4200kms is hella far...!

After spending more than two weeks traveling with my parents around Victoria and New South Wales it was time for my new adventure with Katy and Joel to begin. As luck would have it, the date my parents were to fly out was the same day that Katy and Joel were to arrive. After some confusion at the airport, we all managed to meet up and share a lunch before we all once again went our separate ways. Katy's flight had proved to be a bit more exciting than Joel's as she had Tim (now her boyfriend) to converse with on the plane! We were lucky enough to meet up with Tim for some more of our trip (see below) which gave us both exciting and interesting times.

After subjecting my parents to The Strand Hotel (a cheap hostel type venue), I thought that it was only fitting that I did the same for Katy and Joel. The Strand worked perfect for us as it offered a cheap alternative with a close location to Sydney's CBD. After pushing the two single beds together, we were ready for our trip to really begin....and let's just say, the close sleeping quarters definitely didn't end there.

Some Sydney highlights:
-Stumbling upon a street rave and watching a man get taken down right in front of us by the Sydney Police
-Getting bombarded by bats in the Sydney Botanical Gardens
-The beginning of our pasta diet
-Getting scammed into a haircut by the promise of wine and strawberries...which never happened
-Making Manley Beach our second home
-Earning a giant lollypop by telling a wicked joke that no one got
-Walking across the Sydney Harbor bridge
-Having a ridiculous drunken walk/stumble home with Katy through downtown Sydney

We had a fun couple of days in Sydney then headed to Wollongong (lucky for me, I got to see it twice) to catch up with some of Katy's friend's from Whistler. We had To as our tour guide who did a great job by taking us to The Wildlife Conservation Centre. Thanks to that trip, Katy now has a real life scar from a kangaroo (note: when feeding wildlife, never take their food source away from them, they will attack!). The Conservation Centre was really cool and we definitely got to get up close and personal with a variety of animals. Not only were there Kangaroos, but heaps of Koalas, Crocs, Meerkats, and my personal favorite...the Emu. After being completely disgusted by the feeding of baby chickens to the Crocs (up to this point I had still maintained my mostly vegetarian diet), we were ready to hit the beach. Katy's other friend Dino lives down the street from the beach so with the frisbee in tow we were ready for the biggest game ever of JP Takes Over the World, which seemed to last HOURS!

Wollongong was a ton of fun but we were definitely ready to pick up our van and continue to trip further north, after all, we had been promised camel riding from Tim! After much hassle to find out where we were to actually pick up the van, we popped in "Eat Shit" (no joke, that was what it was called--not to mention spray-painted on the side), and headed north to Port MacQuarie. The drive was great, probably more so for Katy and I than Joel (he found out earlier that day that the van was standard, which given my track record, I couldn't drive at all!). Katy wasn't too keen on driving it either so that left poor Joel knowing that he has 3900 km of driving to do in the next few weeks (and a fabulous job he did indeed!). We ended up stopping in Port MacQuarie for three days where we did a lot of beaching and camel riding....not kidding! We found out that Tim's family used to own a camel company, so a day later we found ourselves strapped in and riding high, grooving to the motion of the...camel's humps! I must say, horses are A LOT more comfortable. Tim being the gentleman that he is plucked some camel hair for me to keep which made so great mustache fun along the trip (Joel and I really are amused quite easily!). Oh yeah, I must also mention that Joel and I tag teamed and built the greatest sandcastle that has ever existed! Seriously, it had a tennis court, turtle guards, and everything else that you could ever really want from a sandcastle!

Some Port MaQuarie highlights:
-Harry's Lookout (an old man that used to live in his camper van above the beach has a lookout point named after him)
-Finding the worst sunglasses ever at Target
-Being reunited with my frisbee after it was lost in the ocean for 20 min.
-Learning the phrase "Too many drinks, too many problems!"

After some time at Port, Joel and I left Tim and Katy there and headed to Byron Bay (where they would meet us the following day). The trip there was a lot of fun and we got to see a wide kangaroo (which, to be honest, is way more exciting then seeing them in a conservation park). After a couple random stops (a swamp camp park and a wicked fruit stand) as well as Joel's attempt to deep-throat bananas, we were finally at Byron. Joel and I headed up to the lighthouse there to watch the sun set which was absolutely unreal. The walk itself was really cool too, and made Byron seem like a place that we would both enjoy living for the rest of our lives!
The next day Joel and I took to the surf and spent the next two days strapped to boards trying to catch some waves. The atmosphere of Byron was phenomenal and we really weren't ready to leave at all. We spent about four days there before moving on to Brisbane and the Surfer's Paradise but we defiantly managed to make some great memories in Byron.

