August 3 Monday We left the Fraser Island Backpackers with the goal of making it to Eurong where some mechanics for a resort are stationed. It started off badly because we died six times in the first couple kilometers. But the fifth car that we stopped came up with a partial solution: cranking up the idle so it would not die. That worked and we went straight to the ferry point on the south end of the island. I think both of us would have liked to stay another day and explore, but with the problem still a mystery, we went to get that solved first. At the ferry point was a lone dingo, probably hoping for scraps of food., but he left once several other vehicles showed up. So another nice ferry ride over to Inskip Point and a short drive had us in Rainbow Beach. There we found a mechanic station (there are many because quite a few companies rent four wheel drives for use on the island and I'm sure they get lots of mechanic work from having inexperienced drivers going over some of the trails we saw.. We wandered the city for a couple hours while they diagnosed and when they found the problem we returned. It was a small part that they did not have in stock and could only get on order from Japan. No other mechanic in Australia had the part they told Christine. It was not an expensive piece, but would take close to a week to get. So, rather than wait a week in Rainbow Beach, where the mechanic would be more expensive anyway, Christina put the idle back on high and we headed for Brisbane. First we attempted to do the beach run from Rainbow to Noosa, but we had used up too much of the low tide time with the mechanics and eventually had to turn back, which was the smart decision. On the highway we made a straight beeline to Brisbane, so we did not get to see anything in between, which was disappointing to me. We signed in at the YHA Brisbane on Upper Roma St., which is a fancy hostel. Very clean and more like a hotel than any of the other places I have been. It had a huge kitchen, a pool, expensive internet, and much less opportunity to meet people than at Asylum. We made spaghetti and then I went to my room to read.

August 4 Tuesday I set out to walk around the city while Christina attended to the car. She would let me know when she had news on that situation. So I walked along the river to the City Botanical Gardens, which are right next to the Queensland University campus in Brissy. There were many people lounging in the sun throughout the park and it really is more of a park than a botanical garden per se. It was also disappointing in that like much of this city things are under construction or remodeling. Many sections of the park were blocked off or fenced to keep people out. I did walk through the Mangrove Boardwalk along the riverbank. Taking the footbridge over to the South Bank neighborhood, I walked along the river with its park, restaurants, art installations and swimming lagoon (under repair). I went through the Queensland Museum, which was rather small with sections on Queensland history, a collection of animals, birds, reptiles, insects, etc from this part of Australia, some historically significant planes and automobiles, and a small aboriginal artwork section. After that I was planning to go through another section of the city, but Christina called and said we needed to get all our things out of the vehicle so she could leave it at the mechanics. They also had to order the part and had come to the same problem/solution so at least that was consistent. And it would also still take a week to get the part. So, I checked on line back at the hostel and contacted a person offering a ride to Sydney to tentatively arrange to go with him. And I looked around for a cheaper hostel as well. In the evening I went to a information session for the YHA membership and signed up for two years at the one year price. They are a world wide Hosteling organization in over 80 countries with over 5000 hostels. The membership gives discounts at any of those hostels and to many other things as well. I discovered an SDA church only a block away from the YHA during my walk earlier in the day.

August 5 Wednesday I checked out of the YHA at 9 am and brought one bag down to X Base to put in their storage until I can really check in at 2pm. I explored more of the city, about as much as I could without a vehicle. In the afternoon, I settled up with Christina and met Jon, who is from Scotland and has been in Australia since last November. He has nearly made a full loop around the country and will by the time he leaves in November. He wants to leave in the morning, since he has already been in Brisbane for a week and I've seen most of the significant sites in just a couple days, so I can understand his motivation. If I had another day I would walk out to Mt. Cooltha, but that will have to be on another trip. Julie called and said she would be arriving in Brisbane tomorrow, so we will miss each other, but I warned her which hostel Christina was staying in so they don't have to run into each other.

August 6 Thursday Jon arrived to pick me up from Xbase shortly after ten when I had checked out and we headed out of the city. I kind of wish I had had one more day in Brisbane, because there were a few other things I would have gone to see, plus Julie had wanted to hang out, but I was also grateful to have another ride so soon. This actually turned out to be a great day and Jon reminds me in many ways of Roger Dickinson, who I always enjoyed spending time around. He has many of the same mannerisms of Roger and even a similar voice, although he looks a lot more like Napoleon Dynamite.

The drive to Byron Bay is not a long one, so we checked into a hostel in the early afternoon. The Lonely Planet recommends the Lighthouse loop walk and it is wonderful. Amazing views, incredible beaches (Main, Tallow, Clarke, Wategos and Little Wategos), and we happened to be coming through at the right time to even see a few whales on their migration north. They were far enough out that it was not really worth taking pictures, but we could see them blowing water through their blowholes and the occasional flipper. We also came across a small bright green snake, which we left alone. I went back out to the beach to watch the sunset, something apparently many other people do as well because the beach was fairly crowded. Once the sun actually set it was very clear why we all waited at the beach for it. Simply incredible. I took a lot of pictures.


