South Pacific Adventure

G'day from Mission Beach, Australia. Weather's taken a bit of a turn for the worse as I haven't seen the sun in an entire week! Tomorrow, I depart for Cairns, my last stop in Australia. Terrible.
Right now, I'm travelling with two Italians: Marco and Alessandro. I've been travelling with Alex for a week now, and we met up w/ Marco a couple days ago. They're both real good guys, but a bit of opposites. Alex likes the fine things in life. He's the only backpacker I've met w/ a Rolex (and not the fake kind Greg gave me when he was in DC) and everything to him is broken into 2 categories: beautiful and not beautiful. Marco's more laid back. They're good company, and I've definitely been eating well since travelling with them. Last night we had a little Bruscetta and pasta. We all have our responsibilities cooking. I usually boil the water while they work on making the pasta sauce. We get along well, with the sole argument arising last night when the two Italinas were trying to decide on a wine for dinner (we compromised and bought both). I'll travel w/ them all the way to Cairns, where we'll watch the USA vs Italy game together, and maybe this time the US will actually try.
My Whitsunday trip was OK. We had had good weather up until then, but it was rainy/cloudy pretty much the entire time we were sailing. Luckily, we stayed on South Molle Island so we weren't constantly rocking on the waves, but the scenery and sailing weren't as good as they could've been. I snorkeled twice, and the water wasn't too cold, but the visibilty was poor due to clouds and wind churning up sand. I still was able to see some nice fish and coral, though. Hopefully, the weather will be better up in Cairns, and I will see more there. Also, they did allow alcohol on board the boat, so the people who chose to have a couple cocktails before the sea got rough were bending over the side saying hello to Uncle Raaalph.
From the Whitsundays, we took a bus up to Townsville and immediately caught the ferry to Magnetic Island, since Townsville isn't much. Magnetic Island was nice. It has wild koalas and wallabies (only saw the latter), and we rented a car and drove around the island seeing the sights. It was really scenic when the sun was out, but that didn't happen too often. Our hostel was great: right on the beach, with a bigscreen to watch the soccer. That's where I saw US get destroyed. The Italians cant stop laughing everytime I mention the words "US" and "soccer" in the same sentence.
Well, I'm getting the bus up to Cairns this afternoon. Just got word from Valerie that she is there as well, so it looks like we'll be able to meet up for a cheeky pint or two at the token Irish bar!
Hope everyone is doing well. When is the trip to Ireland?

Cheers,
James

Greetings from Airlie beach. I leave in an hour for my 3day/2night sail around the Whitsunday Islands. I had the option to either sleep in a resort on the island or on the boat, and I was tempted to pick the boat, but certain memories of people smoking out the bathroom on the Pilgrim Soul led me to choose the resort on South Molle Island. The trip should be excellent if the weather improves. Right now, it's overcast.
My Fraser Island trip was very good. My group worked out pretty well. There were 11 of us total: 7 English, 3 Irish and me. Overall, we got along well, although there was this firecracker, Danny, who would always sprint into the lakes and splash everyone and just talk real loud and constantly to the point where other groups didn't like him. The scenery on the island was great. There were lakes in the middle of nowhere, the sand was so fine it was almost like dust, and my favourite part, the champagne rocks, which is pretty much the only part of the island where you can get into the ocean (the rest has bad rips and is shark infested). The champagne rocks basically look like a thermal pool, and the water fills up the natural holes in the rocks during high tide. But, there's a barrier of rocks, so the waves hit the rocks and splash over onto you in the pool. There's also a look out at Indian head where you can see sharks/dolphins etc, but all we saw was a big stingray. From Fraser, I caught a bus up to Airlie beach.
World Cup fever is really brewing down here. Yesterday was the swedish independence day, so all the Swedes were decked out in yellow and blue and enjoying themselves and having some good craic at the token Irish bar, Paddy's Shenanigans. All the English are really looking forward to the World Cup, and I myself am really hoping the US fares well so I can cheer them on. PLus, it will really annoy the people who already dislike the US.
Lastly, I want to give a big "Tanks" to all those who contributed to the "James'23rd birthday fund", which was held a month early this year. Cheers.

