All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go.

So I leave Australia tomorrow for home. It's strange, I think I'm more nervous coming back than I was leaving. I actually can't wait to get home. It's strange, I leave here at 10:20am and fly to L.A. 13 1/2 hours later I arrive the same day at 6:30am. I have a 6 hour layover and get back to Chicago at 6:15pm. Sweet.

The last couple days I've been sick. It's a little frustrating since it's my last night here. I went to bed at 5pm yesterday and got up at 3pm today. And the hot water heater broke today.

On the plus side, Manly is really beautiful. The coastline is full of high cliffs with small villas nested away in them. They're all different colors, so it looks really cool.

Heading back to bed. I'll see you all soon!

I'm at an internet cafe in Cairns. Flying back to Sydney at 5:30 in the am, and spending the last couple days there. Things are winding down, and this morning I parted ways with the two German girls I was travelling with. We were running late getting to the bus, and I just caught it as it was pulling out. Grabbed my bags and left.

It wasn't til I got a message 3 hours later that I realized I had left my shoes and my jacket in the car. Crap.

I feel like I've been posting much more than I actually have. I'm really looking forward to coming home, seeing friends, and getting things straightened out. Been feeling really disconnected lately, and a little cloudy. I've had a good time here, and it's been a great experience, but I'm looking forward to being able to actually work toward something when I get back. Also looking forward to:

-My big bed
-Chicago style hot dogs
-Knowing where the next shower is
-More consistent temperatures (half the time it was just below freezing in the morning and 78 during the day.)
-No more metric or Celcius.
-A nice kitchen!

These are some more photos that I liked.

Australia dollars are way cooler than U.S. dollars. And they're plastic.

The remains of a campfire at the hostel Cool Bananas in 1770.

I was the only American, so the guy gave me this chopper to ride. Way fun.

The view from the small plane with the side window open!

Me looking pretty rough on the last day of sailing.

Snorkelling at Maureen's Cove off the Whitsundays.

Intoxicating with adventure.

No pictures right now, because the internets are crummy.

In Airlie Beach right now, leaving for a sailing trip in a couple hours. Going snorkeling in the Whitsundays! The past couple days were spent in Agnes Water and the Town of 1770. It's really cheap to do lots of things there, and the towns are pretty nice. And tiny.

1770 is named after Captain Cook's discovery of Queensland in the year 1770. There's 110 houses and 80 full time residents. Agnes Water has about 2000 residents, but the place is fairly up to date, although my cell carrier had no reception there either.

I rode a small-engine chopper for an afternoon, which was really fun! We stayed at a place called Cool Bananas that had a fire pit, hammocks, and a sweet kitchen. The next day I got surf lessons in the morning, and in the afternoon went up in a 4-seater plane for the afternoon! We did some rollercoaster-style tricks and corkscrews, and I even got to fly for about twenty minutes. It's actually pretty easy. It was really cool, and then we landed on a beach and shucked some oysters to eat because it was low tide. Crazy!

Two days jam packed full of exclamation points. Wow!

4 minute post

I'm in Gayndah. It's small. They have a grocery store, a petrol station, one school, two bars, and a bottle shop. And maybe a thousand residents. And lots of farms.

Picking mandarins is better than picking strawberries, and I can say that I haven't forgotten how to climb trees. We have big ladders, and one huge ladder for the tallest trees. Worked a long day the other day, and watched the sun set over the orchard from the top of one of the tall trees. That was kind of cool. I also get to drive the tractor and feed the cows some mandarins when we're done for the day.

There's no cell phone reception within 100 miles of here. Weird.

Lots of stuff!

Lots of new things in the past week or so. And not much computer time.

Went canoeing in the Noosa Everglades which wasn't as cool as I thought it would be. But there is a huge patch of sand in the middle of a raised forest that feels like a desert. That was strange. Canoeing isn't that fun when there's nothing to look at, though.

Also went ocean kayaking at Rainbow Beach and saw a sea turtle and loads of dolphins. It was a short time, but lots of fun. We drove up to Hervey Bay that night, so I didn't get a chance to see much in Rainbow Beach.

