Mardi Gras parade tips

- If you get there at 2 or even 3 pm you will have a front row spot. The wait goes by quicker than you'd think.
- Set up on Oxford Steet.
- Get milk crates from a convenience store (seriously) or bring $10 to buy a seat. Even though you won't need them to stand on (since you are in the front row), you are sitting waiting for five hours. Also, a milk crate is wider than you are when standing, so you create more room for yourself and don't have people constantly quashing you.
- UMBRELLA -ella -ella -ella -AY AY Ay ay
- they move the fence forward at 6 pm or so. Hold on!

China town bank lions, Sydney. Nothing to do with Mardi Gras, sue me.

Sydney - parade vs. party

"Happy Mardi Gras!"

The wilderness/city opposites of the last post wasn't the only contrast for us in Sydney. Mardi Gras parade was fantastic while the after-party left something to be desired:

We got to the parade site at 2:00 pm (for a 7:30 pm start) so we had front row seats!

By the time it started, the streets were quite literally packed shoulder to shoulder:

Some of the floats were just beautiful and the vibe was awesome - cheering and smiles all around. Some favourite floats include the lifeguards, the giant-cd-fish, the Wizard of Oz, the children and parents, and the general diversity of all of them (like Thai Drag queens, or "Gay Anglicans with our Muslim friends"). We had so much fun!

VS.
In contrast, the after party was disappointing. There were thousands and thousands of people there, so I'm sure many people enjoyed it, but for us, the music was just awful. What's a dance party without good music? Plus, the atmosphere was... well, it felt like a combination of grad+YC+laser challenge+cattle yard+shirtless man-fest. Plus, did I mention the music? The taxi on the way home had better music. Don't get me wrong, I like trashy bar music. But this wasn't even that! Anyway, we had a good time making fun of it all.

[picture your grad after party] (we didn't take any pics, it turns out!)

Sydney - wilderness vs. city

Sydney was a place of opposites for us. First we stayed with local couchsurfer host Sara. Sara was wonderful. She picked us up at the airport, fed us, hung out with us, drove us around and was great to chat with.

Sara took us to nearby national park Ku-ring-gai. Even though it's super touristy in Sydney, we only saw two other people in the park - WAY more big spiders than people. We also saw a lace monitor (think of the evil Joanna on Rescuers Down Under. Man that was a good show.)

We hiked down to the ocean along the Flint and Steel track, where we found our own private beach to swim at. We did another short hike to an aboriginal stone carving site and then got a view of the city from Hunter's Hill.

host Sara near the beach

VS.
Next day we were in the city. Huge contrast: living in busy downtown at big 780 on George hostel, this was all hustle and bustle. We spent our days exploring, one of the highlights being a ferry trip to Manly Beach past the famous opera house.

Manly beach area

Opera house and its reflection in ferry window

The Nunnery in Cairns

When we arrived in Cairns, we showed up at the hostel which we had booked based on a recommendation from Lonely Planet, which regarded the Cairns Women's Hostel as "the best" in Cairns.  It was very clean, the manager Dawn was super friendly, and (as stated in Lonely Planet) she referred to each of her "guests by name.  Alison and i were a bit shocked when we headed to bed at 10 pm on that first night, that 5/6 of the girls in our room were already in bed!!!  This is very ironic, considering at the hostel we stayed during our first week in Australia at Byron Bay (the Arts Factory) has a pretty active party scene, however Alison and I were so Jet Legged it was all we could to to stay up until 9 (and then we were wide awake at 4am, when our bunk mates were just stumbling home from the bar).

As all tourists do in Cairns, we did a one day Great Barrier reef trip, which included an intro dive and snorkeling.  We went with a company called Reef Experience, based on Dawn's recommendation.  They were good.  There were only about 30 others on our trip (if you go with a cheaper trip, you could end up with 100+ people on your boat) and the ship crew were very friendly.  The first reef we went to was awesome- lots of fish and we even saw a shark!! (calm down mom, it was only a meter long!)  The second reef was a bit disappointing as it was very "dusty" due to cyclone that had passed through several weeks ago.  the coolest thing we saw there were "sea feathers"- a type of star fish that looks kinda like sea weed on a piece of coral. 

