Carey's Travel Adventures

Hello my blog followers and those who have came here for entertainment!

As some of you may know, I just disembarked from a boat journey that lasted 5 days and 4 nights on the Great Barrier Reef. It was an interesting trip including some amazing diving, some interesting onboard antics, and has resulted in me still swaying as though I am still on the boat this morning (felt like I was drunk last night, and I had only ONE beer!!!). I dove 13 of 14 dives as I did opt out of one night dive, as am still waiting for the night dive experience that makes me go WOW, plus I was tired and cold and just being a baby .

The trip started off late on Thursday night with us all boarding the boat. I have to say, I was less than impressed with the overall organization of the dive trip at that point. It was very hap-hazard how we found our cabins (with me ending up by the generator room, though was glad I wasn't in the 8 person room which consisted of 2 very big beds), and there was absolutely NO information on what we were going to be doing for the next four days. Basically, we were thrown on a boat and told we would dive the next day - but no idea of when or how many. The captain knew what he was doing, but the Dive Club decided to not tell us anything, which was annoying. Thankfully, they realized that we kinda want to know what was going on, so we were kept more informed for the rest of the trip - though, this could have been 'cause I said to one of the dive club members that this was the most unorganized trip I had ever been on and was a bit wary that they were taking it seriously.

Anyways - after a night of rolling around a bed (was lucky I was in the dungeon as those at the top of the ship had problems staying on their bunks 'cause of the ocean - bad ocean!) it was finally time to dive!!! I was teamed up with a girl named Katrina for my buddy for the trip, who was a very good buddy. We had the same idea to swim along and look at everything without trying to swim as fast as possible. She was very enjoyable to dive with as she had dove quite a bit and knew what she was doing, as well as being very good on her air, so we were able to have long dives. Our first dive was at Keeper reef, and before jumping into the water, we saw a turtle at the surface just swimming around. We saw a shark, and one of the most massive clams that I have ever seen. The next dive was at Helix reef, and we just saw a turtle swimming in the distance as fast as it could away from us. I am a bit dissappointed that I didn't get very close to any turtles on this trip, but, I guess I may be spoiled . We travelled to Grub reef where we had our avro dive, then our night dive. The night dive was actually OK - we saw a Sea Hare, which was a very wierd looking animal. We hung around and looked at it for awhile as it was just strange. We also saw alot of shrimp and I played with the phosperessence (?sp) for a bit. Suffice to say, that night I was knackered and passed out quite nicely even with the noise of the generator (I did have ear plugs). I do have to say, it was so awesome to surface from our night dive and smell onions cooking on the barby.....mmmmmmm.

The next morning we were at Ames Bombe on Bowl reef. As most of you know, I am NOT a morning person and would prefer to lay in bed in the morning, but morning dives are one thing that will get me out of bed as they are my favourite. The reef is so alive with the fish waking up and "getting ready for school". This dive was great as I also tried to figure out what school of fish I was going to join as I figured I could live there for awhile. We again saw a shark and there were some big mackeral down there. When we surfaced, we could smell bacon cooking.....mmmmm. We had one more dive here before moving on, and it was a very tricky dive because of the current. We were actually lucky that we got in the water before the captain came back and told them to abort the dive because the current was so strong. We had a LONG swim to the reef that I just wanted to stop doing, and then we were tugging at the current to swim at times. There was even a point where the fish were struggling, lol. It was worth it as the site was amazing with tons of fan coral and fishes, and once we stopped struggling in the current and let go - it was so amazing. I felt like I was flying as the current was just pulling me along. I definately have to try a drift dive!!!

We moved on to The Maze on Yankee reef for our avro and night dives. This reef was full of black and white striped fish families living in coral, along with tiny blue fish living in the coral. I think I asked one of the black and white families to come live with me, but they decline (stupid). Ther were large parrot fish and lots of swim throughs that I actually did rather than get scared like usual. The night dive consisted of me waking up every crab on the reef as I figured out that they lived in a certain coral, so I swam to all those and shined my light in. They were tiny crabs, but super cool to play with as they seemed to want to attack me. If we weren't in a green zone, I may have collected dinner, LOL. After dinner, there were alot of pipe fish swimming right near the side ladder on the boat, and two of the guys decided that they were going to catch one with their hands. They laid there for awhile waiting for them to come closer, then tried using fish food to draw them in, and had a hand on one at one time until it got away. The funniest was when they tied a small, rubber fish (used for fishing, but no hook) on the end of some fishing line and tried to lure the fish in. Suffice to say, they caught nothing.