Hervey bay is full of old people, and along the beach there's exercise equipment that looks exactly like the blue and orange playground equipment. It also has a ferry to Fraser Island where we went 4x4 driving and stayed for three days. There were three groups of eight people in the trucks, and it was really amazing.

It's the largest sand island in the world, full of small lakes and things to go see. And there were lots of dingos so we had to keep all the trash and food in the car. Tons of fun, and Lake Mackensie looks like the lagoon from the movie, "The Beach."

Heading to Bundaberg tomorrow, and I'll be there a little while. Keep the bbq warm for me, I'll be home soon.

Inside the truck.

I'm on the left. The weird guy in our group was off somewhere.

Indian heads.

Camping on the beach at night, trucks lighting dinner.

Kingfisher Bay. See the two dingos?

Lake Wabby on the right. There's someone right in the middle of this photo.

Lake Mackensie. Unreal.

Cool sand in Maroochydore.

moving on.

Leaving Maroochydore today. Heading back up toward Noosa, and it's pretty open after that. It will be nice travelling by car, because you can get to a lot of places that the bus system won't go.

It's been fun here, working and hanging out with several people doing the same thing. I'll keep everyone updated.

Walking on the backs of dinosaurs, drinking from the fountain of youth.

A lot of work lately, but going out and having fun with people from work and the hostel. Doing some fishing, and I made some mean pan-fried brim the other day that I caught. And surprisingly, it was good.

I've been on a strange food kick lately, craving tomatoes like they were potato chips. Three or four a day. It's weird. Those, and navel oranges. They're like 50 cents a pound here. Also been drinking lots of tea, and it's been about a month since I've had any pop. I don't know how I'm coping, but it's working out ok.

Climbing in the Glass House mountains on Wednesday, and kayaking after work tomorrow. Maroochydore is a fairly small town, but there seems to be plenty to do. Leaving here at the end of the week to go north.

I've been trying to keep a tally of everything I've had stolen. (most because I was careless_

-2 beach towels

-2 bottles of body wash (aggravating!)

-2 cups

-1 spoon

-1 sweatshirt

-1 jar of Dick's peanut butter

I hope to post more often, with photos of me in them rather than just things I'm looking at.

Had to, because he's so damn cute.

A small crab was making these, clearing sand for his home.

Strangely textured rocks near the beach.



Bare feet and sea cucumbers. They're not really exciting.

A sea slug. Way cooler than the cucumbers.

Me, recreating a pose. The Guiness is pretty good.

Farmer tan. For true though.

Been working in Maroochydore for the past week, and I'll be here for the next as well. It's warmer here, hot days and cool nights. Picking strawberries is pretty back-breaking, but there's a group of us so it's not awful.

The place I'm staying is fun, and has a pool and hammocks. I may have to install one in the aparment when I get back.

Hope Chicago is going well. I miss softball and barbecues. Happy 4th!

The farm, and some of the people I work with.

It's nice to wake up like this after a weekend nap.

Noosa.

It's not raining today and it feels great. Stayed in Noosa Heads for a few days, but mostly got lots of rain. Went to one of the national parks the other day, and had a really good time. Saw some huge trees being strangled by smaller ones, crazy birds that sound like baboons, and a python!

I'm heading to Maroochydore today to work picking strawberries for a couple weeks. Rad.

Beaches.

From Port Macquarie, I took a bus to Byron Bay. It's amazing, and I should have stayed there an extra couple days. Met a couple Swiss kids that spoke French and hitched a ride with them up to Surfer's Paradise. We went through Nimbin on the way, which is a small sort of hippie commune. Stayed in Surfer's for a few days, and moving on tomorrow. Gotta wash my clothes tonight.

Almost stepped on this little guy near the beach.

Crazy weather on the ride up to Byron.

Amazing lookout in Byron Bay next to the lighthouse.

The lighthouse and me.

The Swiss siblings. They were so '80's it's not even funny.

Weather sucks.

