Australia

The land of prawns, bogans, Maccas, unco's and arvo's.  Have I lost you already?  Good...that's how I feel.  The first thing you need to understand about Aussies is that they short form every word they can.  Why say uncoordinated when you can just say unco....or why say afternoon when you can shorten it to arvo?  McDonalds....how about Maccas?  Don't you dare tell them to throw another shrimp on the barbie, as they eat prawns here not shrimps.  But allegedly a dingo still ate a baby....

Flew Malaysian airlines from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur for a brief 2 hour layover before taking off again to Brisbane Australia!

Ahhhh, all the 1st world amenities come flooding back at once.  Flushing toilet paper down the toilet and not throwing it in a bin, the ability to drink tap water and not worry about dying and English signage everywhere!  My good buddy Ryan picked me up from the airport and also let me crash at his place with my own bed!  How exotic!

First things first, exploring the city by foot....

Brisbane downtown core, shot taken on Southbank

View from Mount Coot-Tha

Zoomed in

Kangaroo Point...a great view of the city

Queen St. Mall area

These guys are everywhere

Beach in the middle of the city...great idea!

Botanical Gardens

Brisbane doesn't have a shortage of green space within it's city limits, that's for sure!  Not to mention the suburbs where I was staying, my buddies backyard is a jungle.  Ryan's better half Lisa, was kind enough to take us up to her parent's farm a few hours north of the city.

Top down baby....en route to the farm

Ryan and Gary playing a little ping pong

Rosa taking care of the 4x4 we went off roading in

The man shed in all its' glory...my room was in the loft up the laddar!

We also did a day trip to the gold coast for some beaches, bikinis and waves!

Ya the beach goes on forever...standard Australian beach

The other direction....same same

The world famous Australian Zoo is just north of Brisbane as well, so I decided to make a day trip up that way.  It's home to the late Steve Irwin and his family who pretty much built this thing.

Tazmanian Devil looking like he's going to eat the trainer

These guys were everywhere

Koalas!

The kangaroo enclosure really amazed me, they roamed free within the enclosure and you could even feed them!

Very docile and friendly creatures, this mother trusts them entirely and has her son feed them!

So for the first time ever I fed a kangaroo....

and then 6 hours later...this happened

They're so goooood!  Very tender and lean, and taste like beef only a bit more meaty.  I know what you're thinking, how could I eat one of those cute adorable creatures.  And my answer is easy...with bbq sauce and salad :)

The zoo also had a aviary with a wide variety of birds

A napping wombat...awww

The most venomous snake on the planet...I have to give props to him!  The Fierce Snake!

And last but not least, the crocodiles...I had the pleasure of being there for feeding time!

His name is Bossco....and he's the boss

Bossco's girlfriend protecting her nest of eggs

Another day trip landed us in Burleigh Heads...the stunning beaches and landscape views in this country never get old

Cannon Rock

Ryan pretending to push me off....seriously though Ry go get a tan you live in Australia

Surfers Paradise way off in the distance

I had a great 10 days in Brisbane, I even played basketball with Ryan which was great since we both played in high school together!  

The dream team....yes that is a Shawn Kemp jersey, and yes that is a Shareef Abdur-Rahim jersey

And for no reason at all, Shawn Kemp's top 10 dunks of all time....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQeMhYJe5JA

Next stop along the eastern coast was Sydney and the surrounding area of the Blue Mountains.  Once again I was fortunate enough to know a fellow traveler who lives there who could show me around.  Thanks again Jess! :)

Every guide book I’ve read states that if you pass through Sydney you need to spend at least a few days in the Blue Mountains.  It’s only a 45 minute train ride from downtown Sydney, and it’s definitely worth the trip!

First stop was echo point, home of the famous 3 sisters!

Steep staircase leading down to one of the 3 sisters

The 3 sisters!

A different angle

Next on the agenda was a tram down the steep slopes into the jungle below for a jungle walk!

At the entrance to the tram were these statues...

She shot down some of my best advances...the one that got away :(

At 52 degree the tram is the steepest in the world!

