Previous location: Glen Innes, New South Wales
Arrival Date: December 16, 2007
Departure Date: December 17, 2007
Current Location: Manly, New South Wales
Arrival Date: December 18, 2007
Departure Date: December 18, 2007
Next Stop: LA, California
Greetings from Manly Beach and Sydney. Today is our last day in the Northern Hemisphere. We depart for LA in less than 24 hours. Our trip has been grand and I thank you all for keeping up with my emails.
I posted more pictures to Picasa last night, feel free to check them out...or wait. I will be posting all my pictures from the last four months to Picasa when I return to the land of free unlimited wireless internet.
I will be visiting both of my homes in the next month. I will be in LA from December 19th-22nd, Tucson from the 22nd-29th, Steamboat from December 29th-January 5th and DC from January 5th on. If you see me, feel free to drill me on my adventures. There are many stories left untold.
Love,
Melissa
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Random Travel Update 14
Previous location: Brisbane, Queensland
Arrival Date: December 11, 2007
Departure Date: December 12, 2007
Current Location: Byron Bay, New South Wales
Arrival Date: December 12, 2007
Departure Date: December 16, 2007
Next Stop: Glen Innes, New South Wales
So diving the Great Barrier Reef on a four day long live-aboard was as fantastic as it sounds. We had a total of 15 dives, including one night dive and a shark-feeding! Us people were well fed too. The daily itinerary consisted of breakfast at 7am, first dive at 7:15am, second breakfast at 9:00am, second dive at 10:00am, lunch at 12:30pm, third dive at 1:15pm, snack at 2:00pm, fourth dive at 4:00pm, dinner at 6:00pm and dessert soon after. Our chef was very good about cooking Jon and I our own special vegan dishes including faux-sausage with beans; pumpkin and veggies with peanut sauce; bbq veggie skewers; and a fabulous baklava dessert rich in seeds, nuts and filo pastry.
The boat was gorgeous, and our room was very nice and equipped with its own ensuit bathroom (more luxury than many of the hostels we have been staying at on land.) The nights, when we did most of our traveling, were a bit rough. Jon and I both still felt like we were rocking though Brisbane, a good two days after reaching shore.
There are pictures, but I am not allowed to download them to these computers at the internet cafes (I left my iBook in Sydney) so everyone will have to wait another week or so for me to post everything. I know-boo. In the meantime, you can check out the pictures that I managed to transfer to Picasa before I left Sydney (check next email.) They are still missing their captions, those will come later along with hundreds of pictures from South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau that are currently sitting stuck (unviewable) on Webshots.
Brisbane is a great city. Seems like a good place to live. Vegans- definitely hit up the Alibi Room if you're ever in the area: http://www.thealibiroom.com . We had The Kombie Driver's Breakfast and it was pretty much awesome. Maybe too huge, but definitely a good thing. I should have taken a picture.
We arrived in Byron Bay last night. It was raining but we went out anyway only to be bombarded by the neo-hippies. It was an interesting anthropological experience for Jon who didn't grow up with 4th Avenue in his backyard. Tomorrow we learn how to surf!
Love,
Melissa
Arrival Date: December 11, 2007
Departure Date: December 12, 2007
Current Location: Byron Bay, New South Wales
Arrival Date: December 12, 2007
Departure Date: December 16, 2007
Next Stop: Glen Innes, New South Wales
So diving the Great Barrier Reef on a four day long live-aboard was as fantastic as it sounds. We had a total of 15 dives, including one night dive and a shark-feeding! Us people were well fed too. The daily itinerary consisted of breakfast at 7am, first dive at 7:15am, second breakfast at 9:00am, second dive at 10:00am, lunch at 12:30pm, third dive at 1:15pm, snack at 2:00pm, fourth dive at 4:00pm, dinner at 6:00pm and dessert soon after. Our chef was very good about cooking Jon and I our own special vegan dishes including faux-sausage with beans; pumpkin and veggies with peanut sauce; bbq veggie skewers; and a fabulous baklava dessert rich in seeds, nuts and filo pastry.
The boat was gorgeous, and our room was very nice and equipped with its own ensuit bathroom (more luxury than many of the hostels we have been staying at on land.) The nights, when we did most of our traveling, were a bit rough. Jon and I both still felt like we were rocking though Brisbane, a good two days after reaching shore.
There are pictures, but I am not allowed to download them to these computers at the internet cafes (I left my iBook in Sydney) so everyone will have to wait another week or so for me to post everything. I know-boo. In the meantime, you can check out the pictures that I managed to transfer to Picasa before I left Sydney (check next email.) They are still missing their captions, those will come later along with hundreds of pictures from South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau that are currently sitting stuck (unviewable) on Webshots.
Brisbane is a great city. Seems like a good place to live. Vegans- definitely hit up the Alibi Room if you're ever in the area: http://www.thealibiroom.com . We had The Kombie Driver's Breakfast and it was pretty much awesome. Maybe too huge, but definitely a good thing. I should have taken a picture.
