Link to all of my Australia trip photo's here:

Here is a link to all my photo's on Photobucket.com... hope you enjoy!! I'm going to sticky this to the top for a while... so scroll down for each new day's posts of my trip. Thanks!

Australia Trip Photo's

JR! JR! JR! JR!

OH YEA BABY!!! I'll share my pics tomorrow.. I'm exhausted and just a bit pink from being in the sun.... GO JR GO>>> GO JR GO!!!!!

W5, D1 & W5, D2

So I ran W5, D1 the day I left for Australia. Then I didn't run while I was there... I really did mean to, but I was having too much fun. We did lots of hiking and tons and tons of walking, so I was very active just not running and training.

So I was prepared to have to go back and redo week 4... so I went to the gym and prepared... I started running and when I got to the stopping point for Week 4, I was feeling really good, so I kept running. I did Week 5, Day 1 again after 2 weeks of no training. I was pumped!!!

So W5, D2 is an 8 minute run, 5 minute walk and another 8 minute run. I don't think I have run for 8 minutes straight in my whole life. Well, I did it. I ran my first 8 minutes and it was hard. But then I walked my 5 minutes and was ready for round 2... well, I have made it a habit of trying to run as long as possible on my last run of each day... it might be 30 seconds, it might be over a minute... depends on the day... I ran for 11 MINUTES!!!! 11!!!! Oh my gosh!! i was so pumped... So tomorrow is W5, D3... it's a 20 minute run... I'm nervous, but I am going to give it my best... whew... here we go!!! 20 minutes... here I come!!!

Australia: Last Day, June 1st

Today was my last day in Sydney and Australia. I got up early and started the walk up to the Opera house. It was about a 40 minute walk. What a great way to start my day.
Beautiful! I got up to the Opera House and took my tour. It was so surreal to be there... I was in awe the whole time. There are 4 stages. I saw the one where Andrea Bochelli and Luciano Pavarotti performed. I saw the tiny one where awesocomedians perform. I saw the opera hall... ahme... they have copy rights on the inside of the theater's, so we could only take pics of the outer areas. Here is a slide show of that:

Here are some other photos from that day... my last on in the Land of Oz....





My last view of Syney Harbour








My ride home

Australia: May 31st

So I left Lismore today and headed for a day in Sydney.
i got into the airport and then headed to find my hostel. I took the train up into the city and started walking. It is called Nomad's Maze, for good reason... the halls are so messed up... you gotta keep track of where you are, or you might get lost! Pat said he got lost when he stayed there. It is really crazy.

I got in mid morning and dropped my stuff off at the room. One roommate was sleeping and the other was gone. So I grabbed my stuff and headed off to walk the city. I stopped at the desk and asked for a map and the best way to get around. i was about 2 miles from Circular Quay and there was tons to see in between, so I walked. It was amazing.

There will be lots of pictures today and tomorrow... Might just put a link to flickr or photobucket... I went camera crazy.




First I went to the Sydney Tower. I do believe it is the tallest building in Sydney. I paid the money to go up, which was kind of spendy, but well worth it. The views were absolutely amazing. I was so in awe of being there... it was so surreal. I didn't really have a great view of the opera house, but had a great view of the harbour and the bridge... so awesome.

Then I worked my way up Pitt Street toward the Circular Quay, which is the major harbour. I had grabbed a bunch of flyers before I left the Hostel. I knew I wanted to do a harbour tour, the opera house, maybe climb the pylon and go up the tower. So I had the Tower done - Check! So there was a harbour tour in 35 minutes, so I hustled up to the harbour. I went to Captain Cook's Harbour tour and bought a ticket... then I got a picture with Captain cook himself... So I wandered over to where to boat launches and got onboard. I took a few pics as we left the harbour and sure enough, the battery died on my camera! ARGH!!!! Talk about shitty timing. I was so irritated. I had planned on doing the Opera House also that day, but didn't want to go without my camera. So i sat back and enjoyed the rest of the tour. I decided to walk to the Opera House and see when the first tour was in the morning. My flight wasn't until 145p, so I had a little time. I bought a ticket for the 9 am Sunday tour. So I started back toward the hostel. I just took my time and stopped and looked at stuff when I wanted to. I found an awesome sushi place that has sushi on a conveyor belt that winds around the restaurant. Each plate is a different color and there is a key to what each one costs in front of you. So when something goes by that you want, you just grab it and eat it. of course my camera was dead, so I didn't get a picture. But it was super cool. Then I wandered back to the room. It was still early in the day, relatively. I sat in my room for about an hour and read a book and drank a beer. I met my one roommate Amy, who is from Toronto and has been traveling since January.

