The Land of OZ

Country #3! Had a few beers at the airport in Christchurch to celebrate our departure, though we will miss NZ and treasure our memories. Landed in Sydney not knowing where to go or anything. Took a free shuttle to what ended up being a shady hostel with free mold and rats. but we were right in the city centre and had a funny roomie so we stayed. One thing I didn't know about Sydney - there are tons of bats! Makes for a great vibe when the clock tower bell tolls at dusk. We went out the first night and I dropped the camera, which broke and therefore added to our camera woes. Took care of biznass for a few days, finding a car and going for health check ups. But we also managed to bus/subway/ferry it to many lovely and famous beaches like Manly and Bondi. Even found a proper burrito and flipped out. Stayed for about a week and got a good feel of the city. Its one of my faves. Beautiful old buildings, the opera house all lit up at night, crazy animals everywhere, lots to do and dare I say the folks are even friendlier than NZ, girls in particular which is nice. Got the camera fixed and drove our new car north. The first time we pulled over we saw a huge goanna lizard! Then on a jog we saw a herd of kangaroos!! Very stoked. Everywhere you look theres tropical birds, bushtail possums, pythons even!
Our car broke down right away (of course) so we left it at the shop and our new boss picked us up - he is a chain smoking old grizzly bear with tons of chest hair over flowing his collar. Stayed a week on his alpaca farm with his wife Jackie, a firefighter and milf, their funny kids Em and Kai and another wwoofer, Joe from Canada, who became our buddy and came with us to Byron for beach days. Byron Bay is really pretty with tons of young travelers. Mostly cuz of the rain, we liked staying home taking advantage of comforters, Harry Potter books and movies, TV, apples, tea, etc :) Helped by sanding a lot, weeding, feeding alpacas and so on. Sad to leave but the car was resurrected and we drove to our second Aussie wwoof job in Nimbin, where we stayed for a few days with Tomaso and Pritam, a couple of old hippies. It was dirty and we got attacked by leeches while weeding in the pouring rain. They inject you with an anti-coagulate so you bleed a lot, and we still have the marks a month and a half later. YUCK! Nimbin is a crazy town brimming with drugs and weirdos. Went to see the Irish Cat Stevens perform one night. As Raj told us, there is an unusual amount of interpretive dancing in public here, and we loved every minute of it! Said goodbye to our hosts and the best misty magical view ever and headed back to Byron to celebrate my 25th birthday with a Jason Mraz concert, beach day/beer with Joe and Indian food. Pouring rain still but a great time nonetheless.
Since then we have been driving north, lounging on all the beaches we can find (tons). One highlight was Fraser Island where we sped around in Jeeps, partied with our group, swam in lakes, hiked and ate a lot. Woke up covered in feathers after a Dingo bit holes in Koos' sleeping bag. She sewed it up, shes handy like that. Bought snorkel gear, a huge plus since we're poor and cant do much else but be professional beach bums!
Continuing up the coast one of our favorite spots was Workmans Beach in Agnes Water. It was almost empty and we had a fantastic few days reading, sleeping, laughing at kookaburras, eating popsicles. Lifes tough but not right now, eh?
Oz is beautiful, but we've seen our fair share of ugly towns - namely Bundaberg, Rockhampton and Tannum Sands. Nothing but gas stations, blistering heat and statues of cows. ??? Saving money by practicing the ancient art of squatting, only been caught once! Just when we were really starting to miss TV after several weeks without, we met a guy next to our campsite with all 3 seasons of Arrested Development. Jackpot!
Currently we are in Airlie, near the beautiful Whitsundays. Went out to Paddy's Shennanigans and Mama Africa, ran into a friend from Fraser and danced our booties off. On a typical night out, its common to see people in costume for no reason. Its also common to see Koos get hit on by undesireables due to her permagrin. I rescue her sometimes, and sometimes I like to just watch her struggle, its pretty funny.
Just spent a couple days working on a peaceful bamboo farm with our host Bruce and 3 crazy dogs. About to explore the Whitsundays and head north again! Missing you all but loving the world. Happy Cinco de Mayo!