It's been raining for days. I'm in Port Macquarie now, a nice town that is the unofficial koala capital. There's lots of beaches, and a lighthouse a couple hours walk. There was a break in the weather today and I went to the koala hospital about 20 minutes walk away. Started pouring after two blocks!

Koala's are ridiculously cute. Ridiculous. And they have an uncanny ability to curl into a ball and sleep on a branch sitting up. They only fall out of the tree sometimes. Unfortunately I forgot my camera. Some are only about 8-9 lbs, and some get up to about 35 lbs. Neat.

Heading to Byron Bay tomorrow. Woo!

How ya goin', mate?

More photos. Not much as far as inland areas go, it's pretty much all coast and beach here. Lots of pelicans, they hang out like kids by the guys cleaning fish.

That dolphin was swimming between the rocks just below me. Kind of cool.

A rough 9-8 loss for Wicked Awesome, you'll get them next time!

Tea and Scrumpets.

Just a few pictures because the internet is so slow here.

Been rockin' the breakfast every morning, and I think I'm bringing a suitcase full of crumpets home with me.

The scenery here is crazy, so I've been walking a lot. There's three beaches right nearby, and one is nine miles long. I walked half way up it and back the other day. Saw lots of dolphin playing and fishing, and lots of Lorakee(?) parrots that are green, with blue, red, orange, and yellow markings. On the way back, a couple dingos came nearby. They were looking for food. Bigger than I thought they would be.

And I made pasta sauce from scratch last night. Peeled the tomatoes and everything. A good way to kill 2 1/2 hours.

Email me your addresses so I can send postcards!

Yum.

This guy wasn't sure about me.

"Good news, everyone!"

I got my work visa granted.

Been in Forster-Tuncurry for the past week, trying to relax a bit. The coastline is unreal here, straight out of some retirement fund commercial. I'm working at a hostel here in the mornings for a couple hours in exchange for accomodation. It's pretty nice, even though the sun feels like it's setting all day, and is down by about 4:30.

I'm at the library right now, because there's free internet. The other options are $8 an hour down the street at a computer store, or $6 an hour at the hostel. On a machine from 1982. With no mouse.

Been hanging out with this Italian guy named Marco who's also working at the hostel. It's fun and I'm learning how to cook. Last night I did Nile Perch with potatoes, onions, and peppers on the BBQ. Yes, yes it was awesome.

I'll probably be here for a few more days, and then head north.

Looks like Wicked Awesome is off to a great start, and I hope the rest of the season will be well documented as well. Miss all you guys lots and lots.

I'll post pictures hopefully tomorrow, I forgot my camera today. And it's a 40 minute walk to the library.

another quick one.

I tried this the other day for about 45 minutes and at the end of it, the computer I was working on crashed. So here's a brief synopsis:

Sydney is fun. I'm going a little ways north to either A) work at a hostel on the beach, B) wwoof for some organic hippie types, or C) (cross your fingers) work for a guy on a 38 foot sailboat near Byron Bay.

There's some crazy cars here, my favorite being a thing that looks like a new, sweet El Camino.

I was surprised to find out that the population is roughly 65% Asian to 35% Caucasian, with a few percent being Indian. And four black people.

These are some pictures of Darling Harbor which was really nice to walk around in. The bridge is really big, and that's over by the Opera House.

The last one is at a bar I went to yesterday next to where I'm staying. They have crab races every Monday night! Number 18 won, I did not. But this girl won a 3 day 2 night sailing trip at Whitsunday Island. Good job little crab!

word.

Sydney is fun. It's a lot like Chicago, but there's more independent shops and things in addition to the chains. I'll probably be leaving here in the next couple days, as the visa/phone/work-travel membership things are still getting worked out. Going to Wwoof north of here, which should be fun and save me some money until I can work.

Walked around a lot since I've got time to kill. Took the mandatory pictures of the Opera House, bridge and harbor. I'll post soon. The weather has been gorgeous, 65ish and sunny since I've been here, but it's weird. It's "winter" so the sun starts to go down around 4:30 or 5. Anyway, I'll keep y'all updated soon.

quickly

Getting all the visa stuff straightened out has been way more of a hassle than I thought it would. You can get a passport in a couple days, or even the same day, but it takes all kinds of jumping through hoops and clearing red tape for the visa.

