SYD 2 BALI, that's in Indonesia!

Back Sydney, off to Bali

We started our day off flying from Ayers Rock back to Sydney where we were going to meet up with some friends from Encinitas (Benji & Greg) for a little clubbin'. We got a pretty cool room right in Manly Beach, (1/2 hour or so from Sydney). As the night rolled around we put some food in our bellies and proceeded to make party. Got to bed @ 2am.

Waking up feeling like ummmm not that good, ate a little breaky then left for the airport. In the terminal right next t our gate was the first flight of the new Airbus Jet....there was a big party and we got to see it take off.....the thing was f-ing gigantic...two stories all around, queen size beds, bar, and can hold like 500 people.

I hate arriving in foreign countries late at night. Landed in Bali @ about 11pm, customs is sooo confusing, we waited in about 20 different lines and finally made it through. Our driver was waiting on the other side with a sign saying Brok Marcel, so awesome. Checked into UN's (our hotel) and fell to sleep

Woke up, looked out our door across the pool and low and behold was 'ol Brendan Raasch. After a little breakfast we rented scooters and tossed ourselves into the madness that is Bali traffic. No words can describe the driving in Bali. So we scooted around, shopped, went to Kuta Beach and met up with Frankie and Sasha from Enc. They had been in Bali for a week or so already, they showed the hot spots and low spots.

Fun day.

Ay! there's that Rock

Awesome flight from Cairns to Ayers Rock. The Red Center of Australia, it's called this because it's red......wow. And this is where the alien rock they call Uluru lives.

In the "Uluru/Kata Tjuta" park the are two rock outcroppings, Uluru aka Ayres Rock, which is a single solid rock-and about 45km's away is a series of giant rocks called the Olgas or Kata Tjuta. Flat for 1000 of km's in either way around them. Both are very sacred places for the Aboriginal people, and should not be climbed! I was thinking a curse of the Pharaoh type scenario, so I did not climb. People do climb the rock though....pricks, they will get the curse.

The town only consists of 1 hotel, 1 store ($50 6 packs of beer), 1 restaurant, and home to the biggest spiders in the world....think you're hand walking around. Brooke being an awful arachniphobe was not keen on this feature.

So for the next two days we cruised around the desert in our little Hyundai seeing the sights, taking hikes and watching the sun rise and set. Really amazing place.

S.S. Puke

Finally, the Great Barrier Reef. This has been something I have wanted to do my entire life. Considering the GBR is diminishing tremendously by the day and may not even be around in 20 years, I feel very lucky to have seen it with my own eyes.

Being the pirates Micah and I are (or wish we were), we hopped onto the super tough ship that would take us out the the GBR. It was more like a luxury catamaran than a ship, and with a name like "Reef Magic", I guess we aren't such pirates after all. Anyways, the day was nice and sunny, the seas a bit rough, but we could handle it. Micah popped a couple of ginger pills to avoid sea-sickness and off we went.

Ok, so, have any of you seen the movie Problem Child 2? You know that puke scene when they are on the ride at the fair, where one person pukes then another one follows and it's just a giant puke fest? Well, I felt like I was smack dab in the middle of that scene about 15 minutes into the 1 1/2 hour ride out to the GBR. People were puking left and right, running towards the back of the boat with full cheeks and green faces. I know it sounds gross, but it was actually quite comical . . . I think because we were practically the only ones who did not get sick.

We finally arrived at "Marine World" which is an anchored down, big snorkeling platform that lays beside a part of the GBR. Our boat pulled up beside and it was time to get in the water!!!! With snorkels on and fins flapping, we were the first ones in the water and the first ones to get our photo taken with "Wally" the Maori Wrase fish. He lives in that area of the reef and is very friendly. He swam right up to us for his photo-op.

I cannot even begin to describe the beauty of the coral and fish. It was so beautiful and bright, I'm talking full on 80's under the water, not just the temp, but the colors. Everything was fluorescent blue, green, pink, etc. It looked like al the fish were wearing zinc oxide on their faces.

We took a quick break from snorkeling and took a ride in a semi-submersible boat where we got to see more of the reef, the really deep parts and a lot more coral. We stayed out there for about five hours and came back to port feeling great. We dropped off our amazing van and stayed in a hotel where we slept for a few hours, tomorrow . . . Ayers Rock!!

xo

Brooke

The Daintree

We finally arrived in Cairns, it only took us two weeks, whoa. Long time driving but a beautiful one. The surroundings have changed from desert and farm lined roads with kangaroo and koala crossing signs to thick rainforest lined roads with kangaroo and koala crossing signs.

The campsite we stayed at was the best one yet, more like a resort, complete with mini-golf, pools, golf carts, ping pong, tennis, and b-ball. Micah and I played two rounds of mini-golf and guess who won? Me, duh, I kicked Micah's little behind both times.

We woke up bright and early and headed up to the Daintree National Park which is pretty much a gigantic rainforest. First thing we did was take the good ol' "Croc Express" boat ride through the mangroves in search of, well, crocs. We saw tons of birds, a tree snake and still no crocs. Boo-hoo. "Oh look, there's one" our guide whispers. "Where, where . . . holy s@!t" I whisper back. There he was, a not so impressive four feet of scales and teeth. Even though he wasn't that big, it was really exciting to see a croc in the wild.