Next was a cruise up to Kings Tableland, which was my favourite look out point as its’ off the beaten track and not really known to tourists...good thing I’ve got insider information! J

You can see a few smashed up cars below....woops!

Quite a beautiful part of Australia, if you live in Sydney and haven’t been out that way I highly recommend it...thanks again Jess! J

From the Blue Mountains I headed down into Sydney where I met up with another travel friend of mine and was fortunate enough to get some prime real estate on his couch!

I had to share it with these guys...but they didn't mind too much

My friend lived just over the bridge so a scenic 30 minute walk landed you right downtown on the harbour.

At night!

The Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Opera House

Daytime

I also went to Manly beach for the day, and didn’t bother with Bondi as I’ve heard it’s crazy crowded.  The ferry ride over was nice, it was a very windy day so plenty of locals shredding it up on the waves!

Capsized!  Woops!

Other than that I didn’t do a whole lot else in Sydney, mostly catching up with travel friends and relaxing. Next stop along the coast was Melbourne, a buzzing city with a strong fashion and cafe culture which reminded me a lot like Montreal. Once again I was fortunate to have a good travel friend lend me his couch for a week! What a great city Melbourne is, after spending 10 days here I can easily see why time and time again it’s on the top of the “world’s most liveable cities” list. Although it doesn’t have the beaches that Sydney has, it has more in the way of fashion, culture and style. The one main beach (St. Kilda) also boasts a solid young, backpacker atmosphere which I seemed to fit right in to. Much like Sydney I spent the majority of my time simply living there, eating and drinking the local cuisine and catching up with a few travel friends. Here are a few of the pictures I managed to take...

Part of the CBD (central business district)

We took a weekend to check out the Great Ocean Road as well, what a breathtaking piece of coastline.

These cockatees are everywhere@

Kangaroo crossing...

Great Ocean Road baby!

Although I didn’t make it all the way out to the famous “12 apostles” we still had a great time exploring the seaside town of Lorne as well as the surrounding scenery.

From Melbourne I headed into the outback, the red centre of Australia...Alice Springs! I booked a flight with the only carrier that flies from Melbourne to Alice Springs, Qantas. Upon arriving at Melbourne airport I noticed that the check-in counter for domestic flights was FULLY AUTOMATED. There was 1 person helping out with 15-20 self-check in terminals, much like the self-check out counters at some retail stores. You input your reference number/last name and printed out your own boarding pass. Then you selected how many bags you had to check-in and it printed out your bag tags! You then took your bags to a conveyer belt that weighed and scanned the barcode on your bag tag. Then it started itself and took your bag away...genius! I wanted to snap some pictures so I could include them in this blurb but they wouldn’t let me. Usually when there is lost luggage with an airline it’s due to human error (mis-read bag tag typically). So not only was this method of checking in your luggage fast, but in my opinion eliminated most of the risk associated with checking in luggage. Unfortunately this was not the case. If you’ve ever had your luggage lost, then you know the feeling as you stand there by the conveyer belt helplessly watching people take their bags off and walk away. You think to yourself “surely mine is next....anytime now....anytime”. More and more people leave the conveyer belt and suddenly you’re the only one standing there. But the belt is still moving, so there is still hope! And then the belt stops...and you get that sinking feeling in your stomach and realize that they have lost your luggage. You sulk over to the service desk area of your carrier and calmly explain that your luggage is missing.

They then hand you over a few pieces of paperwork to fill out, because that’s exactly what you feel like doing at that time. You follow it up with the obvious but hypothetical question of “what are the chances of me getting my luggage back”. The kind but cold-hearted service desk employee tells you with their obligatory yet dry and emotionless response “pretty good”. You can see in their eyes that they truly have no idea what your chances are, because they have no idea where your bags are. You then realize that the employee can no longer do anything for you, and you turn away with quiet realization. You walk away with your carry on bag that may contain a change of clothes, a tooth brush, money and a gun with a single bullet...but probably not. You then start thinking to yourself that your trip is ruined....

Or is it?

