I last spoke with you guys when I was in Hervay Bay, just after my brilliant trip sailing in the Whitsundays and the day before I left for a 2-day excursion to Fraser Island. Fraser is the largest completely sand island in the world. From the photos, you can see that you can do a lot of cool driving around on the sand right by the water. But, you need special 4x4 vehicles because it's difficult to drive in the sand and you can get stuck very easily. I travelled with a cool group of people from all around (Canada, the Netherlands, England and Ireland). We had a lot of fun travelling through the rainforests, seeing Dingos and checking out all the sites (including Lake Birraben, where we did some exfoliating with the sand).

 

On this trip, I've met a tonne of travellers along the way and one central thing is common, they are almost all quite young in the 19 - 21 age group. I'm not saying that I'm an old guy or anything but when I'm talking to these other backpackers and find out that they were born in 1985 or 1986, it really makes me feel like a grandpa amongst them. Oh well, it makes for fun times and I've enjoyed meeting most (certainly not all) of them.

 

From Fraser island, I took an overnight bus to Brisbane and hung out with some familiar faces. First, it was with my cousin Ashwini. She's studying in Brisbane at the moment but it was cool that we got to spend some time together, especially cause I missed her at the wedding in India back in March. We saw some sites, randomly ran into one of the guys (Andrew from Calgary) from my Whitsundays trip on a bus in the city). We also went to the Australia Zoo, home of the famous Crocodile Hunter - Mr. Steve Irwin. That was quite a neat experience. Definitely a bit on the commercialized side with the "Crocoseum" and all but still fun and educational nonetheless. While in Brisbane, I also spent some time with my friend Jacelyn. That was cool and her and I cooked some good meals together so it was definitely nice to get back in the kitchen for a little while.

 

I got back to Sydney last week (May 24) and it felt like I was "home". I think Sydney is quite comfortable for me cause I have a lot of friends there now. I went to this huge Rugby match last week at Sydney Olympic Stadium. It's called the State of Origin. It's a match between New South Wales and Queensland and it's a battle to see which is the better state at rugby. NSW was winning the match 16-0 going into the second half so it was quite boring. Queensland came back and tied it with 2 minutes left and then NSW kicked a single and won the game 17-16 with 30 seconds left. All 76,000 fans left quite excited by the ending so it was definitely a cool experience.

 

I also met up with some friends from Toronto last week while I was in Sydney. I got to spend the day with Bobby on Thursday which was a blast. He'e here right now visiting his fiance and it was really good to catch up with him and that really brought back good memories of home. I also got to see Brenda again and we chilled out and made some good meals too. And I got to see Kulvir who is also working in Sydney. So, last week was a mini Toronto reunion of sorts so that was kinda cool.

 

The last couple days, I went to Australia's capital - Canberra. It is pretty much just like you'd expect a Capital city to be. Kinda boring, a few scenic sites to check out and generally just a place to chill out for a bit. We did a lot of walking. I was there with two buddies, Vik and Niv - both of whom are really solid guys. I'm really glad I've gotten to know them well during this trip. I can see us staying good friends for years and who knows, it looks like there might be future trips down the road... And probably more "man tests of strength" as well.

 

I'm back in Melbourne right now. I came to meet up with a couple friends and check out some parts of the city that I missed last time. I have gotten a good vibe of Melbourne in both of my visits here. That could be primarily because of all the excellent food I've eaten. In these two days alone I've had Mexican, Greek, Italian, Vietnamese and Japanese. Who knows what tomorrow has in store. Thanks a lot to Erica and Joel who have been such amazing hosts while I'm here in Melbourne.

 

I must say though - the best part of travelling is the food you get to enjoy. A close second is the people you meet. The stories you can share and the things you learn. It's really neet cause everyone has a really cools story. I've met probably close to 30 or 40 people who quit there jobs to go travelling. They've bought around the world tickets and are just doing similar things to what I'm doing. They are from all walks of life and varied ages (most are in their early to mid 20's). And the careers that people have are so cool too. I've met lawyers, doctors, restaurant owners, musicians, costume designers and actors.

 

That's it for now.

I'm off to New Zealand next week so that should be a blast!

 

Last week, I was at that point of my trip where I was starting to get a little home sick. 2.5 months have passed and now, it's officially the longest I've been away (more than Asia 2002). That said, things have changed and I am now feeling rejuvenated.

 

Cairns was my stop after my tour in the Red Centre. Cairns is a huge tourist trap with tonnes of info centres and tour agencies trying to tell you where to go and what to spend your money on. There are so many options and it's downright confusing (on purpose I'm sure). The bad thing is though that Australians generally are not very helpful. As an aside, the service industry in this country stinks. Whether your getting some coffee, lunch or trying on some clothes - no one really cares and NO one will ever go that extra mile to help you out or be accomodating for a slightly different request. Cairns reminded me a lot of Miami actually with the water close by and because it's the starting point for so many different activities. It also has that seedy nightlife and lots of not so savoury characters.

