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Cheesy tourist photo #1
Opera House
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Cheesy tourist photo #2
Opera House |
Cheesy tourist photo #3
Harbor Bridge |
Cheesy tourist photo #4
Sailing, Sydney Harbor |
Good Australian Street performers, This guy has a live large bird
on his head while he plays |
Gotta love a City with lots of beaches, Manly beach, N Sydney |
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Waves were Cranking
at Manley
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More waves at Manley beach. Our last few weeks saw strong winds
and large waves, I crushed my shoulder on a wave way to big for
me to be riding
but no pain no gain |
Here's me and my board. I had to sell the board in Australia which
was a sad day. I still have the wetsuit and am ready for the next
surf vacation |
here's Destin with his Mini Mal surfboard |
Doesn't look closed too me! At the popular beaches the lifeguards
will close the beach on days with big surf and big rip currents(surfers
are still allowed) |
On the east coast of Australia you are
never far from a good surf beach |
The red light district and Backpacker section of Sydney - Kings
Cross! Lots of hostels and people traveling mixed in with shady
strip joints and sketchy characters. (I didn't think it was very
sketchy compared to big cities in the USA) |
10 weeks in Australia and all the nights seem to blend together.
Pretty typical night (from what I can remember). |
Lots of Large Bats in Australia. Even in downtown Sydney at the
Botanical gardens there were thousands of Bats hanging in the tree's
and waking up each evening and flying off for some food. |
There is a obsession with the "bigs" in Australia. The
big lobster, banana, prawn, clam, Pineapple, Orange, ect... over
80 of these cheesy tourist traps through out Australia |
The Big Banana |
Tried to go paragliding at some sand dunes but was very windy, had
fun playing in the sand even if we could not fly. |
Checking out the Dunes |
They put signs everywhere in Australia and the pictures on them
are great. |
Traffic Jam, not what I wanted to look at for a few miles. |
Went' to the shipping industrial town of Newcastle to paraglide,
but once again was too windy to fly. Lots of big ships sitting out
in the ocean |
2 people, 2 surfboards, 2 paraglidiers, and all our other crap was
a tight fit in the Nissan Pintara Wagon. (sold it for what I paid
for it 2 months and 5000 miles later) |
The Never ending search for a place to paraglide with the correct
winds and direction led us to some great views. Destin decided to
fly this day even though the wind was from a slightly wrong direction.
I watched him sink out and barely clear some power lines. The point
in the background is Byron Bay, the Easternmost point in Australia. |
With another days forecast for strong winds we gave up on the search
for a place to paraglide and decided to climb Mt Warning, |
The Summit of MT Warning is the first place the sun hits in Australia
Each morning. A popular sunrise hike (we just pretended it was sunrise) |
Looking out from the summit towards the ocean and back towards Byron
Bay |
Lots of hungry wild Turkeys on the summit of MT Warning. |
Strange Birds |
A quick drive back to try and get in some afternoon paragliding
near Byron Bay led to another nice view and strong winds |
Watch out for the Kangaroo's on the Road! |
Came back to a 5 foot snowstorm. lots of shoveling but some great
skiing. my legs were out of shape but it didn't stop me from getting
some face shots. |
The last few days were very clear and cold and I'm back to work
at the Forest Service. Here is midday sun near the winter solstice.
Doesn't get very high in the sky this time of year. |
We had some cold morings heading out to work. here is the first
day light with pyramid peak in the backround. (9:45am) |