The next morning, we awoke on Dip reef. Had a great morning dive where we saw 2 black tip sharks and a very strange fish that seemed to swim by squeazing it's tail. As it was morning, there were tons of schools of fish and was just fun to watch. We moved to a new site on the same reef for our second morning dive, and this is where I got stung by jellyfish . I had just got in the water and was chasing after a huge batfish when all off a sudden my lips started stinging, then the back of my right hand and the middle finger on my left. I had to stop and calm down for a bit, though it hurt SO bad. My buddy asked if I wanted to surface, but I was not up to aborting the dive right at the beginning, so I swam around in pain. I am so glad I did as this site had one of the most amazing coral gardens I have ever seen. We just floated around looking at the coral, and I was playing with the Christmas Tree worms in the large boulder corals. We also saw a square shaped jelly fish that had flashing lights running through it - very cool, though I kept my distance. On my way to the boat, I got stung on the top of my foot by a jelly fish, frick. Once I got on the boat, it was douse Carey in vinegar time to stop the pain, though my lip did swell up something terrible. OWWWWWWW.

On our way to the next site, I was suntanning at the front of the boat when the captain started yelling that there were dolphins. We had two dolphins swimming along the front of the boat and switching sides and playing. SO COOL. The next dive was done at Myrimun (?sp) reef - one of the more outer reefs. It was an OK dive, I don't have much in my log book about it other than we did get to see a big turtle, though not up close, and there were alot of big fish. I was a bit wary because of my jellyfish stings, so took things a bit careful. That night, we opted out of the night dive - which was a good idea. I did two night dives, that's enough for me. I just sat in the boat and chatted with some people, and read a bit. I was pretty chill on this trip and didn't engage alot, but it was my relaxation trip as life had been stressful (still is, stupid uni).

The next morning, we woke up on Hoginsons Reef for our morning dive. There were TONS of starfish here - very large blue ones - more than I have ever seen before on any other reef. We finally saw a sting ray, and I saw this amazing translucent coral with some coloured spines on it - very different. We also saw a yellow-spotted box fish - looked really wierd. Our last dive was on the same reef and the same site, and this is where I got "attacked" by fire coral. I was turning around and accidently kicked a fan coral that must have had fire coral on it (though, I swear it moved up and bit me!), and it was painful. I stayed in the water to finish the dive, but had some problems kicking as my heal hurt SO bad. One of the girls with us also got it on her hands and it was all swollen when we got on board. From there, we had a six hour boat ride back to Townsville, and then off the boat and home.

All in all, it was a good trip with some interesting experiences. I loved the dolphins as have only seen them in Thailand, and saw alot of sharks, though not too many turtles. A group of people saw a whale shark, which I missed, so that was a bit sucky, but, whatever. I was glad to get home and sleep in a big bed with no generator next to it, plus use a real toilet with plumbing that works. The food on the trip was amazing, including real steak two nights - not sure how they do it on what we paid! Hint - put chorizo sausage in your bolgonase sauce, adds an AMAZING flavour! I am still swaying and am hoping that the feeling leaves me soon. The next adventure - MAYBE a two day overnight down to the Yongala.....would be an interesting trip with a night dive there. I am dying to do the Yongala, so might be a good idea.

Miss you all wherever you are reading from this! Hope you enjoyed my diving and didn't get too bored reading about fish!

xoxo Carey

Hello everyone! I am imagining you all thought I forgot about part two of this. Well, I haven't, so sit back and enjoy

From Surfer's Paradise, we drove up to the Australian Zoo. This is the zoo that was taken over by Steve Irwin and brought into infamy today. I was actually very impressed with the zoo. It is very interactive, and they do their best to help you learn about the animals. We started the day with their "big" show that had a bunch of birds flying around (scary) and ended with a croc attack (well, not quite). The croc was huge, which was pretty cool, and I figure those guys are pretty brave for doing what they do with him!!!