Then I met the other roommate, Emma. She is a doctor of Chinese medicine and an acupuncturist. She was in Sydney for a conference on using acupuncture as a way to treat drug addicts. So I picked her brain. I find it so intriguing. So we spent the entire night hanging out, chatting and bs-ing. Then I got up my courage and asked her if she would do some acupuncture on me, so I could try it... I've always found it interesting, but never had the courage to do it. So she looked at my tongue and took my pulses... yes, plural. We have 27 different pulses, taken at different points on your arms depending on what part of your body is in need of help. She told me all about chi and how the body works and what kind of things chinese medicine and acupuncture can help. She said my spleen is struggling. The spleen is in the master behind blood production in the body and the distribution of the blood to the muscles. When it struggles, it makes it hard for the body to process food for the nutrients you get. That is due to stress and instability. Hello! You all know what I do for work!! That makes a lot of sense. She also told me that I look healthy overall, but she would say that I exercise a lot, eat pretty good and see no results on the scale!!!! She also said that I probably eat a lot of cold items: apples, carrots, cucumbers, and salads... yep, yep, yep and YEP!! She had no way of knowing that. NO WAY!! She started telling me so many things about my health... even my doctor at home isn't that good. Crazy. So she had me lay down and put in 6 needles. One in my left leg in the front(where the spleen line is), one near the big toe on the top of each foot(kinda tinglely, but not painful), one on each hand between the thumb and pointer finger... now that one was crazy. When she put it in and found it's proper place, it felt like electricity flowing through my pointer finger into my arm... never any pain, just odd feelings. Same feeling on the right side. Then she put one right between my eyebrows! That is the 'third eye' and is for calming and relaxation.

I laid there for about 15 minutes and breathed... she spoke the whole time very quietly. She said that since my spleen was deficient, I might get some sensations and to ask if any concerned me. Well after about 3-4 minutes, my legs started twitching. She said that happens, because when you start treating the spleen, it increases blood flow where needed and will cause some slight twitching... i thought it felt amazing. Then she took them out. She had explained all about chi and the ying and yang of the balance of the body. I had known about some of that, but she really helped me understand it. I was ying deficient... typical for women. I am going to look into finding one around here... I think it will be well worth it. It was an amazing experience... I slept like a baby!!

Australia: May 30th

We all started rolling out of bed at about 10 am the next morning. We were all a bit tired but no worse for the wear really. Pat didn't get up til about 1 pm, so I hung out with Abby, Alex, Jackson, Arlo and Romiero. We made brekky(breakfast) and sat around. Pat had a bunch of errands and stuff to get done before he left for Cairns on Saturday and I also was leaving for Sydney on Saturday. I went down, checked my email, and generally just putzed around. We went and got some KFC for dinner and I bought some treats to bring back. I brought back 3 packs of Tim Tams(unbelievable cookies) and some Mi Goreng(like Raman noodles but better). We watched a few movies and some South Park.

I also started on the packing... I had lots of souveniers: 2 masks(one for pat and one for me), lots of postcards, shot glasses, a lighter for a friend, etc. So add that to all my other crap and I was packing tight. We didn't go to bed until like 1 or 2 am, of course. Pat and I are both night owls.

Australia: May 29th

Today we left Surfer's Paradise. We went to Byron bay, which is very cool. Wish we would have had one more day to play around... except it was still raining. Stupid rain. We drove down to Byron and went up to the light house... gives a beautiful view of Byron Bay. Plus it is the head of the trail that takes you to the Easternmost point of Australia... I have been to the Eastern most point of the USA, down on St. Croix, so now I have 2 countries taken care of!!! Sweet!!! I will finally start adding some pictures now that I have access to the computer and can really start to add a ton...

Here is a slideshow of the Lighthouse and Eastern Point:

We wandered around Byron for just a few minutes, cuz we had to get the rental car back.So w e stopped and got the most amazing Kebab ever... it had Lamb and Tziki(greek yogurt, mint, cucumber and garlic) sauce. Oh so yummy... I should open a Kebab shop here... I think it would be a hit. They are pretty healthy, I think, but they are super yummy. We bought a few souveniers and headed back to Lismore. Jackson picked us up at the rental car place and went back to the college.

Well, Thursday night is the big party night on campus, just like every college in America too. So the Unibar(University sponsored bar, which my college didn't have), has a huge dance floor with bands and huge area to sit and talk under a big cover(which was good cuz it was raining still). Well, we started pregaming(drinking before going to the bar so it's not as expensive) at 7 pm... I don't start drinking that early, I haven't since college!!! But I did as it was my only night to really REALLY do it up with my brother. We started by playing Jenga... which I didn't know you could make into a drinking game, but leave it to college students!! You write different things on the Jenga blocks(give 2, take 2, boys drink, girls drink, skull or slam your drink, etc) Then we wandered around campus and popped in on a bunch of Pat's friends. Some(about 20) were playing flip cup(just another drinking game).

Then we went to the Unibar about 10p. I hung out with Abby and Alex mostly, but wandered around a lot and chatted with bunches of people. Abby is from UMass - Amherst and Alex is her friend out visiting. They are both super cool. There were 3 good bands, lots of people to talk to, beers to drink and lots of conversation. I really had a great time. The hill that goes up to the dorms is a bitch... ridiculous really. Unlike any hills I have climbed before except for hills in AZ that I climbed... A picture doesn't do any justice to the evil this hill is.

So at the end of the night, 2 of Pats other friends had gotten a cab and wanted to split... so we split from the Unibar and took the cab home... about 10 bucks between the 4 of us. Not bad at all. We made some snacks, watched some South Park and went to sleep. Oh, what a great day!! So much fun.