Climbing and a travel adventure

Linfield
For my last day in Sydney (for the time being), I stayed around Collaroy, grabbed a baguette for breakfast, watched Bree try to fly a kite (it broke within minutes), and ended up getting a swimsuit (all summer stuff at this store was half off!). Dave picked me up and we headed over to the crags over at Linfield to go climbing. He was kind enough to belay me on a bunch of top ropes. It was a great area to practice skills and get some conditioning in. I only did about five routes, but I down climbed them, some were a bit thin, and the last was an overhang. Not too shabby for not climbing for a while. The rock was sandstone and super sticky! Ohh how I miss climbing! Then Dave dropped me at the train station in Chatswood to go the airport to attempt the standby flight thing, which I was quite weary about.

En Route to QLD
I found out that “stand by” flights don’t really exist in Australia as I was previously told, and encouraged to try in order to save money; so much for not trusting my gut feeling and booking ahead! I got to the airport and just ended up buying a flight for the following day. Since I already paid to get to the airport, I figured I’d just hang around. There was free wifi so I downloaded a bunch of podcasts and games on my itouch. I fortunately also had a few books to pass the time. I ended up having to go to the international terminal for the evening since the domestic one closes in the evening; it was either there, or McDonalds… A girl from Germany shared a power outlet with me and I got a few movies from her. In the morning I caught the train back to the proper terminal and caught my flight into Mackay via Brisbane. Once I arrive in Mackay, it will be after when the daily bus goes to St. Lawrence, so I may be hitchhiking down the Bruce Hwy... tbd

Sydney - Collaroy

Upon landing in Sydney, I took a train to Circular Quay where I caught a ferry into Manly. Nikki picked me up and we got sorbet and ice cream! Doug and Bree are finishing their time with the Norwegians at a hostel in Collaroy so I stayed with them for the night. The following day we went to the mall, got myself a new camera (as mine died in the water in Fiji) and a passport photo so I can send in my PADI card. We picked up my belongings from Dave's so I could organize what I wanted to bring up north to Queensland. I went out to dinner with the group at a Thai restaurant across the street from the hostel. I spent a bunch of time online and organizing photos, etc. I talked with Torrey and figured out that I would fly into Mackay, bus into St. Lawrence and work with where he is at. I am going to go to the airport tonight after climbing to see if I can fly standby. We will see how that works out... From St. Lawrence, we will go to Magnetic Island, work and hopefully scuba, make our way up to Cairns, maybe scuba, and make it back to Sydney fo our flights. I will probably head back end of May so I can climb the three sisters and maybe do a canyon. Regardless, my flight is booked to Seattle May 4th!

Fiji

I flew in Nadi in the afternoon with a carryon and easily made it through security. I took a taxi to Nadi Bay Resort Hotel where Kim, Jordan, and David were just returning from the beach to meet me. We talked with the travel lady and booked transportation on the Yasawa Flyer for a week to explore the islands northwest of where we currently are and booked a few nights at my parent’s timeshare for when we return. It was going to be a much more expensive week than I anticipated as we are going to the islands rather than exploring the mainland, but it was great!

Bounty Island
Our first stop was in the Mamanuca Islands at Bounty Resort after only half an hour on the flyer. It was beautiful weather and we went to the beach immediately. Kim and I decided to get some activities in our lives, we would walk arond the island. We found an employee spear fishing and we watched him for a bit. It took about 15 minutes, maximum, to walk around the island. We then joined the boys snokeling, came in for lunch, (where the food is very reminiscent of India and I LOVE it!) , went kayaking arond the land, worked on our tans, had dinner, watched the sunset and went to bed after many card games.

Beachcomber Island
The following morning we woke up early to catch the flyer to Beachcomber, known as the "party island." It was only 15 minutes away on the flyer. David upgraded up to a bure because the beds in the dorm were rumored to have bed bugs. We took a whole ten minutes to walk around the island before laying out to work on our tans again. We took a break to go snorkling. Over the day we met a few Norwegians, English people, and Israelis and hanged out with them for the day. After the buffet style lunch, we went out on a boat to the edge of the reef and snorkled some more. We then day drank, socialized with travelers, had dinner, enjoyed live, local music and a playlist afterwards. The food there was great and the people were fun! It was a great time, but I was happy to just spend a day there.