The zoo was full of animals from Australia, and again got to see the cute Tasmanian devils. You were able to feed the kanagroos when you walked through the enclosure, but we just petted them. They were just sitting there chilling on the ground and looked at you like, yeah, sure, whatever. There was a cool Tiger show and we also got to feed the elephants, kinda strange. The zoo has recently opened their Africa part, so we saw some giraffes and rhinos, etc. I was impressed at the conservation efforts that the zoo is trying to run. Everywhere you went, they would be talking about what you could do to help the animals in trouble. There were some petitions around the park as well, it seemed as thought they really cared.

From there, it was back to Brisbane and out for dinner. We decided to take in a little "local" flavour and head out to a Irish pub (lol - Carla said her goal is to visit an Irish pub in every country). There was a cover band playing who was not bad, though they didn't know Journey, so I immediately thought they were not as good as I orignally thought!! We had a fun night dancing and singing.

The next day - I met up with Veronica from Team Germanada!!!! We went shopping and the strangest thing happened. We were walking around this mall and we could hear the Star Wars music, then I turned around and there was a storm trooper going up the escalator. We walked up to the upper level where there was a cinema and there were all these people up there dressed up in Star Wars outfits, along with a mini-orchestra playing the theme song. I found out that it was the opening day for Star Wars 1 in 3D. Interesting, and very random.....

That night, the girls and I took the ferry down the river to a very nice lookout point where we could have dinner. Brisbane is quite beautiful along the river, and there are lights everywhere. I tried to get pics, but, well, didn't work really well, lol.

The next day, it was off to Hamilton Island! We flew on Jetstar to Hamiliton Island from Brisbane, and I remember that there were three couples from India checking into the plane ahead of us. They had TONS of luggage and kept switching who had what to try and keep within their luggage limit. It was annoying as we were waiting to drop our bags and they were tying up three counters, but then it just got funny 'cause it was so apparent that they were never going to get all the luggage on without having to pay for something. The poor ladies at the check in!

We took the ferry from Hamilton Island to Airlie beach, where we had an apartment. FINALLY, we got to cook our own food. You have no idea how good home cooked food tastes after eating out for WAY too long . The funniest part of the eveing was that we were eating on the porch, and a HUGE cockroach decided to join us, so we all decided we were done and headed inside, lol. The next day I took the bus to Townsville (almost an hour late) and the girls went sailing. They joined me the next day in Townsville, though their bus was 2 1/2 hours late because of an accident. I showed them around a bit - we went to the uni and walked down the Strand, and then had lunch with a friend from here. A nice, quiet night in Townsville.

The next day we hopped in my car and I got to show off my mad manual driving skills as we took off for Cairns. We, of course, stopped at the Frosty Mango for ice cream, and bought some fruit (btw Melissa, found the last mango in my car when I was wondering why it smelt like fruit in there, LOL). We also stopped at Josephine falls for a picnic and for the girls to go for a slide. Such a great site, though it was much busier than when I stopped in September.

Once we got to Cairns and checked into our room, we headed off for dinner and walked through the night markets. We got tired at one point (driving all day does that to you), so I decided to go swimming in the awesome pool at our hotel. Melissa and Carla were treated to the BEST syncronized swimming show ever and they jumped and clapped when I was done. I'm awesome, I know, I know .

The next day - it was DIVING time!!!!! We got loaded onto the day boat early in the morning and headed out to the reef. Melissa and I did two dives off of there - and on the first dive, we saw a 3 m Manta Ray. SO amazing!!! It was huge and everyone on the boat was so jealous that we saw it. The next dive was Melissa's first unguided dive, and I think the two of us did pretty well together - we didn't even lose the boat and came up right near it! Now, if I could find my diver's log, I could tell you all the things we saw on these dives, but, my room is a mess and I can't find it. I do know that I have written it down and have now done 41 dives.....pretty good for someone who only started diving a few years ago AND lived in a land-locked province for most of it!!