School's done, and graduation was actually pretty cool. It took too long, but it was nice, and the party afterwards turned out to be a great time. Thanks to Caleb and Liz for various whiskeys, and Matuska for the Chinese surprise gift. Butterfly clips rock.

Spent another day-and-a-half visiting my parents, which always feels a little bit like the twilight zone. Time seems to pass differently than normal, and I feel like I'm always just waiting to get home.

Scanning books and sites about packing and what to bring/what should be left. I leave for the airport in 44 hours.

My 'morrows always seemed just fine.

Been a while.

School is almost done. Busy weekend ahead. I'm going to have an empty house to force me to get work done, and it seems pretty much everyone is out of town, so I'll have no distractions. Just a few more days.

It was one of those weeks where the nights turned into mornings, basic things like laundry and food took a backseat to getting shit done, and Johnny Walker became a nighttime companion.

One of my classes involves myself, and 5 others from from Engineering, Design, and an MBA student. Tuesday we had to give a final presentation to the vice president of product development for Motorola. I was running on 1 hour of sleep. Our MBA student was late. And consequently, we finished our presentation with her dictating the last 4 slides to another group member in the car on the way to Motorola. It was neat.

Worked out in the end, and our group actually "won" for the most innovative concept and product ecosystem. Anyway, we got some recognition, and supposedly they're going to give us each a new phone for winning. woo.

I have a busy couple weeks ahead as well. Graduation next Saturday, and I'm going to have to stick a party in somewhere. Leave for Australia a week from the following Monday. I have to get home to see my family a little before I leave, too.

I took this photo because it made me smile the other day. Granted I'd been awake for about 30 hours, but I still think it's funny.

We've started making good use of our back porch recently. The other night, we were sitting back there talking, listening to music, and enjoying the weather. Because it's staying light later, everything was cast in a sort of blue glow from the twilight. It reminded me of how the snow-covered ground in the winter starts to look blue after a few minutes.

Colin told me about different places in San Francisco. I've never been west of the Mississippi, so I've got to work on that. Apparently their China-Town is far superior to our own, here in Chicago. There's lots of open-air fish markets, the entire population is actually Chinese, and there's different menus for tourists. Also, most meals have some sort of cold fish and rice, regardless whether it's breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I was advised to read the Joy Luck Club.

Other places of note were the Golden Gate Park, wine country (in general), and Sausalito. I don't know what any of these are but maybe I'll get to San Francisco someday.

Brian talked more about Australia and seeing the road trains on the west coast. One way of transporting goods across the continent is by truck and trailer. Apparently, they've got semi trucks that drag along a series of trailers up to five or six, winding uncontrollably down the road. I've heard the best thing to do in a situation when one of these is headed your way, is to just pull off the road as far as you safely can.

Liz spoke of a guy named Giovanni from a small hotel in Rome. He was very nice, and he and his brother were concierges at the hotel where Liz stayed. Giovanni had his own restaurant, which turned out to be a few tables off an alley somewhere near his home. He cooked Liz and her friend an amazing meal with many different courses, and accompanied by a variety of wines. If I ever end up going to Italy, it seems like the kind of place I'd like to visit.

I still have a couple weeks of school left. It's weird to think if I'm never going to see most of these people again, or if we're going to stay in touch. Or where everyone will go when we part ways. Weird. But I guess it's all part of moving onto another chapter.

Elaboration.

Thursday I bought a ticket to Australia. I've never been there, and it's somewhere I can go fairly cheaply, support myself, and speak the language. It's pretty much the best time I could think of to do this sort of thing since I'm kind of lacking career employment for the moment. And in the long run, what's an extra couple grand on top of the loans I'm already going to be paying off? An extra ten dollars a month?

The ticket says I'll be gone from May 21st to August 21st. I'm going to end up missing softball, which sucks, but maybe I'll learn to play rugby or throw a boomerang instead.

I've never really traveled for any length of time, so it should be a pretty good experience.