Tavewa Island
We woke up early to catch the flyer, looking forward to staying somewhere longer than a night, even though it would be a five hour ferry to our next stop. We had looked into PADI scuba certification and decided on Coralview Resort, on the northern end. We ended up spending the rest of our time on the island there, but it was wonderful. The staff was so welcoming and really made you feel at home. They were like family rather than just coworkers. Every night they sang, danced, and led everyone in a game (crab races, four corners with cards, etc). We met an array of interesting travelers. The weather was not so great all the time, but it worked out well because since we were getting certified, we were in the water a lot, or reading the PADI book. The "confined water" sessions were held at Blue Lagoon in shallow water. It was awesome- so much better than a pool! Every dive we did was beautiful with quite good visibility, and a wide variety of coral and aquatic life. I am so happy to be certified and am looking forward to being able to scuba more. The most amazing thing was, for our final dive, since we "did well" on our exams, we got to do our final dive at 20m to watch a shark feeding. So SWEET! Great pictures as well :).

Nadi
We took the long ferry ride back to the mainland and booked a hostel in Smugglers Cove at Bamboo, an extremely economical choice, but also with an incredible and welcoming staff. It turned out great, we had a kava session, listened to Fijians play music, and went out to a local bar. Again, great people. The following day, we ended up just hanging out after check out, made coconut bracelets, and I spent way too much time online, and am considering coming home early because I looked to much into the uncertainties of my upcoming month. We'll see! I would really like to go up to the Great Barrier and scuba there, but I am so indifferent on employment opportunities, I dred looking into it, also accommodation , etc. Who KNOWS! We took a taxi to Denarau Worldmark Resort where we enjoyed the comforts of a condo, (thanks mom and dad!). We layed out by the pool, watched Greece 2 at the pool bar, sat in the hot tub, watched the news, ordered in from Mamma's Pizza, did laundry, watched the Prince of Persia and Grown Ups. For my last dinner with the group, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe, followed by an evening out at the Ice Bar and Ed's. The following morning, we packed up, dropped off their things back at Bamboo and quickly went into town before I went to the airport to return to Australia.

Hunter Valley and a change of plans

After going out in Richmond and seeing Pixie the fiddler play, we went out to the wakeboarding cable park followed by the white water park. I went wakeboarding and paid for the “pro board” which just classified as a normal board. It was super fun! The first time getting out on the cable I totally biffed it; you are standing on this turf thing and then are pulled out by a handle and you just stay standing. Nevertheless, after that one mishap, I was fine. The corners were super fun to take wide, but every time I tried to hit a jump I just did not land anything. After an hour of riding, we went to the whitewater park where David rented a kayak and we watched him go down the rapids. Then, Eric, Kim and I started our drive up to the Hunter Valley where we stopped in Singleton for groceries before setting up camp. We camped in the evening right off the road in Broke in a park, played cards in the tent, and started off early the following morning to go wine tasting in the Pokolbin areas. We started off at a smaller winery, Glandore Estate Wines, where I had a tempranillo for the first time that I thoroughly enjoyed. The woman was great because she opened up tasting early for us! Next, we went to a much larger and longstanding winery, Tyrell's Vineyards, established in 1858, where we got to taste a number of wines, all side by side, with the gentlemen testing and quizzing us on the differences. This was by far my favorite winery and I picked up a bottle of the Hunter Valley Brokenback Shiraz. Since the Hunter is known for its Semillons, an acidic white wine that ages quite well, we made a point to try them at every place. Eric was great and only tasted whites as he was our driver around the valley. We just continued along a single road and made it to seven wineries! We popped over to David Hook's where I had my first Barbera, which again, I thoroughly enjoyed. We then went to Tempus Two, Kevin Sorbel, Tower, and Hungerford. We also managed to pick up a couple of Cleanskins for dinner at the Lasts where David, Steph and Jordan made a taco bar for Steph's parents, Jackie and Tony. We were also greeted by Dave and Nikki which was a wonderful surprise! I was then convinced to go to Fiji. Jordan and Kim were planning on it (for three weeks) and David just changed his flight to go for two. We have all been getting along so great, and it doesn't seem right to leave them just yet, so I looked at flights, and it was reasonable enough that I bough a flight within minutes to get to Fiji for 10 days. We rearranged the canyon and climbing to do afterwards. THEN, I'll get a job? Hopefully I'll get scuba certified in Fiji as well with David!