We also did a tour of the tabletop region, which is the rain forest region that surrounds Cairns.  Our tour guide "Captain Matty" was fun, but also told some pretty tall tales.  For one, he had us all convinced that we needed to beware of "drop bears", a carnivorous cousin of the koala bear. 

Captain Matty and his tour bus

Alison with the Cathedral Fig tree we saw.  It was giant.  And beautiful.

Our day with Captain Matty was full of waterfalls (we saw 5), a couple of trees, a couple nice lookouts, and lots of swimming (Ail was in her glory).  The thing about the rain forest is, 80% of what is in it is poisonous (or so said our exaggerating tour guide) AND IT IS ALSO FULL OF LEECHES.  gross.  I spent the day walking very carefully (this was probably the worst day to wear flip flops.  ever.)  And the tally at the end of the day was:

Caryn: 0 leaches

Alison: 2 leaches.



Alison and some boys from our group swimming in the waterfall.

Here i was being a creep, taking pictures of these people who were definitely not on our tour.  What can i say?  I love polka-dots and photo good photo ops.

Alison on big rock next to the river after one of the waterfalls.

Another thing we did in Cairns was go to the Art Gallery.  There were some really great exhibits.  This one with birds, and a glass exhibit.  Some pictures:

One of our favorites.  These were blocks, and there were bird images on every side of them.  It was pretty stunning.

Byron Bay

So we haven't really said anything about where we currently are.  After landing in Brisbane on Thursday, we took a bus to Byron Bay (its on the coast, and about a 2 hour drive).  Byron Bay kind of reminds me of a tropical Tofino in some ways as it is a surf town full of hippy like people.  But it is much busier than Tofino, and larger.
We stayed overnight in The Arts Factory hostel, which is very neat.  They have free didgeridoo making sessions, yoga, hand drumming workshops, talent shows and live entertainment.  Oh also nature walks.  Alison, as I um...type... is on a nature walk. 

After one night at the Arts Factory we moved to a apartment style hotel room as Jen and her husband Kyle came down from Brisbane for the weekend.  Alison and I did surf lessons on Friday, and then did 'part two' of our lessons with Jen and Kyle on Saturday.  It was awesome.  I have surfed probably 5 times before, but it is something that i think takes alot of practice.  Needless to say, it is going to be a while before i can quit my job and become a professional surfer.  Actually, considering the only place i will have to practice when i return to Edmonton is West Ed water park, it is very likely that this may never happen.  I digress....

On Sunday we hiked up to the Byron Bay lighthouse which has amazing views of the surrounding beaches.  As we were looking down on a group of surfers we saw a bunch (that sounds like bananas....a school?  a pod?  I have no idea what a group of dolphins are!) of dolphins playing with surfers who were a ways from the shore. 

Today is Monday- our last day in Byron before we head to Brisbane to spend some time at Jen's.  We rented a surfboard and caught maybe 5 waves total between us.  But that was not for lack of trying!

For those who may be envious of the weather let me say that yesterday had me re-considering my dislike of winter.  I know, i know, it may seem that i am never happy.  But let me just say that 38* is a little too hot for this prairie girl.

(ps.  I tried to add pictures to this post but it kept 'rejecting' me.  thanks a lot google.  anyways we will post pictures soon!  for now you must just imagine white sand beaches, green green green trees, and aqua water!)

Labyrinth walk

Feeling great, more comfortable with this traveling thing already.

Last night Jen (Caryn's friend who is living here), Caryn and I walked down to the beach at night. It was incredibly beautiful. The full moon was reflected off the water and bright enough to cast our shadows. It was still warm, but pleasant, and the sound of the ocean was good for this Saskatchewan kid.

While Caryn and Jen caught up I messed about on the beach. The sand is so fine and, from a practical point of view, very easy to work with (as in sand castles, duh). So, I made a labyrinth! Thought my labyrinth/camp champs would like to know my thoughts:

Very thankful. Thankful for Caryn, thankful that we can go on this trip. Must remember to be thankful for all this. For the first time in my many labyrinth walks I was thankful for labyrinths themselves. As I was walking out, I realized my labyrinth was going to be washed away (I know, quite a classic problem). Anyway, it really hit me how everything is temporary. Think about it. This trip, people, relationships, events. It reminded me to APPRECIATE. So, that is what I will try to do.

And I appreciate all of you. Thanks for all the comments on the last post, we are thinking about you daily. xo!