Austrian?! Well then, G'day Mate.

Greetings from Oz. Right now I'm in Byron Bay, soaking up some quality rays.
Well, I got into Sydney with no hitch. Leaving Christchurch was reminscent of travelling pre 9/11. It took all of 5 secs to walk through the security check point which may or may not have been a good thing. While in the airport, I decided to buy Henry a bottle of Jim Beam for letting me stay at his pad. Unfortunately, the bag I was carrying it in fell off the counter as I was getting my big pack searched in customs. The bag fell to the ground and the bottle landed on its cap, breaking it, and spilling whisky through my bag and on to the floor. But, the bottle was still fine, only the cap was broken, so they taped it up for me and I handed Henry a nice bottle about 1/5 full. So started my Oz experience, in true HHA fashion!
Well, Henry played the excellent host. He started it off by cooking a delicious rack of lamb and mash, breaking my streak of pasta or noodles for supper at about 20 days. The next day, he had to do some stuff because he was applying for a job, so I set off to see some of Sydney on my own. I took a bus downtown to the harbor and saw the famed opera house and bridge. The opera house is actually a creamish color, not the pearl white I expected, and a wee bit smaller, but still nice. You can actually climb the harbour bridge, the sign of a true tourist, but I just snapped some pics from afar. After a night out, Henry cooked up a mean egg and bacon brekky, on the barbie-true aussie style. He finished up his work for the interview, and we went and played this pitch and putt in Bondi. The course offered nice views and I of course took home low round. Then, that night Henry and I ventured to a footy match between the Waratahs of Syd vs. the Hurricanes of Wellington. The winner determined who would get home field advantage in the playoffs, and after a tough game, the Hurricanes won 19-14. Afterwards, we met up w/ some mates of Henry for a cheeky beer. Next day, I caught the ferry over to Manly beach. A nice long beach, that's popular among the locals. On Monday, I caught the train to Katoomba, 2 hrs west of Sydney to see the Blue Mountains. Unfortunately, the weather was terrible the first day and you couldn't see a "bloody fing" as Bod, the British guy I met up with said. It did improve the second day, and on the third day we had perfect, cloudless skies. The mountains were nice, not as nice as NZ, but it wasn't terrain I associated with OZ. So, 2 days later, I got the train back to Syd, went to the zoo, bought a bus pass on the Greyhound which takes me from Syd to Cairns, with as many stops as I like, and now I find myself in Byron Bay, which definitely has the most backpackers in it of any town I've been to. Another day or so here, and then on to Surfer's Paradise.