Post PC, Sydney, Kurrajong

Post Pacific Challenge in the Sydney area

We stayed the first night in the Manly Apartments with the other group and then got another apartment a couple blocks away for the next two nights. We hanged around Manly again, surfed, chilled, went out for Dash’s birthday (had Mexican!), etc. We went into Sydney to stay in King’s Cross and celebrated Dash’s birthday (again) with sushi and karaoke. We were escorted by Tommy’s family friend Danielle to breakfast in the morning, said our goodbyes, and napped in the international lounge at the University of Sydney while Steph was in class. I met up with Eric, someone who I went to highschool with, got a new phone, went to Bondi to meet up with Jay, Tommy’s friend from highschool, and then bussed and trained it up north to Richmond. I was so proud I coordinated that ending transport myself as I left Steph and David when I went to Bondi :)

Kurrajong

Steph’s family lives an 75minute train north of Sydney and are nice enough to let us stay. They are also a great halfway point between the city and mountains. The following day her dad, Tony, took us to do Sheep Dip, a beginning level canyon, with three pool jumps. It was awesome! I really hadn’t done anything like it. You were walking through a canyon, with your feet pretty much always in water, sometimes submerged to your waist, only completely under water when you made 8-15ft jumps into a pool where you made a quick swim to the ledge. It was awesome. We are going to do another one next week! We went out to a pub and had dinner with Dave and a few other people that stayed behind. Tony is a longtime climber who has lived in Chamonix, Yosemite, the Alps, etc, and he and Dave offered to take me into the mountains in the upcoming weeks before I go to Byron (which I am pushing back when I will actually go because I’d love to get some climbing in around here and they have the gear!!) The following day we made it into Sydney to meet up with Danielle for lunch.

End of time with Pacific Challengers

Byron Bay

Upon arriving, we settled into our awesome bungalow accommodations and went into town for dinner. Ashley and I found somewhere to sign up for skydiving and got everything sorted for ourselves and Cody. I may want to find myself back up here post Pacific Challenge. After going out to see what the town had to offer in the evening, we went and had a quick lesson for scuba diving in a pool. We then jetted out about 15minutes to Julian Rocks and went scuba diving! SO AWESOME. There were so many different kinds of fish, we saw a few sharks amongst the coral; in short, it was amazing. I plan to get certified as time allows. I’d love to do that more often! Coming back to Tallows (the name of the place we are staying) we made dinner and then hit the town for Friday night. The following day we were picked up by a limo to go skydiving at 7am. Two groups jumped before us and then clouds rolled in. We ended up watching skydiving videos for four hours and went out to lunch with the divers. Afterwards, the weather cleared and we jumped from 14,000feet and did multiple flips upon jumping out of the four person plane. It was even better than the first jump and I am officially addicted. I looked into the certification course here in Byron where I’d learn with people who have over 7,000 and 14,000 jumps. We also learned of a legal base jumping spot in Idaho that we are going to hit up when we’re back! I found some plugs since I’ve lost pairs while surfing and scuba diving. I got online, figured out about meeting up with people I know from the States that are down here and Sydney and booked a hostel with people from the program for after everyone leaves. We hit the town again, lost each other, and all found one another to catch a cab back after kebabs. Byron Bay was spectacular. I talked to a bunch of people for their opinions about moving and getting settled in here and I might do it in a couple of weeks!