Some Byron Bay highlights:
-Joining up with Black Dog Surfing for some unreal memories
-Having way too much bubbly and actually being able to use the phrase "Too many drinks too many problems" at a local Byron bar
-Meeting a couple of Calgarians from Sundance in the camper park
-Meeting an unreal dude that biked from Sydney to Byron Bay on a bike that he picked up at an op-shop (second hand shop).
-watching a dumb teen girl trying not to get "sandy" while she was on the beach
-Buying matching dresses with Katy (which we continued to wear EVERYDAY of our trip)

Surfer's was pretty descent but nowhere near as great as Byron. Tim was still with us at this point of our trip so we managed to meet up with a few of his friends in Surfer's and crashed at their place/in their driveway. With them we managed to have a couple of gong show nights get ourselves into some trouble as well. On the first night there we all decided to head out for dinner. Afterwards we were trying to get back to the car when we realized that we had just recreated a Seinfield episode by getting stuck in a parcade (only this time we were just in the stairwell of it). Houdini...otherwise known as Katy, managed to find a getaway and we all had to climb a massive fence to escape. The next night we headed out to the local bar/casino for A LOT of dancing and singing. There, I met a cool band called Jabba who loved Todd and we the proceeded to take a ridiculous amount of photos! The following day everyone woke up with a raging hangover but I refused to allow that go get in my way and continued on my mission to go to Wet N' Wild from open till close...which Joel and I succeeded in doing. If I am to tell you one thing about Wet N' Wild, let me tell you this....the Edmonton Water slide park has absolutely nothing on this place! It was UNREAL!! The slides were vicious, and you could even watch "dive in movies" on a big screen that they pulled in at night. It was pretty much the best day of my life!

Some highlights of Surfer's and Brisbane:
-Terror Canyon I and II at Wet N' Wild (well, pretty much ANY slide at Wet N' Wild)
-Spin walking home from the bar
-Discovering an ice-cream bar that is both a cookie and bar in one (Magnum)
-Getting dominated by the casino
-Screaming my lungs out to Jabba
-Fondue cheese bread
-Meeting Katy's Aunt and Uncle who live on a TINY boat
-Getting "Eat Shit" fixed so that we didn't have to drive with an ear-piercing alarm going off every ten minutes

After our unreal time between Surfer's and Brisbane (where Joel and I went to the XXXX beer brewery and lived on a steady breakfast diet of apples with caramel sauce from McDonalds) we headed up to Hervey Bay which is the base point for all activities on Fraser Island. Although we probably spent too much time at the desolate Hervey Bay, Fraser Island was unreal. It is the largest sand island in the world, and is full of purebread and vicious Dingos, tons of snakes, and some of the most pristine freshwater creeks and lakes in the world. Our trip on the island took us to four main stops, an abandoned ship in the water, Eli Creek (a freshwater creek that Joel and I bodysurfed), thick and lush rainforest, and the beautiful Lake McKenzie which was the clearest and most beautiful fresh water lake that I have ever seen in my life. The water was so clean that i felt like I was swimming in my bathtub...minus the bubbles! Other than Fraser Island, Hervey Bay didn't offer a whole lot so after our trip there was over, we packed our bags and headed north to my most awaited stop....Bundaberg!

Now, I wasn't looking forward to Bundaberg for the reason most people may think...the rum. Since being in Australia, I have become quite addicted to Bundaberg Lemon, Lime and Bitters as well as their Gingerbeer, which isn't actually beer at all. We gave the Rum Factory a bypass, and headed straight for where they make the softdrinks and it was well worth it. After looking through the museum part we got to sample every type of Bundaberg softdrink ever made...it was ideal! After I had time to raid the gift shop, we hopped in the van in the afternoon realizing that we still had a good 700 km to drive!