In all fairness even if your bags don’t show up at all (very unlikely), all you’ve probably lost is clothes, toiletries, maybe some medication and a nice black or blue suitcase. You probably still have your camera on you because you brought it on board to take the obligatory family photo:

What a good looking family :)

As well as your passport, credit cards and anything else deemed “mission critical”. So is your trip actually ruined? Should you spend the entire first day of your trip freaking out because your vneck and khakis are probably somewhere in Guam? No....no you shouldn’t. You still have EVERYTHING you need to take full advantage of your trip. Ya you may need to stop off at Target to buy board shorts, flip flops and a I *heart* Bangkok t-shirt so you make it through another day. Ok cool, that takes 10 minutes right? Are you picking up what I’m throwing down here? So what was my reaction when Qantas lost my luggage?

Firstly I remembered I had good travel insurance which would reimburse me in full in the event my luggage was lost for good. Also Qantas had an excellent lost luggage policy, they gave me $60 cash on the spot as well as a care package that contained a change of shorts, t-shirt (both XS women sizes, but that’s not the point) and some essential toiletries. They also provided me with an online portal in which I could track my luggage once found in real-time.  During the whole ordeal, I stayed completely calm and unaffected by the circumstances. To be honest I was surprised by my own actions. I think I even took a few pictures outside the airport just after leaving. After some self-reflection I was trying to figure out why I stayed so calm and collected in a situation that usually warrants a good old fashion freak out. Was it because my luggage contained the same clothes I’d been wearing for 10 months? Clothes that are literally falling apart at the seams, and that if offered I’m sure a homeless person would turn down? Or maybe I've been travelling too long and am simply numb from it all and just don’t care anymore? Or maybe after seeing so many amazing things, material items like clothing just don’t really hold the same value to me? I think it’s the latter of the three. I think the last 10 months of my life have truly shown me the brighter side of life, and the things that really do matter. In saying that, I’m sure when I get home and get back into the working world I will once again appreciate the feel of a good suit, HD TV and decent scotch. But I truly hope that I will remain to appreciate these things for what they are (material goods) and nothing more.

So what actually happened to my luggage? Well fortunately Qantas called me later that day to inform me it had been found and would be delivered to my hostel the next day. Would I be singing a different tune if they told me it was lost and irretrievable? I honestly don’t think so...

Anyways back on track! I was in Alice Springs for one reason and one reason only, and that was a 3 day tour to Uluru (Ayers Rock) to see the worlds’ largest monolith and surrounding outback beauty.

I only took one picture of Alice Springs itself...

The main river that runs through Alice Springs....seriously

My tour bus for 3 days

The scenery between Alice Springs and Uluru...it didn't change much

Gas prices in the outback....yes that's $2.44 AUD per liter, that's $3 CAD!!

Some of the wildlife found in the outback:

Bad ass ...this guy has a fake head on the back of his neck in the event that birds try and rip it off...now that’s evolution!

You can save a bundle on car insurance!

Emu!

The indigenous crane....and Uluru in the background!

Uluru is absolutely massive, its’ dimensions are a whopping 348m tall, 2km wide and 3.6km long! It’s a conglomerate, which means it’s made up of several types of rocks but mainly sandstone. It is the largest monolith in the world. So how do you see the largest monolith in the world? You walk 8.5km around it!

Some portions of the rock had signs banning photography, due to spiritual reasons from the aboriginals

Awwwwww....

Aboriginal drawings

One of two watering holes in the area, great for spotting wild life

The aboriginals really try and discourage people from climbing as it’s very important spiritual sight for them, and they don’t want people messing about on it.

I dug a little deeper into why if it’s so important, they don’t simply close it off all year round (typically it’s closed often due to high winds, extreme heat etc but not always). Apparently everybody on the board of directors for the national park that Uluru resides in, is for closing it except for one person. This one person happens to work on the board of tourism as well. He claims that if you ban the climb of Uluru from tourists, that tourism in the area will drop by 50% overnight....so it remains open.  Conflict of interest much?

Now it’s time for my two favourite shots of Uluru...the first at sunset, and the next at sunrise the following morning!

The moon coming up on the left...

Now the sun!

