AUSTRALIA, Sydney

12/17/07 thru 12/20/07

I checked into the YHA Central Hostel which is without a question the nicest hostel that I have ever stayed in. While in Sydney I visited the famous Bondi Beach, the more beautiful Manly Beach, Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, took a ferry from Sydney Harbour to Manly and also visited the Blue Mountains which are home to the "Three Sisters" . I also visited a wildlife park, aquarium, and watched a boomerang throwing demonstration.

AUSTRALIA, Cairns, Great Barrier Reef, scuba diving

12/10/07-12/17/07

I caught a flight to Cairns {pronounced cans} as soon as I arrived at the Sydney airport from Auckland. Cairns is a great town on the coast that has approx. 180,000 people but has over 3 million tourists each year. My purpose for coming here was to learn to scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef but also hade a chance to visit the Tablelands which is also a World Heritage Site. We swam at the different waterfalls but the water was freezing

NEW ZEALAND, Queenstown, hiking

11/30-12/5/07

I arrived in Queenstown directly after finishing the Routeburn Tract. Queenstown has about 8500 residents and is set in the middle of the mountains and on a lake. It is considered the "adrenaline capital of the world". With beautiful weather, great scenery and lots of exciting things to do, there are not many places in the world that could be better. Sky diving, bungy jumping , canyoning, snow skiiing, mountain climbing, downhill luging, parasailing, hangliding, jet boating and the list goes on. Young people from around the world are drawn here for the energy and excitement. It reminds me of my "previous" favorite place, Interlaken, Switzerland, except cooler.

I survived the Canyon Swing which is essentially a 200 ft. bungy jump which turns into a giant swingin arch. To get a better idea of this go to canyonswing.co.nz It was quite a rush, kinda like flying. I also climbed to the summit of the Ben Lomond track and the 3 hr climb rewarded me with some of the best views that I have seen in NZ. Can't wait to post the pictures.