Highlights from Fraser Island, Bundaberg, and Hervey Bay:
-Seeing a possum up close and personal
-making it to our adored "Woolworths" for numerous visits
-Finally getting the syncro routine with Joel down pat!
-Running at night on the beach in Hervey
-Realizing that Bundaberg actually was as good as I thought it would be, if not better!
-Grocery shopping in a store that was being swarmed with Water Beetles and suffering a minor heart attack from it!

In the wee hours of the morning we arrived at Airlie Beach and parked our van in the marina parcade ready for our snorkel tour that was to take place the next day. That night in the van with the three of us (Tim had left us in Surfer's) was perhaps one of the hottest nights that we had ever had and ended up with Katy sleeping outside in the grass getting the evil eye from people passing by in the morning! After being way too hot and sweaty, we met up with our tour group to head out to the WhitSunday Islands. This was an amazing day as we took a boat ride to the middle of the ocean where we were able to see all kinds of marine life. After that we went Hook Island (the most photographed island in Australia, and I could see why), where we were able to take a hike and some photographs. The beach was made of silica sand (one of only two places in the world...here and Hawaii). After that we headed over to WhitHaven beach for some more snorkeling and swimming. Joel and I also proceeded to make the biggest sand Canadian Flag we could and allowed Todd to play in the ocean as well!
We were pretty hesitant to get on the boat to go back home, but realized that we still had a great deal of the trip left so after our amazing day we headed to Wanderer's Caravan Park and Joel and I hit the town. The next day we were on the road again, headed north to Cairns....our trip was coming to an end much too soon!

Highlights from Airlie Beach and the WhitSundays:
-Katy meeting boyfriend #2 (an old man from our snorkel tour)
-Petting a sea turtle as it swam past me
-Checking out the manmade lagoon in Airlie (the Jellyfish are too predominant so you can't swim in the ocean unless you have a stinger suit)
-Drinking WAY TOO MUCH chocolate milk
-Coming home to Katy passed out on her laptop in the van and in mid-text!

The next day we hit the road again and drove through a ton of sugar cane to get to Cairns. Not only did our trip take a while because of the sheer distance, but we also spent a good amount of time trying to find "Edmonton". Now surprisingly enough, the Edmonton in Australia is not unlike the Edmonton in Canada: small, dodgy, run down, and if you miss it, the only one that will really care is Joel! All jokes aside, it was neat to get to see Edmonton on this side of the hemisphere. Once we arrived in Cairns, we found another parking lot to sleep in (we were really getting good at this) and planned on heading to Magnetic Island the following day. The ferry to Magnetic Island was fun and I am pretty sure that I met the person that loves their job the most in the entire world on that ferry! We managed to walk/bus around the island and take a swim in a jellyfish free area which was really nice. We spent the entire day there and in the evening I was dragged to watch Cane Toad Racing, and yes, it is exactly what it sounds like! After watching, it wasn't quite as cruel as I had originally thought, however, that didn't mean that Joel would be lucky enough to win some money off it! The island was really cool and we managed to get some descent photos from our trip there. That night we headed back to the hostel that we had booked in Cairns and the next day left to do some scuba diving off the coast.

Our dive team that we went with was unreal (big shoutout to Karen) and made the whole experience really sweet. I was happy to see that although Joel and Katy weren't certified they could still do a dive, and by the end of the trip we had all ended up doing two. The water conditions were fairly cloudy so I was a bit disappointed, but none-the-less, the trip was still well worth it. That night we headed into town for some nightlife and managed to find a club that was playing rocking 80's music and videos. We watched a mid-40's lady get way too drunk and make an absolute fool of herself--in fact I am pretty sure some of those images have scared Joel for life (only certain people should be allowed to wear spandex right Joel?!). After that we headed to another club where we shutdown the bar rocking out to some more 80s until the wee hours of the morning. The last club was such a great way to end our trip and wrapped up the entire experience quite well.

Highlights from Cairns and Magnetic Island:
-Watching a Dad and son catch a stingray
-Dancing my face off to anything until 4am
-Watching some random half-naked model competition for the sleezy bar
-Karen! Karen! Karen!
-Eating more than our fair share of passionfruits from the cruise ship
-Regaining my courage to dive again

I am so fortunate to have been able to travel with such amazing people and see such amazing sights. I will always remember this trip and know that it has affected and changed the person that I am becoming. Thank you Katy and Joel, you are amazing travel partners and I love you both very much.