after Andy left, i spent a couple days in Brisbane with KTG, and also i saw S.C-S. + Louis (friends from highschool.... but i am so clever and not using their real names... anybody from KC knows exactly who i am talkin about though, right?). Then i left Brisbane and travelled up to Noosa for a few days
Then KTG arrived and the next day we left on a two day/three night Fraser Island tour.
Fraser Island is a really awesome island - the biggest sand island in the world, and it's actually a breadind ground for Tiger Sharks so you can't swim in the ocean there, but totally randomly (because of underwater springs or something) it has all of these fresh water lakes on the island, and they're so pretty and you can swim there). Anyways, the tour was cool and we got to see all kinds of neat stuff (including huge sand dunes, whales out in the ocean, awesome sunsets, and a kareoke DJ named Elvis), and we met some pretty cool people too.
Then we headed back to Noosa for one night, and my brother was there, so it was prety fun to see him again.
Then I headed up to Airlie Beach which i met up with a man who i'll call "B" and his family. B used to work with my dad, about 21 years ago.. when i was just a baby. and now he has three kids, all about my age. and they had rented a huge sailboat for a week in the Whitsunday Islands and they invited me to join them! which was pretty freaking cool. So i sailed around with them for about five days and it was absolutely amazing. and we went snorkelling a bunch of times, and holy crap it was the most amazing stuff that i have ever seen in my life... the weather was perfect and the coral was every colour and the fish blew my mind.
After that, i travelled up to Cairns where i met up with KTG again. We spend a day in a little market town called Kuranda. and that was cool. Then we went out on a sailboat to Green Island and I WENT SCUBA DIVING! YEEEAH!!! that's right! i faced my second biggest fear (going underwater) (my first biggest fear is going into some sort of cave, either a very small one, or one that is underwater... or one that is very small and underwater... eep *shiver*) and it was SO AWESOME!!!... the weather sucked major butt, so unfortunately the visibility underwater wasn't great. and also, i opted to go with the sailboat company because they offer a 1:2 ratio of instructor to diver (as opposed to 1:4 which is what the other companies offer, and i was SO NERVOUS), but unfortunately, this company didn't have the best dive site, so probably i didn't really see the best of the Great Barrier Reef. BUT i did see some Nemo fish hanging out in an anemone, so that is all that matters.
All it all, it was a pretty fantastic experience.
The next day i went a Cape Tribulation tour and it included the best lunch that i have ever eaten in my life, and a bunch of other stuff. and a river cruise on the Daintree River where we saw REAL LIVE WILD CROCODILES!!! so that was cool, for sure.
After that i came back here, to Noosa, where i am now. i really like it in noosa. When i was about 14 i saw a Lonely Planet thing about Australia, and one of the places featured in the show was Noosa. and ever since then i have wanted to come here. so i decided to spend my last few days hanging out on the beach here. and let me tell you, my tan is PERFECT. i am so proud of myself. it took a lot of focus, concentration, and persistance, but it has paid off.
and now i am coming home.
i take a bus to Brisbane today, and i will stay at B's house tonight, then tomorrow i fly to vancouver.
HOLY CRAP.
and so this is my last post... i know eh? very sad.
i am sad.
i feel as if i should do some kind of sum-up of my trip.
i feel like i should say something... some words.... some cheesy cheesy words...
....and so i will... so if you don't like cheese, then just skip down to the pictures and be done with it! but otherwise, read on.
I have learned that:
...Nicole is the best wife in the world.
...my mom really does have the answer to everything.
...if everything fits easily into my backpack, then i have left out something large and important.
...Chaco flip flops are the best footwear that money can buy.
...quick dry towels are good in a purely functional way, but otherwise i really hate them.
...when the whole world comes crashing down at my feet, it doesn't mean that i have to fall down too.
...grape picking is the best job.
...petrol is rediculously expensive.
...i have shit luck with weather.
...my Dad is a superhero.
...climate change is gonna be the end of us all, unless we do something about it NOW.
...I could never move away from Canada permanently because of four main things: My sister. My dog. My cottage. And Tim Horton's.
...i am completely dependent on the internet and modern technology to be happy.
...nobody is noticing me, they are all preoccupied thinking about themselves, just like me.
...everybody poops.
and so much more.
but for now. that's it. I'll be seein you all very soon hopefully. August is gonna be a really crazy month, but hopefully i get the chance to see everybody in Kingston. And I'll see some of you UVic people in the next couple days, and the rest of you in September. Thanks for stickin with me and for posting your comments. They always really meant a lot to me.
I leave you with some pics from the last three weeks...
lake breneer (no idea how to spell that) on fraser island
me and KTG and a cool ship wreck thing on fraser island (wreck? reck? reack? no idea)
the view from a lookout point in the Whitsundays, looking out over Whitehaven beach... so gorgeous
the mast of our boat, Spike, silhouetted in the sunset... *sigh*
ME! SCUBA DIVING! YEAH!
this clam was seriously like four feet across. so cool.
cool fish and cool coral stuff
NEMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
