Pics. Struggling w/ the video still

Hat Head. A lot like New Meadows...but not the same at all.

Just got back into Sydney last night about midnight, and had an AMAZING time meeting Ed's family. Running through the list... Edmo, Brie, Andrew, John, Joelle, Ben, Steph, Jennifer, Mick, Reg, Marissa, Kirk, Makalie, Blake, Mary, Ian, France, Emma, Bill, Sylvie, Kade, Abe, and I am sure I am missing more than a handful of others. It was a crowded household to say the least. Prawns, shovelnose shark, delicious kalimari and an oyster straight out of the shell are just a few of the awesome foods we had. Definitely the most new flavours I have experienced in such a short time. The house was a stones throw from the creek that ran out to the ocean, and the ocean was just 300 meters or so in the other direction. Went fishing with the crew, cought a few new fish, but nothing super spectacular. The shovelnose shark we ate was also fresh cought just the day before by a few of the family. As you can see in some of the pictures, Brie's x-mas gift was a spiffy new haircut, and I am glad to get rid of the hair. The heat was too much to deal with and I no longer have worry about it when I eat, and I no longer need to bathe. Ever. Hat Head is about six hours drive north of Sydney, at population 300 ish. The beach is a few miles long and typically you can be the only one for a long distance out there. I did a bit of surfing, some bodysurfing, and managed to get dominated on some big waves trying to act like I knew how to use a boogieboard. Some days the waves are big, some small, and sometimes there are an unnecessary amount of blue bottles (jellies) on the beach (see pic). The trips been amazing, still seeing amazing stuff. My favorite part of the trip thus far has to be setting up the crab traps with Ian, just a short ways up the creek from the house. Had to be high tide to get up there in the boat, but it was like nothing I've seen before. Hopefully I can upload that video. We went out at 7 a.m. first thing after I woke up (warm enough just to be in board shorts). Hope everyone is doing as well as I am! Next update I should have some pictures of a multi-million dollar fireworks display. Cheers!

Video's and pictures not uploading. get em later.

Bondi Beach

Stayed at Simone's for a night and hopped on the bus the next day back into Sydney. Basically had a lazy day and hung out. Went to John and Joelle's (Ed's sister) and had a few beers with them. Awesome people. I am now staying at France's place for a few days with his lady Emma and their roomie. He's kinda been showing me around. Went to a spot yesterday and met his brother, a few of his friends, and had an awesome time. We drank too much. Pictures are from Simone's backyard...which had a banana, mango and avocado tree. New birds and such, and I saw a few lil lizards. All is going well, especially with France helping me out.

To Simone's!

Party bus last night was most excellent. Just got my gear all packed up and about to go snag a train to Riverwood, and hopefully not get lost. Took a few pics of the area to give you an idea what I've been in the last few days. I have only met three other Americans...two from montana and one from jersey. Lots of germans, lots of people from England, and a load of canadians. The frenchies i met just got a 'flat' here in sydney so I have a free/cheap place to stay when I come back through. Lindsay, the girl from Jersey, also told me about car companies renting out vehicles for about a dollar a day just to have you shuttle the car to another city, so I am going to look into that and see what I can find. As for the pics.... the clock tower is right over the train station, the tall building surrounded by roads is Wake Up! (the hostel). Last note: After discovering a scab on my head, I will not forget to put sunscreen on the patch of skin where my hair parts. ouch. Oh... the picture of me is in the room i got just for one extra night for 38 freakin dollars. bs.

H1N1 is my #1.

Apparently Travis expects me to update this on a daily basis. No pictures this time, but heres the situation. Went on a cool beach walk through the hostel yesterday with SPF 30 on my face and still managed to get a nice, red forehead. Awesome views, amazing weather, women tanning topless... so who could complain? I am reserved on the party bus tonight, which should be fun. But I woke up thismorning with a sore throat after sleeping for about twelve hours last night. I am going to go lay low till tonight and drink some OJ or some Emergency and see if i cant drink this illness into submission tonight. Going to snag a train ticket to head to Simone's tomorrow and see something new. Aside from feeling a bit under the weather, everythings going great. Peace.

Arrival/Phone is up

Got to Sydney after a very long series of flights, the longest of which was 12+ hours. Interesting to get on a plane when the sun sets and get off after sunrise on the opposite side of the ocean (the picture on the plane is about 12 hours in). Met a few interesting people on the way, and one who liked my Oregon hat when I got to Sydney! Ended up spending the first day trying to figure out what was going on and not fall asleep. Met up with these French kids and went to Bondi Beach, which was pretty amazing. Still a bit overwhelming.

PHONE : 04 6893 5680

I believe it should be 011 61 04 6893 5680

1. Step 1

   Figure out what time it is in the region you are calling. Perth, in Western Australia, is 13 hours ahead of United States Eastern Standard Time (EST) - 8 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. Central Australia is 14 hours ahead of EST (9 hours ahead of GMT), and Eastern Australia, such as Brisbane, is 15 hours ahead of EST (10 hours ahead of GMT).

2. Step 2

   Dial 011, the international access code.

3. Step 3

   Dial 61, the Australian country code.

4. Step 4

   Dial the city code, followed by the personal phone number. Some codes for cities in Australia include 3 for Melbourne, 9 for Perth, 7 for Brisbane and 2 for Sydney.