We transfered onto our overnight boat after lunch and found that it was much bigger and had less people on it - making it a much more comfortable boat to be on. Melissa and I did a dive before lunch and on this dive, there was a 6 m moray eel that swam right underneath us - pretty cool!! I was nervous for the night dive, as I am always nervous for night dives, but it turned out to be the best one I have ever done. As we were descending, we saw a very tiny jellyfish swimming along.....very pretty and dainty, and we made sure NOT to touch it!!! There are these really big fish that have learned that when the boat comes near the reef, people are going diving, so they watch for our torches to light up smaller fish for them to eat. Suffice to say, we had a stalker. But, me being much smrter than a fish, realized that I could make him swim really fast into rocks if I would shine my light on a fish, then shine it away at the right moment onto a rock and he would run into it. Yes, I'm mean, but, man it was funny!!!! This dive, we also got to see Melissa's first turtle. It was super cool - it was a very large turtle and he was descending from the surface, dove down right onto the coral and put his head in to fall asleep - awesome!!!! One of the coolest things I have ever seen.

The next day dawned bright and early with my favourite dive of the day - the morning dive! I know, for those of you who know me, you know that I HATE getting up early in the morning, but the morning dive is always the best. The reef is always alive with flavour and colour - and this reef did not dissappoint. We saw two turtles and two white tipped sharks, and all the little fishies getting ready to "got to school". The morning really shows you what the reef is all about - there are always tons of fish swimming around and eating. Those who would take a nap in the afternoon are up and at 'em. If you have never done it before - would definately reccomend and early morning dive.

We had one more dive on the boat, and then we got transfered to the other boat and back to Cairns. It was our last night together, so we went for a nice dinner and then hung out in a pub for awhile. We were going to join the dive crew at a bar, but the cover was $10, and I really think I am too old to be paying cover!!!! So, was back to our hotel room and off to sleep as we were tuckered out from the big day.

The next day was Feb 12th and our last day together. The girls took the train up to Kurranda and I drove up (have already done the train thing). We had a nice lunch at a little cafe, and then walked around for a bit (bought my mom some mango wine, but, mom, it just might not make it home!). It was really sad saying goodbye and I did my best to hold back the tears. It was so great seeing them and so unreal to see them over here in this country. I was definately reminded of how much I miss you all, but I will be back in July, so don't you worry!!!

So - that is the end of my vacation. Since I have been home, I have been working and recouperating. I started uni this week, and it is hard getting back into school after so long off. I really don't have many classes until May, but have started two term-long projects that I need to get my butt in gear to get done. I do hope to get another holiday in - so stay tuned. Am looking for a cheap flight to Perth, so if anyone sees one, tell me about it!!! LOL.

Miss you all!!!!

Am going to split this into two parts so that you don't get one REALLY long blog to read!

The girls got to Melbourne on Jan 30th. I took a shuttle to the airport to pick them up, but all was not well. The freaking shuttle was half an hour late (side note, if you are ever in Melbourne - DO NOT use Jetbus), and had more people to pick up. Suffice to say I was late, then couldn't find their flight on the boards, which led to a bit of confusion, until I FINALLY saw them coming out of customs. It was joy and hugs everywhere . The poor girls were super tired (no doubt), so we just went for lunch and they slept while Jen and I cruised the city a bit. Had an after dinner drink on the roof of our hostel, then to bed (so exciting, I know ).

The next day was the day Jen left . But, I know that she was super excited to get home to Canada, so it was good for her that she was leaving, but sad anyways. Jen left super early, and I checked out and headed to the girl's hotel as we had to wait to get on the bus for Philip Island!!!!!! We started the day at the bat place - where I sat huddled at the picnic table looking the other way trying to forget that there were tons of the horrid creatures hanging in the trees behind me. From there, we went to a santuary. I found out that Tasmanian Devils are the CUTEST animals ever!!! I so want one!!!! We got to chill with the kangaroos and feed them, and also pet them, which was pretty cool. Melissa had a bit of a hang out on the ground with a couple. Carla was excited as there was a donkey and she got to feed and pet it - lol.

