b/c it's been a bit too hot for me :) Hope everyone is doing well! Miss all of you!

Blue Mountains

We lucked out and had a small group. There were 4 of us. The other two people were from Ireland. My favorite part of the day was canyoning. We had to put on unflattering wetsuits and wade through water flowing through the canyon. Sometimes the water was so deep you couldn't reach the bottom. We had to jump of big rocks into the water to get to the end. At the end was a giant cliff and a waterfall which we abseiled down. It was crazy amazing!

Blue Mountains

This is one of the bigger cliffs. It was a bit beyond my level of comfort. I can't believe I did it, but I'm not sure I need to do it again. You basically have to lean back off the top of a huge cliff and let yourself down until you reach the bottom.

Blue Mountains

I finally have wireless so I'm going to bombard my blog with new posts. This is still in the Blue Mountains. Tina and I decided to go abseiling and canyoning. This is the first cliff we climbed down. It was a baby one where we could learn the technique before going down bigger cliffs.

Blue Mountains

The tree in the middle is a eucalyptus tree. The reason this area is called the Blue Mountains is b/c when the weather is warm the oils from the eucalyptus leaves are released in the air and it creates a blueish haze. At the bottom is one of the billions of spiderwebs we saw on our hike. Australia has lots of spiders...sorry Aaron!

Blue Mountains

As we were eating lunch these little lizards came out and surrounded us. It was a little freaky at first, but then we named them and made them our friends. 3 of the lizards were named, Larry, Sam and Bob. Larry was the nicest.

Blue Mountains

Some views from our hike today

Blue Mountains

Tina is a happy hiker, i like the icon of the person falling off a cliff, i found these trees intriguing...

Blue Mountains

Tina and i spent most of the day hiking in the Blue Mountains. It started out very cool and foggy and ended up getting very hot and sunny :)

Sydney

Today Tina and I planned our trip up the east cost of Australia. We're taking a bus from Sydney to Brisbane (14+ hour trip). We have unlimited stops, so we plan to stop at 5 or more cities along the way. After taking care of this we met my Aunt Tida for lunch. She lives in Sydney and I've actually never met her before. She works right downtown in one of the high rise buildings. She snuck us up so we could see the view. It was amazing. We had Japanese/Korean for lunch and then she treated us to a dessert of fresh fruits and yogurt, yum! After gorging Tina and I visited the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Arts). I forgot to take pictures of the building, so I just took photos of the brochures on my beautiful bedspread. We left in the evening for the Blue Mountains in Katoomba, a 2 hour train ride from Sydney.

Back in Sydney

We arrived back in Sydney last night. We spent the day in Bondi with Chelsea and Sam. They were nice enough to let Tina and I hide our bags in their room since they were staying an extra night. Once we got to Sydney I wondered if a human body could fit in our room lockers. They certainly can!

Bondi Beach

This isn't the best quality photo, but it does the job to show you tina (top) and my bed (bottom). How will all this fit in our bags? Funny thing is that Tina actually sleeps with all the stuff on her bed.

Ice Cream!

Tina has gotten me addicted to McD's ice cream. It's so perfect b/c it's HOT here and it's only 30 cents per cone.

MOBILE

Hellooooo...I was in a rush when I posted my mobile number and I typed it incorrectly. I updated that post and the number is now correct! :)

0401076330

Bondi Beach

This is the view from the roof of our hostel. It's amazing!

Coogee Beach

There were lots of topless women at the beach and some ladies in thongs. Yes, I am very mature and decided to take a picture of my view of a thong-wearing-lady. I have to say thongs are NOT flattering on anyone.

Coogee Beach

walking around Coogee

Coogee Beach

Relaxing at Coogee

Coogee Beach

Tina and I walked down a scenic path along the coast to get to Coogee Beach. It was about a 2 hour walk and parts were a bit intense (uphill!) but it was so beautiful.

Bondi Beach

Tina, Chelsea, Sam and I are spending the weeked at the beach. The weather has been amazing! It's supposed to get hot today.

Sydney Day 4-Koalas

Through the program I'm in we got free tickets to one of three attractions in Sydney. I chose the Sydney Wild Animal Park b/c I heard you could hold Koalas. They lied to me. You could just see them up close. They're so cute though.

Sydney Day 4

Tina and I had to book hostels b/c ours was full. This is basically what we looked like traveling around to get to our next place to sleep. We then went tot he Harbor bridge. You can go to the top of one of the Pylons instead of actually climbing the bridge. It's $10 as opposed to $150 to climb. I feel like it was a nice way to get a feel for whether or not I wanted to go on the bridge. Maybe I'll do it at some point... You get a good feel for how big Sydney is from up here.

Sydney Day 3

Tina and I walked all over the city again. At night we met up with our new friends, Clare (UK), Chelsea (Canada) and Sam (Michigan). You would think my addiction to texting would stop in a new country, but I made friends right away, so the texting never stopped :)

Sydney Day 2 dinner

Tina and I cooking dinner at our hostel.

Sydney Day 2

Tina and I walked all over the city again. Above is a photo of Hyde Park. We also took a tour of the Opera House. It is so beautiful! The picture of the toilet paper is from the bathroom in the Opera House :) and the photo above that is an area of the building affectionately referred to as "the cleavage". At the bottom is Tina witht he city, me and the Harbor Bridge (I wanted that picture b/c my dad always talks about how you can climb it), and the opera house.

Sydney Day 1

I arrived in Sydney Monday afternoon. I checked into my hostel, took a quick shower, and hit the ground running. My friend Tina is in Australia also, so she planned to come to Sydney to meet up with me. We walked all over the city. Above is Sydney harbor and Darling Harbor. The weather was warm and sunny!

Fiji

On the left is the super, jumbo, two story plane I took from LA to Nadi, Fiji. I flew Air Pacific and the flight attendants wore tropical shirts and flowers in their hair. When we arrived in Nadi there were people playing the Ukelele and singing. On the right is what I could see of Fiji. I had a 4 hour layover here.

Look out OZ! Q has arrived :)

I have arrived in Sydney safe and sound! The flight was so easy. I was so nervous about it and it was cake. The flight from LA to Nadi, Fiji was 11.5 hours. I slept 8-9 hours of it, so that was great! I then had a 4 hour layover in Nadi (we arrived at 5am). Nadi to Sydney was about 4.5 hours. I arrived in Sydney at 12:30. The program I'm with arranged a shuttle to pick me up and take me to my hostel (YHA Central Sydney). My old roomie, Tina was eagerly awaiting my arrival! I dropped my things off, took a quick shower and we were off. I haven't been here that long, but I've already seen so much!!! I have my orientation in a few minutes for my work program. I should be able to write more in a bit!

I have a mobile now! Here's my number: 0401076330

Goodbye USA

I leave late tonight from LAX to Sydney. I'll see you in OZ!

Los Angeles

Cuban food for lunch, an afternoon at the MOCA to see the MURAKAMI exhibition (good exhibition!) and then dessert at Pinkberry :)

Santa Monica

It's so cheesy to ride the ferris wheel on the santa monica pier, but it was such a beautiful day and it seemed like fun. It was! :)

Laguna Beach

Amy and I spent the day in Laguna beach. We ate lunch outside with a view of the ocean. The weather here has been absolutely amazing. Sunny and warm and each day it's supposed to get a little warmer.