James

Greetings from Hervey Bay, from where I leave tomorrow for a 3day/2 night self drive of Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. There's a group of 11 of us, who drive around and camp on the beaches of the island. Luckily, there's no Canadians in my group.
Well, right now I'm sporting a great tan. It's not quite my best (my time in Chile) but it's getting there. I soaked some good rays in Byron bay. The surf wasn't very good when I was there, so I pretty much rested on the beach all day. I met some cool people there. There's 2 guys from England and Wales, who are cool, who I've done some travelling with. We've hung out since Byron in Surfer's Paradise, Brisbane, and Noosa. I've also met some new nationalities, Israeli, Italians and Belgian. The Israelis are nice but they keep to themsleves, while the Belgians were all hair gel, cologne, and burberry. The Italians, were also cool. Not nearly as loud as I thought they might be. Basically, as long as you're not Canadian, I'm fine with you. I had no problems w/ Canadians before, but now I cant stand them. If I see another one roll their eyes when I say I'm from the States, I'm gonna start defacing the flags they have sewn to their bags.
Anyway, other than sit on the beach, I went to a water park in Surfer's paradise that was pretty good, did some walks in the National Park in Noosa, and rode some quality waves, also in Noosa. Ryan, my instructor, was very impressed at how quickly I got up on my board and started carving waves. I also went to a Rugby league game in Brisbane. I only stayed one night there. It's not that good. There's no beach and nothing to do during the daytime.
I did meet an Irish lad and his girlfriend at the hostel last night. I made the mistake of asking him why Ireland didn't qualify for the World Cup. He blamed it on being in the same group as France(although the English guy said he failed to mention that Ireland tied the Swiss and Israelis at home), and then went on an obsenity laced tangent about why a coutry like Australia has no place in the cup. Then he threw in that the US has a first round ticket home. So, I think I'll leave that question out for the next Irish I meet.
Well, I need to go pack for my trip. But before I close off, who has some spare change around? I just checked my bank account and I cringed harder than Dad does when he gets the bill at Le Relais. Apparantly, I've been using the phrase "Ah...I'll do it, I'm only here once" a little too frequently.

Cheers,
James

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.

Glad to hear Derby went well, retreads and all. I think I was cruising along the Otago Peninsula as Barbaro pulled away down the stretch.
I got the bus from Q'town to Dunedin, which was another lovely drive. Got into Dunedin in the evening and had an easy night in the hostel. Dunedin was founded by the Scots, who were looking to get away and set up their own religious society. It contains the only castle in NZ, and they charge a pretty penny ($20 NZD) just to get on the grounds and take a gander (didn't go). Dunedin is a fair city. Has nice town center and is easy to get around, but it's spread out and I found it to be pretty quiet. There's a big university there, but there weren't too many backpackers around. But, there are things to do. While there, I did get the opportunity to swing the sticks and fire an 87 (par 71) at the Chisholm Golf Glub, a links course that has hosted events on the Australasian PGA Tour. It was a nice course with good greens that could have been made a lot tougher if they grew the rough out. I hired a nice set of irons, Tommy Armour 845 Silver Backs, that had a good bit of knock in them. Best shot of the round was my approach to #6. Fired a 9 iron from 135 metres and staked it 8 ft, and finished it off by hitting the birdie. And trust me, you've never seen a scuffed up Top Flight XL 3000 stop like that ball did.
The next day I hired a car so I could get around the peninsula and see the albatross colony and just take in the views. It was a bit tough at first getting used to everything being on the opposite side, but I managed. 2 Japanese girls working at the hostel wanted to come along as well, so the 3 of us set off on a nice, sunny day around the Otago peninsula. We saw the albatross, with a wingspan of 3 metres but no penguins and went to the castle but refused to pay $60 between the 3 of us. As the saying goes: There is nothing free in New Zealand.
Although, we did go to, and walked up the steepest street in the world (gratis). Walking part not my idea.
Then I got a bus up to Christchurch, another big city on the east coast. Definitely the flatest and most uninteresting of all my drives. Christchurch is ok. Just another city really. Has some museums, but I was told by some brits that they're "shite" and "kips", so I saved my money and had a walk around the botanical gardens instead. With my time dwindling away, I decided to hire a car again and head off to Mt Cook and Arthur's Pass. The drive to Mt Cook was nice, but unfortunately cloudy. When I got there, low hanging clouds/fog prevented the mountains from being seen. But, the next day, it cleared up and offered great views of the area. Arthur's Pass was also nice. It's about 2 hrs west of CHCH and is the main way of crossing from east to west coast thru the Alps.
Next up up: hangin' w/ Henry in Syd.
Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

Cheers,
James