We arrived in Byron Bay last night. It was raining but we went out anyway only to be bombarded by the neo-hippies. It was an interesting anthropological experience for Jon who didn't grow up with 4th Avenue in his backyard. Tomorrow we learn how to surf!
Love,
Melissa
Random Travel Update 13
Previous location: Brisbane, Queensland
Arrival Date: December 11, 2007
Departure Date: December 12, 2007
Arrival Date: December 11, 2007
Departure Date: December 12, 2007
Current Location: Byron Bay, New South Wales
Arrival Date: December 12, 2007
Departure Date: December 16, 2007
Next Stop: Glen Innes, New South Wales
So diving the Great Barrier Reef on a four day long live-aboard was as fantastic as it sounds. We had a total of 15 dives, including one night dive and a shark-feeding! Us people were well fed too. The daily itinerary consisted of breakfast at 7am, first dive at 7:15am, second breakfast at 9:00am, second dive at 10:00am, lunch at 12:30pm, third dive at 1:15pm, snack at 2:00pm, fourth dive at 4:00pm, dinner at 6:00pm and dessert soon after. Our chef was very good about cooking Jon and I our own special vegan dishes including faux-sausage with beans; pumpkin and veggies with peanut sauce; bbq veggie skewers; and a fabulous baklava dessert rich in seeds, nuts and filo pastry.
The boat was gorgeous, and our room was very nice and equipped with its own ensuit bathroom (more luxury than many of the hostels we have been staying at on land.) The nights, when we did most of our traveling, were a bit rough. Jon and I both still felt like we were rocking though Brisbane, a good two days after reaching shore.
There are pictures, but I am not allowed to download them to these computers at the internet cafes (I left my iBook in Sydney) so everyone will have to wait another week or so for me to post everything. I know-boo. In the meantime, you can check out the pictures that I managed to transfer to Picasa before I left Sydney (check next email.) They are still missing their captions, those will come later along with hundreds of pictures from South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau that are currently sitting stuck (unviewable) on Webshots.
Brisbane is a great city. Seems like a good place to live. Vegans- definitely hit up the Alibi Room if you're ever in the area: http://www.thealibiroom.com . We had The Kombie Driver's Breakfast and it was pretty much awesome. Maybe too huge, but definitely a good thing. I should have taken a picture.
We arrived in Byron Bay last night. It was raining but we went out anyway only to be bombarded by the neo-hippies. It was an interesting anthropological experience for Jon who didn't grow up with 4th Avenue in his backyard. Tomorrow we learn how to surf!
Love,
Melissa
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Random Travel Update 12
Previous location: Hunter Valley, New South Wales
Arrival Date: November 22, 2007
Departure Date: November 26, 2007
Arrival Date: November 22, 2007
Departure Date: November 26, 2007
Last Location: Hobart & Frenchman's Cap, Tasmania
Arrival Date: November 27, 2007
Departure Date: December 2, 2007
Current Location: Cairns, Queensland
Arrival Date: December 3, 2007
Departure Date: December 11, 2007
Next Stops: Great Barrier Reef!
We are keeping ourselves busy as usual here in sunny Australia. It
occurred to me while I was internet-less in the wilderness last week
that I hadn't sent out a list of our planned activities:
Our first night in Australia was spent climbing the famous Harbor
Bridge in Sydney: http://www.bridgeclimb.com
The next day we walked the city and experienced a play at the Sydney
Opera House. We spent another day in Sydney walking Bondi Beach.
We spent four beautiful days in Hunter Valley with our wonderful
hosts, Ian and Kate, who are good friends of Jon's parents before
preparing for our epic five-day trek through the Tasmanian wilderness:
http://www.parks.tas.gov.au
We spent one more day in the Tasmanian capital of Hobart before
returning briefly to Sydney to catch a flight to Cairns in Northern
Queensland.
We arrived here yesterday, napped in our hammock, rented a yellow
scooter, cruised around the promenade, received full body 40 minute
Chinese massages for $25 (together!) and sampled the local cuisine.
Today we jumped out of a plane at 14,000 feet with a 60 second
freefall and parachuted to the ground. I will try to post pictures
soon.
Tomorrow, we board The Spirit of Freedom for a four day SCUBA Diving
tour of the Great Barrier Reef:
http://www.spiritoffreedom.com
both very, that is, incredibly excited about this.
We will return to Cairns on Monday, wait for the nitrogen to dissolve
from our bloodstream, and then catch a flight the next morning to
Brisbane where Jon hopes to do some rock climbing. From there we head
a few hours down the coast to Byron Beach where we will spend the next
five days surfing, relaxing and trying not to get eaten by sharks.
From Byron, the goal is to take a train back down the coast of New
South Wales to Sydney where we will spend a few more nights before
catching our final flight back to the United States (Los Angeles then
Washington, DC).
There are many stories being made but limited internet time. The
pictures, once posted, will tell more.
Love,
Melissa
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