There were other attractions in the area that we checked out including Kata Tjuta, which is an area with several large monoliths just like Uluru

The aboriginals who inhabited the area used to trade gypsum to other tribes for food, clothing etc. With it they would create beautiful art, or use it for ceremonies or for drawing on cave walls (as seen in prior picture). The aboriginals are considered one of, if not the oldest continuing civilization known on Earth. They date back anywhere between 22,000 years and 65,000 years ago. Most of their knowledge and traditions have been passed along from generation to generation by song, dance and art so they take these skills very serious.

3 colours of gypsum found in the area

Uluru way in the distance

Next up was Kings Canyon, at sunrise of course!

Easy Shawn.....easy

An interesting natural feature within the canyon. Due to the height of the water table, saturation occurs right around this level so ground water continues to seep out during droughts to feed these plants. Some of the shrubs and trees are thought to be 500 years old!

"...the sand people will be back, and in greater numbers"

This is my tour guide Oggy trying to eat an entire white onion (raw) for 2 jugs of beer. You can see on the table how much he’s already gone through...barely any - Guess who thought up that amazing bet? 

"My chest burns...." haha we all laughed at that one

But after 41 gruelling minutes (he said he’d do it in 5) he finished the entire onion. Props Oggy...hope your taste buds grow back!

One of the coolest things I did on this trip was sleep outside under the stars in an Australian swag! An Aussie swag is a big, canvas sleeping bag with a smaller more comfortable sleeping bag inside of it. In a country that has more things that can kill you then any other, this was a bit unnerving at first....but alas I had a great time falling asleep under the stars of the southern sky!

The next stop in Australia was a special one for me, and a bucket list cross off for sure. I fly into the city of Cairns and launched right into a 2-day live-aboard scuba dive trip on the outer Great Barrier Reef. Diving the GBR has always been a dream for me, and it did not disappoint. 7 dives in 2 days including 1 night dive, all of them memorable. Unfortunately I didn’t get many amazing, colourful underwater pictures as you need skill and a good camera (I had neither). However I did manage to catch a few decent pictures and one amazing picture that I “borrowed” off a friend.  The reason why the pictures are mainly blue, is that the other colours in the spectrum (yellows, oranges, reds) aren't strong enough to penetrate that deep into the water.  This is why you get most some of the best pictures above 3m (or 10 feet!).

Blue spotted stingrey

Giant grouper...hiding in the soft coral

Who’s ready for a night dive on the GBR? This guyyyyyy

 At night the bright light under the boat attracted many fish including sharks...and that’s the dive platform which we jump into the water from!

Our dive lights on the ocean floor at night....

Shark ...at night....swimming just underneath you. Ever wanted to know what it was like to mess yourself in a wet suit?

Silver tip reef shark

Craning the GBR 20m below the surface...check!

A cuttlefish....this is a terrible picture but google it if you want a better one

Titan trigger fish

Scorpion fish

Moire Wrass!

This was one of the best experience I’ve ever had diving. This fish is a Moire Wrass, but the dive crew amply nick named him “Wally”. At this one dive spot he always hangs out around 5m and is very playful and curious. 5m is your safety stop depth (you need to stay at 5m for 3 minutes to allow excess nitrogen to escape your body). This thing was enormous and terrifying at first, but once you saw how playful and harmless he was you could relax. He even let you pet him! Thanks to my buddy Silva for the picture!

Once back on land I spent a day up the coast in the Daintree Rainforest with Uncle Brian’s Rainforest Tours. This tour came highly recommended and I can see why. It was one of the most fun and engaging tours I’ve ever been on! The company emphasized on seeing life from the “brighter side of the road”. We sang, we danced and we played silly kids games on the bus....but everybody was having a blast the entire day.

Apparently this is an unsafe area to swim in, as per the 4 signs...

Ever wanted to taste the backside of an ant? No? Well this one not only gave you a minor shock (like licking a battery) but it also had a citrus flavour! No joke!

!!!!!

The common huntsman spider

Recognize this waterfall? Apparently it was used in a Herbal Essence shampoo commercial years ago...

Flat tire....who cares when you’re having this much fun!

And that was the end of my 6 week adventure through this diverse and amazing country. I know why many Canadians head here to work and never return! From here I flew to the last new country on my trip, New Zealand. I may have saved the best for last...stay tuned!