Cheers to Sydney

This will probably be my last blog until I get to China...

After Raychel left last week, it has just been Sam R and I left here. She went up to the Gold Coast and Surfer's Paradise for a few days and then I flew up to Byron Bay to meet her last Saturday. We checked into the hostel that night and just chilled out by the campfire in the back yard with some other backpackers. Unfortunately didn't get much sleep that night due to the jack hammer-like sound coming from our English roommate! It was actually so loud I had to laugh! Sam and I woke up the next morning and went for a morning beach walk, then she went on a whale watching tour while I laid on the beach and roamed the little surfing town. That night we sat by the fire again and got into conversation with some Germans and a Canadian. They were working at the hostel so they could get free accommodation- I was beginning to wonder how all these backpackers managed to pay for 3 months of travel!

The next morning (Monday) we went for another long beach walk and hopped into a tour bus to check out a few surrounding small towns and the countryside. One of the stops was at this guy Paul's house. He grows everything himself on 80 hectares of land and has not left his house for 10 years! His appearance is pretty funny, my face in the picture is after seeing the spider that seemed to live in his hair... but nonetheless his hippie home was pretty cool.

Tuesday Sam and I went for a last beach walk all the way up this cliff to a lookout spot where we actually saw whales and dolphins in the distance. You could see the whales because they were blowing air out of their blow holes and one did the big breach out of the water! Byron Bay is the most Eastern tip of Australia and all the whales have to swim by there each year in order to mate. They go all the way from Antarctica to Indonesia to do this- about 10,000 pods of them! After getting some lunch we checked out of the hostel and went to the airport.

Wednesday and Thursday I went to my final working days at DesignStreet. I was pretty touched when they bought cake and made a going away card for me. Graham made a pretty good speach thanking me for my time there. I will actually miss that place a lot. Thursday night Sam and I went to a Symphony at the Opera House. It was a bit heavy for my taste, not a lot of upbeat pieces for a concert that was supposed to be themed around love and life. We guessed he must have gotten his heart broken or something... The picture is of the inside of the Opera House (you are not allowed to take pictures in there, so hopefully I don't get in trouble!). The organ has over 10,000 pipes that can make every sound the human hear can hear, pretty amazing!

Yesterday Jonty and I went for one last surf in Manly. The waves were just my size so was a good way to end my surfing. I'll be returning my board on Monday or Tuesday. :( Last night I went over to Jonty's for a traditional South African brie. They moved here from S. Africa about 7 years ago, if I hadn't mentioned that. It was basically a barbeque, but the fire burned for about an hour before the mean was put on, which gave it a really nice smokey flavor. I brought over my American brownie mix to bake, but they already had dessert made. They are missing out, I said! Probably make them on Monday...

Today I'm just doing a few last minute things around here and heading up to a friend's beach house to celebrate his birthday. Sam and Jonty are going up with me, and we'll probably check out a bit of the Central coast tomorrow during the day.

Only 4 days left... if I don't write again, watch for my blog when I reach CHINA!!!

Cheers!