Last night we drove out to a beach in Port Douglas (unfortunately T & T couldn't come, which sucked! I came north at this time specifically to see them.  Ah well, I'll see them when I get home!), where we made a fire and slept under the stars.  So there I was, middle of the night, walking down a path in the woods with two men I've just met online, in a strange country.  Hello horror movie much?  Heh.  Anyway.  The stars were stars I've never seen before, like the southern cross.  Very cool.  Woke up to the fire still burning and the sun just starting to rise over the horizon.

Realized this morning that THIS was what I'd come here for.  To see and do things I've never done before, and may never again.  It doesn't matter if I wake up hungover like in Melbourne and don't really know the people around me, cause I'm HERE.  YAY :D :D :D :D

Then I spent the day snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef!!!!! SO AMAZING.  We went to three spots, the last one was called Turtle Bay but sadly we did not see any turtles :(

Tomorrow I'm taking the train up into Kuranda, which will be my last activity until Uluru.  I'm almost fucking BROKE, this place is expensive to begin with and I've been doing any and every thing I can imagine, and then I almost had a heart attack when looking at my bank account yesterday.  Got some money coming to me from hom next week and that should get me through til the end.  Not too bad though - half the trip doing whatever I want, half the trip scrounging like a traveler should be.  Next week will involve lots of cheap relaxation on the beaches in Brisbane :D

After Brisbane, I'm flying to Alice Springs, for a three-day trip out to Uluru and surroundings, then taking the Ghan train down to Adelaide, which means I'll get to stop in at Coober Pedy - yay underground mines!  Then two days in Sydney, and back to Melbourne, then home.

Well, two days of feeling blah aren't so bad.  Today I woke up feeling great, the next three days are going to be some of the most exciting of my entire life.

Today I'm going skydiving.  This evening, the guy I'm staying with and his friend and I are going to meet up with T & T from home and drink on the beach under the stars.  Tomorrow I'm snorkelling the great barrier reef.  Friday I'm taking a steamtrain into Kuranda and coming back on the skyrail.

And I've found a place to stay in Brisbane!  With a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend. HA!  People are amazing.   Life is good :D

Three weeks left of my trip.  WOW.  It's half over already, I can't believe it.

The next week of my trip will probably be the loneliest, and it's an odd feeling.  So far I've been with people I knew years ago, or friends of friends that I got along with instantly, so although I've been alone for most activities, I've still had people to come home to and hang out with at the end of the day. I definitely lucked out in Melbourne, and people there are giving me hookups for Brisbane, so it looks like here will be the only place I'm stuck without any decent people to hang out with.

Now I'm in a place where I know noone, and I'm currently sitting on a patio at a backpackers, having a pint of beer in the sun.  But I realize I don't exactly fit in with a lot of the travellers around. There are two groups of people sitting near me right now, and I find nothing appealing about either of them.  Sometimes I think maybe I'm a judgemental bitch, but I really think it's that I'd just rather be alone than spend time with people I don't really have anything in common with.  You should have seen the look on the face of the guy I'm couchsurfing with now when I said I'd crashed at a squat in Melbourne.  People here are kind of separated into backpackers, and yuppies.  I'm neither.  I may be here with a backpack, but I've got the cash to go and do a lot of things mostly just yuppies do so I kind of stick out around the backpackers.  I can sleep in a squat and love it and spend my money on beer instead of accomodations but if I was stuck I wouldn't have to sleep outside, I could rent a room somewhere.  So it's a little odd.

All I wanted to do today was sit around and feel hungover and rejected and sorry for myself, but luckily, since you have to buy plane tickets in advance, I had no choice but to get my ass in gear and get on my plane.  Which is good.  It's one of the things about taking a short trip (I know some of you may think calling a six-week trip short is crazy, but in travellers time it really is) but you don't get to have a lot of time-wasting day or feeling crappy/lazy days.

Oh well.  I got on my plane and made it to Cairns.  Staying here with someone from couchsurfing, the guy is a great host already he picked me up from the airport and has a spare room, washing machine (YAY laundry), and he even has spare adapters in my room so I can charge more than one thing at a time.

Should be hooking up with Tom and Tara tomorrow, yay! Haven't spoken with her in a couple of days but hopefully will by the morning.  Then Wednesday, thinking of going to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, Thursday possibly bungee jump in the rainforest, Friday taking a trip into Kuranda, then may head down to Brisbane on Saturday but not sure yet.  Might not head that way til Sunday or something.  Should be meeting up with J there, the dude from the sandy beach adventure waaaaaaaaaaay back in Caye Caulker in December.

I'm really hoping I wake up tomorrow and feel better.  Feeling blah while on a vacation is the worst.  If I can't get out of this funk, it'll waste my time and money being here.  Grrrrrr.

Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh

Hangover days are much better at home.  Woke up today feeling like a sack of crap, and for the first time since I arrived I really wished I was at home.  Spent the morning/afternoon sitting around just chilling with a few people in Essendon, and while everyone was really nice, it was so odd to be feeling so shitty and hanging out with strangers.  Not seeing real friends.  Felt especially crappy cause the closest person I had to a friend here, CNZ guy, took off last night without saying anything to me, which made my hangover feeling crappy day feel even worse.  Wish I could have been home with my felines snuggled in around me.

But, c'est la vie.  One shitty day out of 2.5 weeks ain't so bad.

Off to Cairns now!

Drunk in Melbourne.  Fucking MOTORHEAD last night.  I love this place.

It's been two weeks since I arrived in this country.  Barely more than a week since I've left Melbourne.  I can't fucking believe everything that's happened since then.  Hahah no wonder my body feels like jelly right now, I'm exhausted!

Tonight is my last night with Lisa and my last night in Western Australia.  I can't stress enough to anyone considering visiting this country - COME TO WA!!!!!  All of the travel books will tell you that Perth is a hidden secret of this country and they are correct.  It is so beautiful here.  I've been so spoiled getting to stay with Lisa, she's such a sweetheart and I'm happy to have been able to catch up with her. Hahahaha although I don't think she liked it much when I accidentally flashed her and her boy in the ocean today, HAHAH! I popped up saying 'Ha the water almost pantsed me!', not realizing I was falling out of half my top. OOPS!  Ah well, in Canada I'd say everyone one my friends has seen my tatas at some point so it had to happen over here at some point too :P

Back to Melbourne in the morning for ultra party time, then Cairns Monday.