Yesterday I went back to good ole Coogee Beach. It was very nostalgic, seeing Coogee Bay Rd and all the shops and restaurants I used to go to. The beach was great. It was almost perfect beach weather, just a little too breezy. I really miss it there. I am keeping it as an option of a place to live, but im not sure if I want to be that far from the city, because I figure once I get a real job it will be in the city. But living by the beach is great, especially in this beautiful summer weather.

I'm back

I'm back for round 2. I arrived in Sydney this morning and it already feels different then when I left it almost exactly 1 year ago. I am staying at a hostel in Redfern for the next 3 days until I find a place to live. I am unfamiliar with this Redfern area, it is a 20 min walk to downtown, and I don't know the bus lines here. I feel kinda off balance. I feel much better now then I did in the airport before I left. Here is a little blurb I wrote while waiting to board:

I’m out of my mind. I sit here in the airport realizing the psychotic decision I have made. Australia? Really? Maybe its nerves or the overwhelming emotion of loneliness. Maybe it’s the aggravation I had to go through tearing apart my luggage because they were overweight. Whatever it may be, it is here, lingering inside me. Now I have to cope. I think that is the hardest part of any emotion, it’s the coping part at the end. Whether it be a good emotion, like happiness, you must cope in the end realizing happiness cannot last forever. Or a bad emotion like anger, where you must cope and deal with whatever’s going on. Cope, what a shitty word.

Now I sit here, “coping” with the fact that I have made a life altering decision to move to the other side of the world. In search of a better life. A life that may or may not present itself. Moving to Australia as a fantasy is amazing, as a reality, well, who knows. I’ll just have to wait and see.

So you see, I'm kinda nervous.

I am going to try to update this blog as much as I can and keep it interesting. Except now I am not a tourist, so there probably won't be pictures of the city because I already have plenty of those from the first time. You can look at all my Australia pics on my facebook. Im sure pics will pop up on this blog every once in a while though. As for now I say G'day Mate.

My adventure has finally come to an end. As of 9:30am this morning on Nov 30th I am offically back in America.

Memories that will never be forgotten.

Fiji is paradise. There are just a bunch of little, medium, and big islands with white beaches and warm clear water. The first too nights we were at the very top ones. I spent a lot of time in a hammock under some palm trees. We played beach volleyball with some local workers and went swimming a lot. On the final night we partied hard at the bar and met a lot of other travelers.

The second island we went too I got sick so I couldn't enjoy my stay. Although they did have a swimming pool. My bags were left on the boat that took us everywhere so I had to wear the same clothes for 2 days. Finally I got my bags back when I boarded the boat to go to the third island.

The third island was about the size of a standard street block. We only spent one night there but it was fine. They had hermit crab races. Then I took a flight back to Sydney.

Now I am back in 2 Kurrawa where I once began my adventure and tomorrow I'll be heading back to Cali.

So Auckland was a bust. Not a very good night life and not much to do during the day. It is like any other city. On the final night we did a pub crawl. It was the best nightlife we had experienced for the last 3 days but still wasn't anything special. Although while we were there New Zealand's rugby team won the Rugby League World Cup for the first time ever, so that was pretty crazy.

My wishes go out to Mark and the Davidson family.

Black Water Rafting was crazy! First we repelled down into the cave, then ziplined in pitch black to even deeper down the cave. We jumped off a cliff with our rafts into the black water down below. We floated down the river in the cave in pitch black. The only light was from the glow worms above. After the raft we took a 2 hour hike through the water and deep into the caves. We had to squeeze through tight places and swim at a couple points. Then we had to climb through 3 water falls to get out of the cave. It was a great, but cold experience.

We arrived in Auckland yesterday. It is a nice city but not much to do exspecially when your on a budget. Our hostel is ridiculous though. It is the biggest hostel I have ever been in. It is 10 stories, 2 bars, a full lounge and computer room. There are tons of peopel staying here and it is central to everything in Auckland.

Today we took a bus out to the famous Lion Breweries only to find out that they don't give tours anymore. So we went back to the city and walked around. We took another bust to Mt. Eden an inactive volcano that overlooks the entire city. Great views. It was funny because grass has covered everything and cows are everywhere. It is an interesting contrast of cows and volcano.

We had mexican food for dinner tonight, and now we are gunna hit the bars.

We sailed the bay of Islands. It was exactly like a dream i had. A blue bay with little green islands everywhere. It was arelaxing sailing adventure. We stopped on one of the Islands and hiked up a hill to get a good view of the bay. There were also dolphins swimming along side the boat.

We met my friends/housemate Allison there (she was on a contiki tour). We had dinner and good conversation and said our goodbyes. One by one I have to say my goodbyes to people. Luckly I did the bulk of it when I left the house. But I am seeing off my travel mates every week.

Today we arrived in the Waitomo Caves. This is town of nothing. Just green grass hills and fresh air. Tomorrow is our Black Water Rafting adventure. Then Im off to Auckland.

I am out of Thailand and into New Zealand now. Even though it is summer this country is cold. I am at a little village called Pahia in the Bay of islands. Tomorrow we are going on a swim with dolphin/boat cruise for the whole day. Just from looking out into the water from shore I can see how amazing it is.

Full Moon Party was exactly what I had imagined. One crazy night. I am in Phuket now. It is just like Miami except nicer beaches and way cheaper.