From there, I think we went to a "chocolate factory" that really sucked and the chocolate was NOT good. I think we also had dinner somewhere, but, honestly all is a bit of a blur as we may have had a few cocktails and all I could think about was the penguins we were going to see. When we pulled up to the penguin place, the driver was playing "I'm so excited" and us and some girls behind us just started belting it out - super funny. So, the penguin parade.......let's just say it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen!!!! The little penguins came marching out of the water after the sunset, and started marching up the beach to find their night homes. We had an "upgrade" so we got to see them walk right past us on the board walk. They were SO cute! So little about half a foot high, and waddled along in their groups. I so wanted to pick one up and take it with me. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pics, so you are just going to have to imagine it in your heads!

The next day we did a great ocean road one day tour. We saw all the places I told you about before, so won't go into great detail. Heads up to Team Germanada - we did the rainforest walk the Cyprus lady was complaining about on our tour - LOL. Honestlly, you didn't miss much . The funniest part of the day was when our tour guide - who seemed kinda cute in his sunnies - took off his sunglasses and we saw his one inch high eyebrows. From then on - I couldn't take my eyes off them......they were so big. I almost wanted to go buy him some wax as they definately needed attending too! When we got back to Melbourne, Carla and I headed to the night market. It was a lot different than the day market - alot of food stalls and funky stuff and lots of drinking and music. Kinda cool, but I wanted fresh fruit, so was a bit sad.

The next day was our last in Melbourne before heading to the Gold Coast. We hit up the market where they had the awesomest smoothies EVER, and I had to have some more oysters. We made sure that Melissa stayed out of the hall of meat, though Carla and I did take a walk through it. I do wish I lived in Melbourne and had access to that market for my fresh food - so beautiful and so cheap. I would live on veggies!!! From there, we took a walk up the street and got in a cab to head to the airport.

Now, we flew Tiger airways and I was kinda worried as I have heard that they are usually not on time. They have their own terminal in Melbourne, which, in itself was kinda wierd. I know that Carla and Melissa were a bit worried as it seemed a bit dodgy that we were NOT at the main terminal, but tried to look as calm as possible, as I was like WTF inside. Suffice to say - all was good - AND we were boarding 45 min before our flight took off and our flight was exactly on time. So, not sure what the fuss is.......

We got our car at the Gold Coast airport, and headed to Surfer's Paradise. As it was late, we just checked into our hotel and went for dinner. But, on the way back, I FINALLY got to try Cold Rock ice cream which is kinda like Marble Slab. Honestly - kinda prefer marble slab.....lol. The next day was our beach day. We had a couple hours at the beach before it got cloudy enough to head back. We did get to see a lifeguard take his shirt off and go into the surf to get two kids to come back to swim within the flags. Totally funny as ALL the girls on the beach were sitting up and watching him once the shirt came off. The surf was INSANE and Melissa and I got knocked down and pulled into the beach a few times by the crazy waves. But, they were breaking really close to shore, so there were not many people out surfing as it wasn't that safe.

We spent the rest of the day walking around shopping and I bought myself my first pair of Havanas - the most comfortable flip flop I have ever worn. Seriously worth the money. That night we went to this really weird restaurant where you had to stand inline to get your pasta made as it was made infront of you. SO annoying as I was in line for like 30 min, which really takes away from your dinning experience. It sucks to wait on food - but it is worse when you are waiting in line for it at a place where you are paying more than $10. Stupid.....

So.......think I am going to cut off there as I don't want this to get toooo long . But, a bit of a teaser for what is to come......The Australian Zoo, Airlie Beach, and awesome diving!!!!

Hello again!

I am back! I know that you all missed me as I had no internet for about a week while I was travelling. I had access in St. Kilda - but did nothing exciting as St. Kildas was SO dissappointing. But, let me back track....

Friday morning - we checked out of our hotel and went off to the Queen Victoria Market. This place is HUGE and has so much good food, I was so sad that I don't live here so that I can't buy my food there. I went shopping a bit, bought a new hat, but there were really no good deals that I wanted to take advantage of. When we were leaving, I told Jen that she has to try raw oysters, so we bought a 1/2 dozen and ate them on the street in front of the market. SO good - and Jen actually liked them .

