East Coast with Wicked Van

Pics:

1) The Whitsunday Islands

2) My first Aussie burn...not good

3) Aussies don't get the term 'cougar,' but I thought this was a hoot

4) Me on the van watching the sun set

5) Sign at Australia Zoo: Home of the Crocodile Hunter

6) Koala

7) Croc

8) Me playing Croc Hunter

9) Surfer's Paradise

10) Byron Bay

11) Ocean view from most Easterly point in Australia

12) Lighthouse at Byron Bay: The most Easterly point in Australia

13) Big Golden Guitar in Tamworth, the country music capital of Australia

14) Big Bighorn Sheep in Goulburn

15) Australian Parliament in Canberra

16) Wicked Van "Deluxe Thoughts"

17) Wicked Van front

We rented a camper van to drive down the East Coast in. Turned out to be a great idea, we had a great time. Jordan learned to drive stick for the first time (don't forget we were driving on the wrong side of the road) and we had our home and transportation all in one. We stayed at roadside turnouts all over the country, visited our friends in Byron Bay area, chilled at beaches, went white water rafting in Tully, kayaking in the Whitsunday Island area, etc. Don't have a lot of pictures to be honest, but our route was as follows: Cairns-Mission Beach-Airle Beach (Whitsunday Islands)-Hervey Bay (Fraser Island)-Brisbane-Gold Coast (Surfer's Paradise)-Murwilumbah (visiting friends we met in Thailand)-Byron Bay-random country towns in New South Wales-Canberra-Bateman's Bay-Rye in Victoria (where we visited Shae). I know, lots of places in two weeks, but we made it work. We had a blast in any case. Best beach? Byron Bay. Beautiful girls everywhere (some didn't like to wear tops either, and although Jordan and I were offended, we dealt with it), squeaky sand, beautiful water temps, etc. Didn't learn to surf only because there had been shark warnings in the area.

Sydney and Cairns, Australia

Alright, so we flew into Sydney. Didn't have the highest expectations...kinda figured Sydney would be the Toronto of Australia. Pretty much right. In my opinion, Sydney was just another big city. It wasn't really THAT beautiful as others say, but it was ok. The Opera House is kinda disappointing. I expected this amazing, shining white piece of architecture, but it's really just a tiled off-white coloured building. Granted we did have crappy weather while we were there, but what can I say? We did meet up with a friend we met in Thailand, so that was good.

Next, we flew to Cairns in Queensland. Holy hot Batman, 30 above and humid. But that's alright, we ended up taking our open water divng course (scuba diving), and dived on the Great Barrier Reef. Now that puts Sydney to shame. The largest living organism in the world, it can be seen from space, and it shows. Not to mention the beautiful sea life in and around the reef. We're now certified to dive up to 18 meters deep. Nice!

Pics:

1) Harbour Bridge

2) Sydney Opera House

3) Sydney Harbour

4) St. Paul's in Sydney

5) The dive deck in Cairns

6) Me on the boat