Hey there one and all!!!!
Let me start by saying 98 rolls of film (including about 36 rolls that were 36 exposures).
I will do my best to give a brief summary here but alas I am sure I will write just as much as I talk :) .
First Stop Sydney:
Here I met up with my friend Halley and her man Dean. They truly have an amazing house near Avoca Beach. I walked down to the beach one morning and it was a wonderful delight! From there Halley’s Dad was kind enough to take us out sailing. It was glorious and the perfect relaxing way to start out the trip. I only had a few days here in Sydney and than it was off to Adelaide.
For those unfamiliar with Australia, Adelaide lies on the bottom middle bottom portion of Australia in South Australia. It is the area known for wonderful wines word wide!!! They come from the Barossa Valley and boy are they good :) . A highlight this time was buying butterscotch liquor that well… Is sort of like bailey’s but butterscotch tasting and made with wine as it’s base… What a combination!
During my stay here I got to also go to Victor Harbour, a beautiful area where I had a roasted garlic and pumpkin pizza (sounds funny but it was one of the best pizzas I have ever had!!!!). We also did a penguin tour where we say many a penguin, some possums and rats :) . The unfortunate part of the tour was learning that the island is open to people at night. This has killed off many of the penguin population to the point that the numbers have dropped by more than half on that side of the island in about the last 10 years. I was fortunate enough to have a koala spotting as well while I was here. On the side of the road sat a big koala. I know what you might be thinking… You are in Australia of course you will see a Koala… well the truth is many australians have only ever seen a koala in a zoo. They are not that common in the wild.
From Adelaide it was off to the big stay of two weeks in Melbourne and the purpose of my trip. My friend Natalie had her wedding on January 28th of which I was the main braidsmaid. An honour to say the least! You see the amazing part of this is that Nat and I have been penpals/penfriends since 1989. We have met 2 times in the past and well it is a wonderful friendship she and I share! To keep her mind off the wedding I managed to pre occupy her with various things such as visiting the Grampians (we left the day the big fires hit and can only imagine the amount of wildlife lost!), seeing the big Koala, the big cigeratte, the big ned kelly (should be mentioned I saw the big rocking horse in adelaide), paragliding, and the australian open tennis for two full days and nights!!!!
The wedding was absolutely beautiful. It was held under a huge oak tree (certified by the society itself), at a winery. The weather was looking a bit ify but it all came together beautifully as I had dreamt about the night before. Nat was stunning and well Luke looked pretty handsome in the tux!
From Melbourne it was off to Syndey for a visit with family friends who have a wonderful place in Erina (outside of sydney), and they have a pool. Next time I am going to take a dip in that pool! I got to feed a kookaburra here :) . I should mention I saw kangaroos and an echidna for the first time in the wild!
Next was the rock. It’s red and a rock…. Okay maybe it is a bit more than that. It is huge!!!! I thought we were doing well when we had hiked about 4 hours around the base of it. I looked at a map and we hadn’t even covered a 1/4 of the rock! This thing is massive. You can hike up it but the aborigines ask that you do not do to the fact that it is very sacred to them. It is also closed on very hot, wet or windy days. It was very hot while we were there (over 40 degrees each day). We also went to the Olgas where we hiked at 7am and well…. we are all dying of the heat by 8am!!! I can’t imagine the tour groups that came in after us at 9am to hike around there! They would have been sooooooo hot. Our final stop was kings canyon and cardiac hill. Cardiac hill is a nice steep climb up the side of a hill…. Not a typical hill let me say. It was actually very cool at the top so forget this cardiac stuff! The canyon was glorious! We even got to go swimming in the garden of eden. A beautiful pool at the bottom of the canyon. I made many new friends here!
From the center of Australia it was back to Sydney for a couple of days before I left for Hawaii. I caught with my friend Fiona for dinner in the harbour! What a lovely night that was :) . I should mention I went a bit nuts with books as well and souvenirs. You see I bought a good 4-6 books of which some are the big picture books (not light in the least). I have a back pack that I use as my luggage. By the time I got back to Canada, it was almost 60 pounds (2.2kg to a pound I think for you aussies). I also bought a picture by Ken Duncan (look him up on the internet to see some amazing photography!!!!!! I pale so badly in comparison to him). The picture itself is 18 inches but framed it is about 26-28 inches by 16-18 inches. What was I thinking…. My mind also left me when I decided to by a digeriedoo (hopefully spelt okay). Yes…. am truly nuts….. It gets better…. I bought 3 more framed items and other such breakables to bring back…. All in all I had my 60 pound backpack, a carry on bag about 15lbs of breakables and books… My backpack camera bag with camera, 3 bottles of wine and 98 rolls of film ( probably closs to 10 pounds), the digeriedoo, and the picture. I looked like a real tourist as a lady in the Hawaiin airport put it.
Hawaii was great…. Oahu brought Pearl Harbour and the Polynesian cultural center and show our way and the big island brought us the most amazing condo I’ve ever stayed in, turtles and huge amounts of tropical fish outside our door, the volcano national park, and deep sea fishing without the fish… oh and horseback riding. It may seem like I have not written much here on Hawaii but alas it was a wonderful and glorious time I just figure by now you are getting sick of reading so I condensed Hawaii a lot :) .
What I can tell you for sure was it was great to catch up with Kelso in Hawaii. I sure did miss him!
Take care one and all and I hope you enjoyed this write up of mine. I tried to keep it as short as possible and I will try to narrow my photos down when I send those off!
Take care,
Love megan

2 comments Friday 17 Feb 2006 | Slanty2K | SlantyNet - General

2 Responses to “First post: Home at last”

  1. on 20 Feb 2006 at 12:16 pm 1Blondie

    Re: Koala’s not being common in the wild…..Lonnie told me that it had something to do with the Eucalipt oils, and being a fire hazzard….

    tee hee hee

    Glad you had a good time. Now get to work and unpack your new house! You’ve got a housewarming party to host!!! Bahaha!!!

  2. on 20 Feb 2006 at 5:39 pm 224601

    No pressure though. ;-)

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