Finally a more complete blog entry!

Okay - I finally have a little time to write out a proper blog entry on the flight to New Zealand.

Upon arrival at the airport in SydneyI waited for Kouros and his lovely wife Fereshteh














to arrive from their local flight and together we drove to Mollymook (the location of the wedding of our mate Stuart to his bride Anita). During the drive I told Kouros that I needed a little nap in the back seat, and they woke me up about three hours later once we arrived in Mollymook. Not quite the visiting time I was hoping for with them, but I was badly timezoned, and couldn't help it.


The wedding the next day was perfect. Even the weather cooperated by not being too hot - nice cool overcast skies. Everyone looked their best...

- except me since couldn't find my ties since packing up and moving out of our house to make way for our renter. Despite my lack of a tie, it was a great wedding.
















I didn't stay late for the party as I was pretty jet lagged. The following day the visiting continued at the fancy Bannisters resort in Mollymook. Hanging out by the pool...















and catching up with some friends I hadn't seen in a while and meeting lots of new people. I think about a third of the guests had come from Canada - wow that's representing!

It was my plan to catch a ride back into Sydney with any of the many cars heading that way on Monday, but I didn't get to the hotel most people were staying at soon enough. By the time I walked there, everyone had checked out and driven away - the place was abandoned. No problem I thought I'll take a train to Sydney, but nope - no trains stop in the small town (village?) of Mollymook - or even the nearby Milton. The closest train stop was Nowra. All right then, how about a bus? But again nope - I had just missed the bus by this time. So I ended up hitch hiking a ride with a flower farmer who had a delivery to make to Sydney, so we visited and passed the time really quickly as he drove. Turns out he used to be the leader of a tank division in the South African army, and he saw a little action. Interesting to talk with him for the three hour drive.

I had a few days in Sydney before Amanda arrived (she still hadn't finished classes at UofA). I did the usual sort of things - walked the interesting areas of the city: Hyde park, The Rocks, Sydney fish market, Darling harbour, Circular quay, and I even saw a play in the Sydney Opera House...














After Amanda arrived a few days later we had one more day in Sydney, so I showed her some of the hi lights, including an exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art where Yayoi Kusama had an exhibit, including this polka-dot room done in ultra violet light...















After just a day in Sydney together we were on our way to Townsville to the north.

Waiting for us in Townsville was a three day liveaboard SCUBA trip. However, we were not informed that Amanda would be unable to complete her PADI diver's certification without a doctor's physical, which she didn't have. So although she couldn't get certified, she could still do a few dives (she ended up doing six). Amanda also realized that she didn't bring her bathing suit with her (or "swimming costume" as it's known here), so we set off to buy one with the few hours we had in Townsville before our boat departed. But this was not as easy as you'd think as it was good Friday and most every shop was closed, but we did manage to find one shop, and they had a costume for her. Actually, it was more difficult finding a place to eat in town - everything was closed.

Once on the boat...











we finally left the dock at about 10:00 and motored along for about seven hours to Wheeler reef. At 8:00 the next morning we had our first dive, after which the rolling waves made me sea sick. I still did two more dives including a night dive this day. We up-anchored at 9:00 and motored along for another five hours while we slept. The next day was at Davies reef, and I did four dives. There was doctor on board who gave me a sea sickness pill in the morning, and I felt much better after that. We then carried on that night to the famous Yongala wreck and dove it in the morning. Wow - it was really great. So many fish, turtles















and small (two meter) sharks, , etc. It was something else. But I'd been having equalizing the pressure on my ears during these dives, and had been surfacing with blood in my mask. The dive master recommended that I just do the one dive and skip the second Yongala dive, and I complied. We headed back to Townsville and I noticed that my hearing in both ears is really bad. I've suffered some middle ear damage - I just hope this is temporary.

Amanda and I had another three days in Townsville, so we spent some time seeing the city sights




and went to near by Magnetic island, which was really nice. We rented bicycles and rode around. We found a deserted beach, and cooled off in the water. The next day we rented a car and drove to Paluma national park.




It had been years since I drove a right hand drive car, so I was a little nervous at first - especially at the traffic circles, but in the end made out fine.

We did our first Couch Surf (www.couchsurfing.com) in Townsville and stayed with Peter and Leanne, a really nice couple. They went much further than providing a couch - we got a guest room with private bathroom, and they even prepared dinners for us! Wow! Big score there. Plus they were really pleasent to visit with.

Once we were done with Townsville, we had plans to fly to Brisbane to meet up with Amanda's Aussie friend Asha. It turns out Asha was also flying in to Brisbane and was arriving just half and hour before our flight got in so we planned with her to get a lift into town with her parents and stay with them. But when we arrived, hmmm - no Asha. And she didn't answer her phone when we called. So we did our own thing for the night and managed to meet up with her the next morning. We drove with her family to Sunshine Coast where Asha was having her grad. Once in Sunshine Coast we went to the Crocodile Hunter (Steve Irwin's) "Australia Zoo" which was pretty cool. That sure beat watching a five hour grad ceremony.
















The next day we went back to Brisbane with Asha and her parents. We thought we thought the plan was to spend the day with Asha and stay with her at her parents' place, but when her dad asked "Where are you two staying tonight?" we got the idea we were on our own. And not only that but Asha then asked us what we were going to do once back in Brisbane. Well, I guess visiting with her was out. So why did we bother going to Brisbane again? Oh ya - it was so Amanda could visit with Asha during the short drive to and from Sunshine Coast. Great.

After that disappointment we flew to Christchurch, New Zealand. Maybe the strangers there will extend us a little more hospitality. We're set to do another Couch Surf for four days with a German fellow Marcus.