From there, we headed off to St. Kilda on the tram. Well, the tram ride was good, but that is about all I can say. Our hostel was not what we expected, and the people at the front were kinda bitchy. I thought St. Kilda would be a funky little beachside suburb, but it wasn't. It had a beach, and a street with cafes, but it was pretty run down and not that cool. We ended up watching tennis taht night at the hostel, even though this bitchy American girl wanted to switch to a movie in the middle of the match. Arg. The next day - we didn't do anything special as it was sucky outside, so we hung out and watched more tennis in the evening.

The next day - it was off on the Great Ocean Road! We got picked up super early, and napped until we got to the town just by Bells beach. There was Roxy, Ripcurl and Quicksilver outlet shoppping, and regular shopping, so I had to hold myself back and only bought two pairs of shoes . We went off to Bells beach after this, but the surf was crap, so there wasn't any surfers in the water to watch. The beach was a lot smaller than I expected, but the sand was very grainy and gave me a great exfoliation on my feet. We then set off for a small town where we had lunch. Because it was a backpacker tour - our guide had to buy food and then prepare it, so Jen and I ended up helping. The town we were in was PACKED as it was a super nice day, so we had to find a place on the outskirts. Driving along the ocean was fantastic, the water was this superb blue colour that you see in the movies - and I am not sure if my camera did it justice. The next town was exactly what you would expect in a small beachside town. So cute, and just funky. Jen and I were hot and figured that we needed a cold beer for the bus ride. When we got on the bus and opened our beer, the two German chicks were like, we were thinking of doing that - and then ran across to the store. Suffice to say - we became fast friends .

The next stop was the Gibson steps - very steep and I think we saw rock thingies, but am not sure. We then when to the twelve Apostles which are large rock formations in the middle of the water. The sea has eroded the clifs and left these standing. But, there used to be about 18, and now there are only 9 standing because the water has worked them down. I have some great pictures - and really hope they turn out. We had dinner after, and then came back to watch the sunset on the Apostles, which was really nothing special - you've seen one sunset - you've seen them all . The highlight of the trip came that night when we went down to the Great Ocean Road from our hostel and laid in the middle to look up at the stars. So pretty and such an amazing thing to do. Each time a car came, we did have to yell "game off", so no one got ran over!

The next day was more along the great ocean road, including visiting a bay and something else, I think, but can't remember......I honestly can't even remember what we ate for lunch! From wherever we were, we drove to the Grampians, which are some "mountains". It was very pretty - but wierd to see "mountains" without spruce trees! We drove to a waterfall and had to hike down to it. There were signs everywhere that we were not supposed to swim, but Jen jumped in, and eventually we all were in the water. The funny thing was, two of the older ladies did not have swimsuits on, so they were in their underwear. To make it even better, one of them was in white.....awesome....just awesome.

That night - I saw my FIRST Kangaroo! I can no longer say that they are mythical animals - they definately exist as I did see them. It is very shocking to know that, lol. We had dinner and then hung out on the porch by our hostel - it was alot of fun. There were three German girls and two German guys and one Brazilian girl who Jen and I ended up hanging out with (oh, and our tour guide who was an Aussie, funny dude.....) and we all had some nice chats along the way. Unfortunately, we had to get to sleep early as we had to go for a "walk" in the morning.

Well, the "walk' was a climb up a mountain that I got to do in flipflops. Was impressed I made it to the top as it was pretty steep and had to climb up some crazy steep rock. Thank goodness the rock wasn't slippery, or I would be dead now, awesome. The view was OK - but so not worth the hike. From there, it was a 5 hour drive to Adelaide. We broke it up with lunch, but it was a long haul. That night, we all met for drinks, but bailed early as we were all exhausted.

