A long en

Sydney, August 2nd... We started out on the morning in search of a car. We decided to go to Liverpool, an hour train ride from Sydney. We ended up buying a car at the 1st place we looked, after walking around all day, talking to every car dealership in Liverpool and the next town over. The test drive was an entertaining experience: B was driving a standard with the shifter on the opposite side of the car, while driving on the left side of the road - everything was backward! There was a ton of traffic, we didn't know the area well, and it was at night! So he was focusing on shifting backward while I was trying to tell him what lane to be in and which way to turn to get back to the dealership. It was pure adrenalin rush insanity! So what else to do, but buy the car? Ha! We made and offer and asked if the accepted credit card. We thought, if we could put it on my Discover Card, we could just pay it off when we sell the car back in three months. Well, they ended up not taking Discover, so we had to pay from our bank acct. The only way to do so was to use the check card, as it was a bank holiday and we wanted to get out of Sydney ASAP (it's expensive!). $3,350A later, we had to run B's card 3 separate times and my card once because it wouldn't accept a transaction over $1,000... So we got the car, and then had no idea where we were going. First we had to get gas. We got turned around 3 times and B kept driving in the Right lane... OOPS! We finally got back to the hotel to pick up our backpacks and headed out of town - without a map! The first night, we drove til we had to sleep and pitched a tent at one of the many side-of-the-road rest stops available to us. It rained all night long and B about froze to death because he didn't get the warm inner liner for his sleeping bag... Blah!

The next day, we woke up at our regular 5:30a and continued our drive north toward Cairnes (pronounced Cains by the Aussies). The beginning of the day was fabulous! We went to Seal Rocks and Sugarloaf Point Lighthouse. The views were BREATHTAKING! I can't wait to post pics! There was a 260 degree view of the bright green ocean, tons of rock cliffs, etc. It was really, really windy, but sooo beautiful! I said if I don't see anything else the whole time we're here, the trip was worth it just to see that! ... Guess I shouldn't have said that... as soon after, we started freaking out about money. We spent half of ours on the car, so now we had to decide how we could get by the other half - $3,000 total - over the next 3 months. Everything in Australia is SO expensive. We spent 20 bucks on a pack of cigarettes and a coke a few days back... Which was another fun adventure... B going off the cigs cold turkey... we won't go into that or much else over the next couple of days... Basically, days were spent driving without much stopping and eating our grocery store meals in the car. At night, we were cold and miserable, it rained the whole time and we were sleeping in a one-man tent that was too short for Brandon. It was pretty bleak overall...

August 5th, things started looking up. We stopped at one of the many road side information centers available to us. The attendant suggested that we check out Wreck Rock in Deep Water National Park. So on we went. We stopped at a gas station on the way to book our camp spot. Further down the road, we stopped at a local shop and bought a sea fishing pole, in hopes of catching our dinner. The rest of the way there was mostly dirt road. Toward the beginning of the drive in the park, we came across an awesome lagoon, where we were sure a croc would come out and eat us at any moment. :) Soon, we arrived at the camp site and set up camp. I took a nap cause I was gettin cranky and when I woke up, we cooked our second camp meal - boiled carrots and potatoes and fried lamb chops (that I bought at the gas station in the way in). It was actually really good. (For some reason I'm always surprised to get a good meal at camp.)

Next day, we got up and started exploring. We walked out to the beach and along the rocks. I took tons of pictures of the textures, bright colors, and little pools of life within them. Later on, we took a 3km walk thru the rain forest to the next camp over. We came out on that stretch of beach and decided to walk that path back to our place. I stopped at every mass of seashells on the way and picked up the small ones with holes in them so I could make a necklace. Back at camp, B made us some spaghetti and I made my necklace. We went to sleep soon after the sun set (at 6:00p)... There are no fires allowed in the parks, so there isn't much to do after it gets dark... not to mention that we didn't have coats or blankets to keep warm in the cold breeze.

August 7th, we got up early and got the heck out of there. (The area was very secluded, so we were ready for some interaction with other people!) Several hours down the road, we came to Mackay. We stopped and got a hostel and immediately got in the shower! We were totally ripe from three solid days in the wilderness without bathing! I think it may have been the best shower I have ever had. Yay! We got all dressed up and went out on the town - in search of food. We got Chinese takeout (cause it's cheaper than eating in) and took it back to our room. Then we started watching the movie Stripes - if you know what it is, you'll certainly make fun of us - on the first TV we'd seen in days... We got sucked in and ended up going to bed at 8:30, instead of joining the hoppin' bar party downstairs... We're so lame... LOL

Today - we got up and headed a few more hours down the road to Airlie Beach - the hopping off point to the Whitsundy Islands. We got a hip hostel with a bar, DJ, cafe, etc. Tomorrow, we're going to buy a bigger tent and then we're heading out on a 3 day hike/camp - the Whitsunday Great Walk to be exact. After that, we plan on staying in the area for a few days, so hopefully internet access won't be so hard to come by.

We miss all of our friends and fam, so drop us a line and let us know what you've been up to!!

XO
A