Early afternoon rolled around and it was time for Micah to hit the skate park. While he shredded I strolled down the boardwalk that runs along the beach and saw some of the biggest pelicans I've ever seen in my life. I swear they must have been six feet tall. There were tons of nerdy birders watching the pelicans in all their splendor, equipped with binocs, North Face khaki cargos, kakadu and camo button ups. I think I had a better time watching them the the actual birds themselves. Seriously, is there anything nerdier than bird watchers?

When Micah was finished skating we took a quick dip in the man made lagoon because, once again, we could not go in the beautiful Coral Sea due to all of the deadly creatures just waiting to get a nibble of a tourist appendage.

Can't wait til tomorrow, we are off the snorkel the Great Barrier Reef!!!

xo

Brooke

From The Goldy to Whitsundays

Said goodbye to Andy, Carley, Kalani, Jarrah, Corey and Sarah then started off on a 1200km marathon. First we had to drop off "the van we do not speak of" in Brisbane, exchanging it for a beautiful new campervan. God liked us again.

Clocking major km's and one overnight stop we arrived in the dirty backpacker haven of Airlie Beach. Filled with beer swilling 18-21 yr old "world travelers". Really they just go from country to country getting wasted, I guess there's nothing wrong with that. I found out the walk of shame exists in every country. No shortage of people walking in the streets @ 7am in last nights clothes.

The town itself is really cool and beautiful. No swimming in the ocean though....box jellyfish and irankanjis inhabit these waters...nothing but palm trees, white sand, turquoise water and "kill you in 10 seconds" jellyfish. I know you love it Chris! So Brooke and I found a skatepark and shredded all day, Brooke was ripping. It was her favorite skatepark so far.

We caught a ferry out to the Whitsunday Islands, same shit out there though. Beautiful, look but don't touch. We did hang out with some really cool Cockatoos though.

A couple days in Airlie was enough, and with our time in Aus coming closer to an end, we decided to get on the road to Cairns (only a couple hours away), our jump off point for the Great Barrier Reef.

Pancho, Lefty & The Cisco Kidd

Last days with Andy. So much fun. Started out with a sweet drive down to Byron Bay for a little bronzing and touristing. Whales came by the beach to say hi to me, (not Brooke). Then we headed on back to Andy's and started cooking up a vegi feast.

Later in the day we took a trek up a mountain to the tippy top of the cliff. There a lighthouse sat, and the most easterly point of Australia. And I saw a sea turtle from there, he waved hi. Fun.

After dinner and some drinks everybody was lookin for some action.....DJ "AWord" hosted an awesome post diner dance-a-thon...just what we needed

So much fun, going to miss Andy and his family. Hope to see them sooner than later.

Oh yeah, I have know idea why I called this Pancho, Lefty & the Cisco Kidd.

Laura. Coco and Bunny

While Micah was staying with Andy on the Gold Coast, I went up to Noosa Heads with Laura and Coco (aka Sarah and Corey). Corey grew up in Noosa so we drove up to stay in his dad's beautiful home and relax for the weekend. We got in late on a Friday night after about a two and a haf hour drive, had a cocktail with Corey's dad, and hit the sack.

Sarah and I woke up and took a walk through Noosa Heads National Park which sits right above the beach. The walk started off great, it was sunny, not too hot and brush turkeys were digging nests right off of the trail. Then, IT happened. God only knows where these flies blew in from, but I can only imagine that they came from hell. Our leisurely stroll through the park turned into a sprint to the finish line so the flies wouldn't get us. We felt like those little African kids you see in those commercials where they try to get you to donate money. I'm talking flies in the eyes, covering all exposed skin. The view was great though, well, what I could see through my fly infested eyes was crystal blue water, white sand beaches, and palm trees (at least I think).

Sarah and I ate a delish brekkie and then hit the beach where we met a couple of Sarah's topless friends. Sarah and I stuck out like sore thumbs and must have looked like American prudes considering we both kept our tops AND bottoms on. Even grandmothers were strolling the beach topless, not a pretty sight my friends.

After we swam and bronzed at Main Beach, we hit the town. Had some cocktails and dinner and then hit the "Surf Club" where the fun began. They had a terrible live cover band who I thought was soooo bad until they played Devo. My dancing shoes came out and the sweat started to drip. Sarah and I hit the dance floor until closing time, which was about 12:30 while Corey drank his brewskies and watched from a distance. Corey found a bracelet on the ground that said "Laura" and gave it to Sarah, hence the nickname "Laura". Then it was time for "Reef". All I have to say is . . . whoa. Sarah and I made up some of the best dance moves EVER, like "the bunny", hence my new nickname, "Bunny" and the "straight legged bend and snap to half bunny". We had a fan club, people totally copying our moves and asking to take pictures with us, yes, we are THAT good. We walked home at 3am sweaty and sore and looked at the beautiful stars. I began to call Corey, "Coco" for no apparant reason and it just stuck.

The next morning was a long and tiring drive back to the good old Gold Coast where I reunited with Micah and began another adventure . . . .

xo

Bunny