Into Byron we go. As thrilling as hitch-hiking was in the blistering heat (literally my shoulders have blisters!), we thought we would make things a little easier on ourselves and find accommodation in Byron Bay for two nights. The pumpin' beach town with heaps of tourists, beach bums and hippies was a nice change of pace from Lennox. Our hostel was one block up from the beach too! On Saturday we took surfing lessons which were really fun. A group of ten of us and two instructors went out for a few hours and everyone managed to stand up at least once on their board. That night we chowed down at a barbie the hostel put on before going to the Beach Hotel for drinks and live music. The next morning we went kayaking with dolphins and much to our disappointment only saw a few fins in the far off distance. We decided it was far too much exercise for eight o'clock in the morning and had probably been ripped off. Oh well.

Cairns was much hotter and humid then Melbourne. I spent the night after we went to the Great Barrier Reef in bed, exhausted from the heat. Mike went on a pub crawl from our hostel and had a blast, even got a t-shirt! We flew down to Brisbane and took a bus along the Gold Coast to a tiny beach town called Lennox Head. We ended up hitching rides between Lennox and Byron Bay for a couple days to celebrate Australia Day (Jan.26th) and to spend time in a place with a few more people and things to do. We did however, get to see a hippie band in Lennox, who were pretty good.

After arriving in Cairns last night we checked into a dodgy hostel called Asylum. It didn't take us long to figure out that it's definitely not known for its cleanliness as it is for its social reputation. We hit the hay right away and got up at 6 a.m to get ready for a tour to the Great Barrier Reef. We booked our day with Passions of Paradise tours and made our way out into the blue waters of the much anticipated reef. Stopping at the first site, Upolu Cay, Mike and I were supposed to scuba dive and got the introductory lesson but once we were in the water both panicked and decided to snorkel only. After lunch we were convinced to give diving another try after one of the peppy crew members remarked, "Those Canadians are gonna dive even if I have to take them myself." Away we went, all three of us hand in hand down to the mysterious underwater world of sea creatures. We felt around the coral polyps and had our fingers tickeled by the tenticles of tiny species. It was the most outstanding experience ever and are so excited that we got to dive for the first time in one of the natural wonders of the world also known as the only living visible thing from space.

Justin and Emma took us to the Belgium Beer Gardens on Saturday night after we got home from our adventure on the Great Ocean Road. We are off to Cairns, Queensland next to continue our trek abroad and won't be back in Melbourne until the 2nd of February or so. Looks like it's backpacker lifestyle for us for the next little while.

Mike and I rented a car and drove the Great Ocean Road this week. We had an amazing time (after a little patience and practice at driving on the left hand side of the road using right hand drive of course)and we stayed in two really cool little beach towns called Lorne and Apollo Bay. In Lorne we went to Erskine Falls to check out a waterfall and take a little hike through the fern gully it's in. We also went to Teddy's Lookout to check out some of the beautiful ocean views as well as a little flora and fauna that go with it. We met an enchidna (porcupine) along the way and a dead roo too, which is probably be the closest we'll ever get to the real thing. We stayed at a cool backpackers campground in Lorne where we slept in bunk beds in a rustic cabin scattered between tent sites. The next day we drove on to see some koalas at Kennett River and then to Mait's Rest Rainforest Boardwalk for a short hike through the lush foliage. In the afternoon we stopped at Loch Ard Gorge outside of Port Campbell which is part of the infamous shipwreck coast. Then we went on to see the extraordinary world wonder, The Twelve Apostles and took a pic of Gibson Beach just for Johnny Boy. There are helicopter tours that people can take to see the Twelve Apostles and we parked next to the hanger so Mike could gawk at the choppers. That night we stayed at a cozy little hostel and met some great people from all over the globe who gave us great tips on places to stay and what to see on the Gold Coast. On our way back to Melbourne we stopped at popular surfing town Torquay to check out the famous Bells Beach and snap some pics of surfers in action.

Aussie land is awesome so far. We spent three nights outside of Melbourne in a town called Rosebud at Emma's family beach house. There was record breaking weather while we were there; 41 degrees and the power was out for a portion of the day because everyone was over using their air conditioners. While in Rosebud we went to the much talked about Penguin Parade on Philip Island The little tuxedo wearing critters put on a great show, as tons and tons of people watched them come out of the water to go to their homes for the night. It's prohibited to take photos, so I only snuck a few! Before returning back to the city Mike tried a the Aussie pizza which has a boiled egg on top of it. He is much more keen on trying all the Australian cuisine then I am!