Queensland

Feb 27-March 5
Craig came up from Sydney for us to see the east coast together! We drove from Rainbow beach to Noosa, where we saw a lookout with 360 degree views, flying ants and blue butterflies. The main street in Noosa is so quaint, full of shops! Went to the beach to take some pics of me and the Tsunami that hit Aussie. Michelle was so worried back home about it, but everyone in Oz was joking about it because aparently is was a 20 cm wave or something like that! That night we went to watch Valentines Day and I was so excited to do something that reminded me of home!
The next day... downpour, again. Nothing to do. We stayed in Mooloolaba and went to the Ettamogah Pub for dinner. The weather can really put you in a shitty mood when you are a tourist and there is literally nothing to do when it's raining this hard outside.
The next day we decided to go to the Gold Coast but the guy at the hotel said that that rain is even worse so we're going to drive to Byron Bay instead. I found out that the rain Queensland has gotten in the past month has been the worst in the past 126 years! Flooding everywhere in this area---of course they've been in a drought for the past 7 years and the few weeks that I'm here, the weather gods decide to flood the area. Nice.

March 3rd: Totally homesick today. We drove to Nimbin, this Hippie town and I ran into the Canadian boys from my sailing trip, and Ellen from Fraser--what a small world! I laughed so hard at all the little stickers and signs in Nimbin because they reminded me of Eliane. I miss her tons today. I'm also so indecisive about my Africa trip--don't know which tour to choose? ahhhhh.... I guess I should be saying, "life is good" if this is what my worry is right now.

March 4th: Finally, a nice day out! Craig and I went up to Cape Byron, the most eastern point of Australia. Also went to see the Byron lighthouse. This afternoon we took some surf lessons. Our instructor picked us up at 2 and we drove to Lennox Head, which is the river mouth that hits the ocean. I of course, was disappointed with the fact that I was going to learn to surf in a murky river, versus the beautiful Byron Bay... but the waves were just too big to learn anything for a beginner. After learning how to surf I realized that the tiny waves were perfect for us! The first thing we did was learned the basics of the board: fins, nose, tail, rails on the side. Next we learned the stages of getting up:
1. paddle
2. chicken wing (hand/arm position)
3. knees
4. foot positioning
5. up
What a fantastic feeling when I was actually able to ride the wave! Surfing was easier than I thought it would be, but I would definitely need to take several more lessons to get better! Overall, a fabulous day today.

Our last night here before Craig leaves to go back to Sydney. He took me out to Hogs Breath Cafe for a steak dinner. He caught me totally by surprise with a beautiful momento ... a pen with my name engraved on it, to represent all of our discussions in the car over the past 5 days and the things we want to do with our lives!