August ;7 ;Friday We checked out of Aquarius and headed on south out of Byron Bay. Our goal was to make it half way to Sydney today and that would put us at Port Macquarie. On the way we stopped in the town of Maclean, which was originally a Scottish settlement after an aborted attempt to settle in Papua New Guinea. The telephone poles are each decorated with a different Scottish clan pattern. Ther is also a lookout point with broad views of the surrounding land. We passed the SDA church (right beside the highway) in Coffs Harbor. The early afternoon found us on a stop at Nambucca Heads, a spectacular delta region. We had enough time to make one other detour to the top of Mt Yarrahpinni for a tremendous view that reminded me of God's Eye in South Africa. The view goes on forever. We made it to Port Macquarie just before dark and got settled into our hostel. Jon and I took a quick walk in a park in the middle of the city where the hostel manager said they often see koalas. It was too dark and the section we walked through was completely overwhelmed with flying foxes anyway, so I doubt koalas were anywhere near all that racket.

August 8 Sabbath After breakfast we walked the full loop through the park again, but never saw any koalas. Then we slowly made our way out of town stopping at view points and beaches all the way. Then it was pretty much a straight drive to Sydney.

We arrived in Sydney just after sunset and here the benefits and deficiencies of GPS showed themselves. Sydney is a sprawling city of more than 4 million people, it has several toll roads as you get nearer the center, and has many one way streets. The GPS guided us on a route that was only about 3 km longer, but circumvented the toll roads: Benefit. It also could not refresh fast enough in amongst the tall buildings and did not accurately indicate all the one way roads: Deficiency. Once we got close enough we just had to abandon the GPS and use our map and visual cues. Coming into the city we passed the SDA Hospital. We are staying at the Asylum sister property from Cairns, but this one is much smaller and as the desk people tell us, much more subdued than the Cairns one. It is in better physical shape for sure, but the kitchen is small and there is no pool, although I do not think it would be used even if there was one. The temperature is really not that cold and there has not been any rain for the past couple weeks, which makes it nicer for me at least. And like in Cairns it only took a couple minutes to meet some new people.

Jon and I walked down to where the Sydney Tower is because it is open until 9pm. It costs $30 to go on the tower. The alternative told to me by other backpackers up in Cairns is to go to the bar, which is one level down from the observation deck and get a drink there while the bar/restaurant rotates and gives you much the same view. Well, our first roadblock was that they have a strict dress code. Both of us were in shorts – no-no number one, and Jon was in sandals – no-no number two, and neither of us was wearing a collared shirt – no-no number three. Other than that we were golden. No reservations were needed and the girls at the reception desk were friendly enough and made it sound like it would not be a problem to come back. With that shot down for the time being we walked down to the Opera House and experimented with our cameras in getting night shots. Both of us need to work on this some more. Back at the hostel we got meal vouchers for two places and had a nice dinner less than five minutes from the hostel. Much bigger portions than the places in Cairns. I was full after the first place, but we walked to where the second place is just for reference.

August 9 Sunday Happy Birthday Adrian (and Audrey Tautou). I hope your family is doing well. This morning some major thoroughfares were blocked off for the City to Surf race, a 15km footrace a little like Bay to Breakers. There were around 15,000 runners and some were in costume, but they were the minority. It was fun to watch for a while, and I got to cheer a small contingent with an ADRA banner. I set out early and arranged to meet Jon at noon near the tower. I went through Hyde Park, saw the (closed for refurbishment) ANZAC memorial, a cathedral, the Botanical Gardens, Mrs. Macquaries Chair (with nice views of the Opera House and Harbor Bridge), and more. At the tower we ran into stumbling block two: the bar does not open until 5:30pm. We will have to come back again. Jon and I went down to the Opera House for daylight pictures and then he headed for the Harbor Bridge, while I went into the Contemporary Art Museum (free). After coming out of the museum, I also went up to the Pylon Tower on the Harbor Bridge, where you can pay $10 and climb an additional 7 stories up for an improved view. And for a mere $190 you can climb the entire bridge for what is I'm sure a great view. I skipped both. I went back down through town seeing the old Hospital, going through Chinatown and it's 'famous' Paddy's Market, which is almost like a flea market, lots of cheap stuff. I passed a Lindt chocolatier shop (one of four in the city). Julie called to say she would be arriving in the morning and would like to see some of the city. Jon and I had dinner together again and made a third trip down to the tower. The same girl who had been there the night before was there again and she recognized us. She had us on our way up quite quickly and once up there the view was tremendous. It is a much large city than it appears, but from 270 meters up you can see most of it. I had a smoothie made of passionfruit, kiwi, and mango and we split a portion of potato wedges seasoned with rosemary. Very good on both counts and cost less than just going to the observation deck alone.

August 10 Monday After breakfast and some phone tag, I met with Julie to walk around the city some. Right around the corner from my hostel is a boomerang shop and we spent an hour hearing stories from the shop lady and looking at boomerangs. The shop lady is the daughter of the owner, who is in his 70's and has been selling authentic boomerangs for more than fifty years in partnership with two different aboriginal tribes. There is a huge range in prices based on size, wood, decorations, shape, etc. .Julie bought five to take home, plus a didgeridoo. I got one for myself. As for walking, she has a sore left knee so we took it very slow and she only wanted to see a few things anyway, primarily the Opera House. We walked through Hyde Park and the Botanical Gardens, part of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, out to Mrs. Macquarie Point for views of the Opera house from the right, then the Opera House itself. She wanted to see what was playing and we both made guesses about what it would cost. They had a premiere performance of Bellini's The Capulets and the Mongetues scheduled for the next night and after talking it over we got tickets. We continued our walk and made it back to the Boomerang School shop around 3:30 and met the elderly owner who had wrapped Julie's items for transport. I'll have to figure mine out before I leave, but want to wait to see if I end up with any other items first