The next day - Barossa valley!!!! Was so excited as three of the German girls and one of the German guys were on our tour. We were all super stoked to be doing the tour together as we got to hang out and drink wine all day. The tour guide was crap (not like the one on the GOR - he was awesome), but the six of us, now known as Team Germanada had fun. We visited Jacob's Creek, didn't get to meet Jacob , first and had soem of their wine I haven't had before. From there it was to a family ran winery, then to a larger one before lunch. Yep - three wineries before lunch - we were all, ummmm, happy, but starving . I wish i could tell you history or something about the Barossa valley, but our guide told us nothing. It was very pretty with vineyards surrounding the roads, and there were alot of hills, so you didn't get large stretches of grape fields like you see in the Napa Valley. It was very green, and you could see the grapes on the vines. While driving to Jacob's Creek, they had signs in the fields saying which type of grape/wine was being grown in that field - very cool.

The day was nice as we all enjoyed each other's company and just were stupid all day. I love wine tours and could have spent another day there just exploring and learning more about wine. The last place we went had a 100 year old port. In 1887 (or somewhere around there), the wine makers started making a port that would not be opened for 100 years, and they have done it ever since then. The 1911 stuff sells for $900 a bottle - which is expected for 100 year-old port! We got to smell it (tasting is $30 and I dont' liek port) and it smelled like thick Christmas pudding.

Our last night in Adelaide was pretty dull. We went for dinner with Germanada, and for a pint, but we were all exhausted, not to mention that we all had to be up super early this morning as we were going every which way. The trip was great - and we were so lucky to meet nice people that we could actually talk with on the tour. One funny story for you - there was a Korean lady with her son on our trip and was always the last one to come back to the bus, to the point where our guide would have to go get her. So, me and one of the German chicks decided that she was looking for a daddy for her baby, so we started calling JP Dad at some points. Oh yeah, and on the morning of the third day - we were driving to the "walk" and all of a sudden the bus swerved and stopped - JP had hit a kangaroo.......sad, but it happens, I guess.

Anyways - that is about it - I had to summerize as it has been a LONG few days so hope I remembered everything pertinant. If not, I got pics and will post on FB in a couple weeks. Melissa and Carla are here on Monday - is going to be awesome!!!!!

Lata skatas

That's right people - I do still love the Rog, but Monfils is AWESOME!!! But, let's get you caught up.....

On Monday- I left the grand city of Townsville to FINALLY go on vacation in a VERY long time. Was very excited to get out of Townsville and get to a bigger city, that of Melbourne. I met my friend Jen at the hostel and we proceeded down the street to look for, well, food! Luckily, we came upon a Vietnamese restaurant as I had been craving Vietnamese since still haven't found a place in Townsville. We walked around the CBD (central buisness district) where we found a Roxy store, and then a bit of a mall. Suffice to say, I was in heaven . We came back to the hostel early in the evening and went to bed (after drinking a bottle of wine, of course) as we both were exhausted and needed rest.

The next day....da da da....AUSSIE OPEN!!!! I was so incredibly excited walking to Melbourne park. I have always wanted to go to a Grand Slam tournament, and, here I was. We had bought a three day grounds pass online for like $70 each, in which I wasn't sure of the caliber of the matches we would see - but I was not dissappointed! When we got in - we went for a walk within the practice courts and I saw a bunch of people watching someone warmng up. Not sure who it was, I had to ask Jen, but turned out to be Andy Murray - 4th in the world and right in front of me! WOW. We got some pics and watched him warm up - then watched a bit of another mens match before deciding to take a walk. We found Margaret Court arena in which David Ferrer was playing (5th in the world), and were lucky to get seats on the change over. The match was Ok, but was more awe struck that I was at a grand slam!

After the Ferrer match, we went to watch some girls play and I got incredibly bored, so ran out before the first set was over. I met Jen after the first set, and we went back to Margaret Court where we saw my new fav player - Monfils! He is awesome to watch - a young French man with alot of personality. At one point he landed on the ground and pointed at the sky as he made the point. He would jump around and was very energetic, so was so much fun to watch. Of course, he won, which was great . We watched the woman's match after becuase Tsonga (another Frenchman) was playing the late game and Jen told me he was great. And, well, he was. He came out covered in orange and played a dude I can't remember - but he was almost as energetic as Monfils and did a very interesting dance when he won, lol. It was quite funny when he took his shirt off and all the women in the crowd screamed - Tsonga started laughing, and may even have been blushing a bit .

