Well first off, I went on an unbelievable vacation. Davs' and my buddy, Mike, came up to visit, and we met his married friends, Nate and Kate, at our first stop which was at Fraser Island, a few hours north of Brisbane in Queensland, and easily the best tropical place I've ever visited. Fraser is a vacation that is off the beaten track, literally, as we needed a 4 wheel drive Land Rover to get around. It is the largest sand island in the world, and in that sand is a large number of freshwater lakes and tropical rainforest, making for a unique experience.
On one day, we went to a place called Lake Wabby, where we went boogey boarding down a 100 foot sand dune into a green colored lake full of catfish. Another day was spent at Lake McKenzie, which had pure white sand beaches and water so blue that I swam for about two hours out of sheer wonderment.
Each night, we camped out on the beach, truly roughing it as we crushed beers and cocktails by the fire and saw wild dingoes each time as they snooped around for our leftovers. Dingos are basically thin wild dogs that are supposedly dangerous...see one by day and it's an "aww that's a cute animal," see one roam into the firelight from the pitch black and it's "Thank God it didn't come when I was using the bathroom, I think we need to get drunker to pass out and be safe."
We spent four days on Fraser, and had an amazing time with an unset agenda. The plan each day was basically, wake up really early, eat, drive down the beach or to a lake, and then drink and swim or do some more off-road exploring. I would do this trip again in a heartbeat, but having done it, I'm just glad everything went well, as it was also the most desolate place I've been.
After Fraser, Mike and I spent two days in Sydney, and I am confident that I have never and will never see a prettier skyline to a city. The harbor ferry ride is easily the best commute in the world, and getting to see the Opera House, huge Sydney bridge and massive business district, all in one picture, was phenomenal. Outside of that, we went on multiple hikes around the various parts of the harbors and beaches, something unique for such a large city. Sydney is more how I pictured Australia to be like, as it had a mix of fun in the sun and cosmopolitan city...and a ton of topless girls at the beaches. I will most definitely go back, and if the right situation comes along, I would love to move there before I leave Australia.
My goal now is simple...save money and find a place to live. Davs is leaving in less than two weeks, and I'm staying in Melbourne as I am already set up for work and know the area pretty well. I plan on working and living here until Christmas, then, the bistro I work at closes for the holidays until January 10th, so I will spend a week or so in Sydney at that time. Then, for the last month of my trip, I plan on flying into Malaysia and backpacking across Southeast Asia, namely Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. It's something I have always wanted to do, and though it's not ideal to do so alone, I doubt I can pass up the opportunity to see that part of the world while I'm already out here.
Also, the Red Sox loss was horrendous, and the Patriots are bound for a 12-4 record and Super Bowl berth against the Arizona Cardinals, a game I will hopefully be watching in Bangkok.
If anyone wants to see pictures from my trips, you can go to these two spots on facebook...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2138515&id=1701105&l=67e0fcd458 or http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2138516&id=1701105&l=a443008d2c.
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