 

I tried to minimize my time in Cairns but while I was there, I took in a few sites. Notably, me and some friends from my Uluru tour rented a car and drove up to Cape Tribulation, Port Douglas and Daintree National Park. Cape Trib was really cool and we stayed in hostel right in the middle of the rain forest. That was definitely a very neat experience. Getting to that hostel (Cape Trib Beach House) was a whole other story though. When we arrived, it was pouring rain and pitch black. The street signs were terrible and trying to figure out where to go and how to get there was basically impossible. We also didn't want to get into any trouble in the rental car and some of the roads were so muddy and steep, we weren't sure we were gonna get through them okay. In the end, it all worked out but I was definitely stressed and I had to do all the driving because I was the only one over 25 in the car. Port Douglas was a really cute little city with a great vibe to it. I definitely enjoyed it and would love to go back some time.

 

Once back in Cairns, I made a couple day trips. First, to Kuranda where I saw Barron Falls and rode on the Skyrail and Scenic Kuranda railway. Kuranda is a cute little village but it is just about as tacky as Niagara Falls when it comes to touristy stuff. Next, I went to Green Island for my first snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef. I think I've solidified it now that I am not a very comfortable diver or snorkeller. I think it's the salt water that gets to me most. I just don't like the taste at all and when I swallow even a tsp full, it's too much and I start coughing and spitting everything up. I saw some fish but definitely not as much as I would have liked but I'm told the conditions weren't that great so I'm not too upset.

 

From Cairns, I went down to Townsville and took a ferry across to a place called Magnetic Island. While there for a couple days, I met a bunch of Canadians (a guy from Victoria and two sisters from Edmonton). Magnetic Island was a pretty chilled out place. I was sick of doing the hostel thing so I decided to splurge a little and stayed at a Bed & Breakfast. I left Magnetic and got to Airlie Beach on Saturday the 13th.

 

Sunday the 14th is when my trip took a nice turn upwards. I started my sailing adventure in the Whitsunday islands. It was such a great experience and I'm so glad I did it. It's definitely one of my highlights of this trip so far. The weather was perfect. The snorkelling was pretty good (and I was feeling a lot more comfortable underwater). The food was yummy too and all the peeps I met were pretty cool. We even got to sail through really horrible rainy weather yesterday on our way home so that made the experience more complete. The sea-sickness pills I took helped as well since I didn't feel any symptoms at all so that was great.

 

I'm in Hervey Bay right now, the gateway to Frasor Island. I'm heading to Frasor on a tour for the next couple of days. Then on Saturday, I'm going to Brisbane to spend a couple days with my cousin Ashwini. Time for some dinner. I might go for some Indian food cause I'm craving...

 

Finally, a belated Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there. Especially Sharavati, Jennifer and Gina, some of the most recent moms.

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I decided to go to Uluru, the Olgas and King's Canyon on a tour. It was with a company called Outback Safari and the tour I went on was a 3.5 day camping trip around the outback. It was a really great experience and I met some pretty interesting people from all parts of the world. There were 7 English people, 2 South Koreans, 6 Germans, 1 Japanese, 3 French, 1 Italian and myself on the tour and it was a blast. Our guide (Mika) was quite knowledgeable because he's originally from Alice Springs and he's 1/2 aboriginal so he knew a lot of the history and reasoning behind certain practices and customs.

 

The major highlight of the trip was definitely climbing Uluru. It is frowned upon by the local Aboriginal people because it is a sacred site and only certain people are supposed to climb it. I decided to do it anyway because it's a once in a lifetime opportunity and more importantly - I disagree with the ruling at present. Basically, the local aboriginal people DON'T want non-Aboriginals to climb it but at the same time, they won't close it completely to tourists. Instead, they still give us that option. Why you ask? Because of these - $$$$$$. If they closed it completely, they would face a sharp drop in tourists and then what could they do? So really it's a catch-22 situation for sure.

 

The major lowlight had to be the flies. I just can't imagine how bad the flies would be if it was summer and +40 degrees out there. Those fly masks worked from time to time but definitely didn't do that great a job.

 

We slept outside in Australian sleeping bags called swags. It was brilliant cause we were under the stars for three days. There was absolutely no light polution. It's too bad I don't know much about the sky in the Southern Hemisphere - I would have really liked to know what we were looking at. Each day for breakfast, lunch and dinner, we cooked together and prepared our meals as well so that was quite a lot of fun.

 

After the tour concluded, we headed back to Alice Springs and stayed one night. Alice Springs is quite a boring little town but for one night/day I guess it's okay. I definitely wouldn't want to spend an extended period of time there. One funny thing happened to me at our hostel... They ran out of rooms and couldn't offer me any other dorms, so I got my own bed in a private room (apparently, it's called the "Romance Room". Needless to say, I had a good nights sleep.

 

The next day, after receiving a text message from Qantas at 5:00 am telling me that the flight was delayed, we visited the Baby Kangaroo Rescue Centre which was an absolutely brilliant thing to do. The kangaroos are so cute and I learned a lot from the guide. He used to work in zoos and now, he does this full time and nurses young orphaned kangaroos until they are ready to be released to the wild. Also, people can "adopt" them but they have to take care of them for the whole time. They take them home, bring them to work - basically like a little kid - they have several needs.

 

Got to the airport late and made our way to Cairns to begin my journey down the East Coast.