The next day - we went outlet shopping!!!! Was all pumped, but it wasn't as great as I had hoped. I did get an awesome new Converse shirt and ripcurl bag, but so not what I was expecting. The prices weren't that great, and just made me miss Vegas outlets!

After shopping - back to tennis. Jen said that the Bagdhatis vs. Wawrinka match would be good - so we went in before the match started. We got to see the end of the Nalbandian vs. Isner game - it went 5 set, over 4.5 hrs long and had to play to 10-8 games in the last set. At one poin Nalbandian got so mad he flung his racket across the court - which was fun to watch a tempertantrum, lol. Isner ended up winning (i was cheering for Nalbandian), but was a good match.

We were able to move down to about the fourth row for the Bagdhatis match, and ended up sitting right behind his "fan club". They all had Cyprus flags and colours on, and were chanting and singing throughout the match. It was very entertaining and just made me feel like i was in the middle of a hockey game, they were so dedicated! One guy answered his cell phone when Warwinka was about to serve (we were sitting on the baseline) and was talking on it so loud that Wawrinka stopped, and yelled at the guy! Suffice to say, he got kicked out. There was a Warwinka fan sitting above us who kept taunting the Bagdhatis fans (Warwinka waswinning) and was fun to watch the interaction. Another one of the guys got kicked out when he started yelling stuff in the middle of Baghatis serving, in which he had to stop while the stadium was yelling - nevr seen that in tennis before! Wawrinka won in 4 sets - so the guys were quite sad, but sand until the end and supported Bagdhatis even when he was down. There was a point in the match where Bagdhatis sat down and smashed his racket on the court as he was so frustrated. The game was really good - all sets were close - but the atmosphere was something to behold. Really crazy for a game like tennis! But, got REALLY cold at one point in the game and couldn't get into the Merch shop to buy a towel, but the guy next to me lent me his flag for the last set. Very sweet - too bad he wasn't hot, LOL.

Today (Thursday the 19th) we went back for the last day of our three day pass. We started by watcing Milos Roewenka (sp?) a Canadian beat a German dude. It was fun to cheer for Canada and some people there were flying flags - so patriotic! The Canadian didn't have much personality, but had a HUGE serve in which one was recorded at 224 kph. Very interesting to watch - and hopefully this dude gets really good in the future.

From there - we headed around the grounds to check out the sponsor tents. Really wasn't anything that awesome and ended up discussing with a girl what her major in her business degree should be. She was working at the Aussie Open membership booth and seemed more interested in discussing her degree. We tried to get in to see a girls match - but it was packed, so caught a few games of the Ferrer match instead. At one point, we figured that we had to pee and went out and saw that the game on Margaret court was finished, so sped in there and got front row seats for the Edben vs. Nioshikoci (sp?) match. We wanted good seats for the next match - so were pumped that we were so close. This match was ok - Edben is an Aussie and there were alot of people cheering for him. He went up 2 sets to none, and the Japanese guy came back and won in 5 sets - pretty amazing.

Next was - MONFILS!!!!! He was playing Belucci in the night match. Monfils lost the first set, which got a little scary - but then came back in the second. We were so close we could hear when he swore - it was awesome. The crowd was really cheering for him - and at one point the wave started around the arena. It was so loud that we couldn't hear the umpire asking for quite - and Monfils just gave up trying to serve and joined in (honestly - the wave came around and he threw his hands up with the crowd). He is fun to watch as he is very expressive and does get the crowd involved. He isn't a player who is in the zone and ignores the existance of the crowd - he acknowledges them throughout the match - but not at the sacrifice of his game. Monfiles ended up winning in four sets (thank goodness - i was so cold I was wrapped in my hoody and my towel and was shivering).

I truely enjoyed my Aussie Open experience - is definately somethign I am glad I did. A grand slam is so much different than even watching tennis on TV - you get really into it and cheer for the players. The Bagdhatis match was a little insane (SO much fun) and not typical - but was a great experience overall.

Tomarrow - on to St. Kilda, then off on the Great Ocean Road.

Until then........allez, allez, allez,allez, Monfils, allez!