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I forgot about this one!  I left Portland February 25, so March 25 I was… sailing the Whitsundays in Australia! At this point in my travels, it felt like I’d been out of the US for ages. So long in fact, that I’d started calling it “America” instead of “the US”

How cool is it to be surfing in the morning and be back in Sydney for a concert at the Opera House that night? Very cool, indeed. This morning’s surfing was much better than yesterday. We were all glad to have Kyle back (he actually gets in the water), and the waves were alright, not [...]

The day of unfun… Today was Kyle’s day off. So Lester (the “surf legend” and resident curmudgeon) took us out for the day. Turns out Lester is an old codger and it felt like we did more driving around than surfing. We finally stopped at a spot, but the waves were brutal. I wasn’t even [...]

Today was our first full day of surfing. After breakfast, we drove out to the campground (that they used to use as base camp) and started surfing. Today is much better than yesterday. All of the paddling is still tiring, but I feel like I’m actually accomplishing something. The waves are milder here. After [...]

Surf camp! I checked out early this morning and walked down to Central Station to meet the surf van. It looks like there will be seven of us, three girls and four guys. The drive north, near Byron, took about six hours and we stopped along the way for lunch and the bottle shop. Kyle [...]

I spent 3 days in Sydney before heading back up the coast for my surf trip. Here are my favorite things about Sydney:

Walking over the Harbour Bridge. Sydney is such a gorgeous port city. The view from the bridge was great. However, the Sydney Opera House looks bigger on TV. ;)
Circular Quay (pronounced ‘key’) and [...]

It’s autumn Down Under, so it’s been raining off and on all week. Thankfully, my sailing trip was clear skies, but I don’t think my Fraser island trip will have such luck. The bus from Airlie Beach arrived in Hervey Bay around 7am. My hostel offered a free pickup service, which helps my post-sailing budget [...]

Goodbye, Cairns. Hello, Whitsunday Islands. I snagged a cheap JetStar flight (cheaper than busing for 12 hours) down to Airlie Beach for my sailing trip. I ended up splurging on a 3 day/3 night trip on a 82′ maxi yatch.
After checking in for the trip, I grabbed some horrible Mexican food. I really need [...]

Culture Shock! Wow, I miss Japan. ;) The flight to Cairns wasn’t too bad, but I got snagged out of the Customs line for questioning. Do I really look like a hippy backpacker? Anyway, they wanted to know why I didn’t have a flight out of Australia already booked if I only plan [...]