Life's A Beach

Well, after a ton of rain and some nice flooding, I was able to make it down to the Whitsundays, which is probably one of the most picturesque spots in Australia. I say this because every picture I've seen looks incredible; I saw a lot of rain. For some reason, the weather liked to follow us, as the rain here had nothing to do with the cyclone to our north. Regardless, I was out sailing for a day, got to do some more snorkeling and stopped at a number of beaches along the way.

Fraser Island was my stop a few days later and finally the weather held out. It is the larges sand island in the world and had some awesome views, good hiking trails and a bunch of inland lakes. Wound up taking a walk out to one of them, Lake MacKenzie, and although it was flat, the 6.3 mile trek each way was one that I should not have worn my flip-flops on. My blisters and cuts are slowly healing. The lake was great, and much as I imagine the beaches near the reef would have been like on a clear day. The picture below doesn't really do it justice, but they normally don't.

From Fraser I headed down to Surfers Paradise, which is basically a huge tourist area, and no one from Australia actually works there. Needless to say, the town was a blast. Kind of reminded me of a smaller Miami. Had the whole day free, so the beach was my destination, and for someone who does not like the ocean or the beach, it was nice. Only manage to injure my shoulder minimally when I got sucked under the wave and slammed it against the bottom. The worst part of the entire day had to be walking along the street and seeing a group of people wearing a combination of Yankees and Ohio State gear--I nearly got sick. That aside, the weather looks to have changed for the better!

Leaving Surfers Paradise, my first stop was a wildlife sanctuary, which may sound kind of dull, but was really cool. Got to spend some time with the locals!
After playing with the roos, I made a quick stop in Byron Bay, which is a neat little town. got some great views of the coast from a lighthouse which sits above the town, and although I wasn't too close to the water, was able to get a clear view of a group of dolphins, as well as a shark, which was great, seeing that I was going surfing the next morning.

That night I spent at a surf camp, which is basically a bunch of shipping crates with beds thrown in them. On a scale of one to ten, its at the bottom when it comes to amenities. The place was run by a group of surfers which lived up to every possible stereotype. I can only say that they thoroughly enjoy their job and will not find any satisfaction working in an office. Not gonna lie, I was kind of jealous! In the morning, I was up first thing to catch some waves (spoken like a true sufer, which I'm not)! We started off with a quick lesson on the beach, involving how to position ourselves for the oncoming waves, how to stand up, etc. I felt like I was in the scene from Forgetting Sarah Marshal. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=0VrsKyg8Pl4 It may not have been pretty, and I definately spent more time getting tossed off my board and thrown under the water (my nose and throat stung from the gallons of salt water I inhaled), but it was such a good time. The fact that I manage to escape with all my limbs in tact and no chunk taken out of my body from the local sharks was a nice addition.

Currently I'm in Port Stephens, and in a few hours I'm heading south to Sydney, where I'll be for the next 4 nights. Already have stuff lined up, and on the Monday (Jan. 26th) it is Australia day, which basically entails eating, drinking and baking in the sun. I can do that. It is also another excuse for the Aussies not to work. My plan is to head to Melbourne for a week or so after that, then back north to Noosa until I leave the country. It's all very rough, so who knows!

Cheers!