Noosa and the Zoo

We drove into Noosa and camped to shorten the drive to the Australia Zoo, formerly owned by the infamous Steve Irwin, just outside of Brisbane. I finally had a freshly made juice there which was delicious (made from beetroot, apple, carrot, and ginger)—soo good! In our afternoon at the zoo, we saw a show in the Crocoseum where, as a group of Americans, we won a magazine for being the loudest in representing where we were from. We then walked around and got to pet koalas and kangaroos, again, so awesome! We also saw dingos, wombats, emus, a number of native snakes, birds, and crocodiles, among other ‘exotic’ species such as elephants, red pandas, a tiger. We then drove back to Byron Bay, this time to camp.

Sydney and surrounding area

So another long drive took us back to Sydney where we staying in the suburb of Manly, one of the Northern Beaches. The following day we took a ferry into the city where we saw the opera house, Luna Park, a few parks, the Botanical gardens, Darling Harbour, etc. It was also St. Patrick’s Day and all the Irish Pubs were giving out hats and glasses and many, free green beers on entry. After spending the afternoon downtown, we jumped on a ferry back again to celebrate Ed’s 21st birthday in Manly. Time was winding down with the group. Sarah’s mom came into town, as they will be travelling for a few weeks, and we met up for lunch. That evening, we presented our “Secret Kiwi” gifts (we were all given someone and made a gift for them in order to help them remember the trip). I made Tommy a slideshow of pictures from the trip put to Chamillionare’s “Good Morning.” One of our group leaders, Bree, was mine and she made me this awesome collaged spiral notebook with everything we did on the trip. I LOVE IT! The following morning everyone left bright and early and since a number of us (Tommy, Cody, Dash, and David) were staying after, we helped clean up the rooms as the other group will be coming to stay where we are today. It’s so crazy that everyone is nearly gone! We wandered Manly, went to the Warringah Mall. The group arrived, we bribed them with brownies to let us stay the night, and we anticipate getting a hostel for the following days. I need to look into climbing the Three Sisters and a flight up to Balline so I can start living in Byron Bay!

Mountains, Rainforests, and Beaches

Blue Mountains
The three and half hour drive or so was broken up by a stop at a cable park where people knee or wakeboarded. There was also a sweet trampoline that reminded me of a tumble track and I did some tumble passes on it! Getting to the lodge where we were staying, we headed out for dinner and then also some of us went out to see Hall Pass- so funny! The following morning we had classes with Dave and then headed out to the mountains for some climbing after stopping in town for lunch and internet. There were a few pitch climbs, all relatively easy, although I did do a bit of an overhang/arête that proved a little difficult because I haven’t climbed at all recently. Afterwards we went to a local restaurant that specialized in homemade pies and then went back, made a fire and went to bed.

Warrumbungles

A six hour drive took us to a small town where we had lunch and picked up groceries for our night of camping. Once we arrived, there wasn’t much to do but a few of us went on a bush walk in search of a koala as kangaroos and cockatoos had already been quite numerous. After dinner, we had lamington as dessert for Jordan’s birthday and watched Dark Night, although missed the last half an hour because the two computers we had to use to watch it, died.

Cascade

A seven or so hour drive took us to an environmental education center in Cascade, where I had my first experience with a land leech attaching itself to my ankle. We ate dinner and watched Ferngully, a movie that I remember loving as a child. The following morning we had Geoffrey take us on a walk through the rainforest after a brief introduction to the flora, fauna, and history of the area to an area known as Platypus Falls, unfortunately it was midday and they were not visable. We had a “contest” to see who had the most, and the biggest leech by the end. I somehow managed to win the category for the largest leech. It was the most disgusting thing, particularly when we took it off, and then it exploded with blood. Uck! The following day, we had a low key day of studying, and a walk to Platypus Flats. There was also a rather dodgy rope swing we played on as well as swimming across the river.

Coff Harbour

En route the Byron Bay, we stopped along the coast for surf lessons and to do some raft surfing. It was a blast! I am not the greatest and getting myself set up quick enough for a wave I spot, but I’m definitely getting the hang of it. I love it! A few people from the group are planning in staying in Sydney a bit after the trip and the plan is to be surf bums, so I’m sure I’ll improve a bunch. I was easily standing up, got pulled aside and given a personal tutorial on turning. RADICAL!