Moderately Burnt and Extraordinarily Happy

I've been away from Whitley/Melbourne for just over a week now. Since then I am been traveling all over the place. My time in Sydney with Rafal/the Polish Aussies was really wonderful. I was essentially spoiled for the week, living in a gorgeous house with my own room and bathroom about 500 meters from the ocean and eating amazing food/cocktails and not being allowed to pay for any of it. I actually spent most of my time with my great aunt and uncle. My great aunt looks exactly like Babcia and acts like her too. They are really terrific people and I hope that my visit with them will help to bridge the gap that has been crated by our family living on three very distant continents. I also managed to see Shilton while I was there, which resulted in a crazy night on the town where I met a nice Irish boy.

Speaking of which, there are Irish people EVERYWHERE. Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, since it's crazy sunburn weather here and it's not as if Irish people do too well in the sun. But I am now obsessed with Irish people and am trying to figure out how to fit Irish into my ideal combination of the blonde haired, blue eyed, Greek Australian Jew. Yeah, not quite sure how that's going to work.

So far on our journeys Antonio and I have been to Sydney, Byron Bay, Brisbane, and now we are in the Noosa Heads. Byron Bay was absolutely wonderful- we met some really wonderful people about thirty seconds after checking in (including an Irish boy). The two days in Byron were not nearly long enough, and were filled by long days on the beach, volleyball, sunset adventures to the lighthouse, hummus, and my first sunburn of our voyage. It was hard to leave the great people and wonderful accommodation in Byron, especially when Brisbane turned out to be a major disappointment. The hostel was in a good location, but there is NOTHING to do in Brisbane. At all. We went to museums. And after being by beaches, we couldn't wait to get back.

Which brings me to Noosa. I want to live here. It's gorgeous. I've picked out my beach view house. The hostel has a spa and beautiful flowers that creep into the bedrooms in the morning. They're fuchsia. We went on a hike today around Noosa National Park and walked through a nudist beach filled with old men. Alicia would have loved it. In about an hour we are leaving to go to Hervey Bay, where we will stay the night awaiting our trip to the white sands of Fraser Island in the morning. Here is the itinerary for the rest of my trip:

Nov. 21- leave Noosa, head to Hervey Bay for the evening
Nov. 22- Spend the day in Fraser Island, head to Airlie Beach over night on Greyhound
Nov. 23- Arrive in Airlie Beach, spend the day lounging around, stay the night in Airlie Beach
Nov. 24- Depart for sailing in the Whitsundays. Stay on boat overnight
Nov. 25- Still sailing in the Whitsundays. Still sleeping on the boat.
Nov. 26- Arrive back in Airlie Beach around noon. Hang around for a bit. Depart for Cairns overnight on Greyhound.
Nov. 27- Arrive in Cairns early in the morning. Going snorkeling. Stay the night in Cairns.
Nov. 28- Cape Tribulation= Reef and Rainforest. Staying in Cape Trib
Nov. 29- More Cape Trib.
Nov. 30- More Cape Trib
Dec. 1- Head back to Cairns or may stay in Cape Trib for one more night. Not sure yet.
Dec. 2- Fly out from Cairns in the morning, arrive in Alice Springs in afternoon. Hang around in the desert for the day.
Dec. 3- Wandering around in the desert, riding camels. Sleeping under the stars.
Dec. 4- Going to Ayers Rock. Sleeping under the stars. Getting eaten by spiders.
Dec. 5- Rock part II. Returning to Alice Springs, spending the night in the city.
Dec. 6- Flying out of Alice Springs back to Melbourne. Accommodation to be determined. Probably staying with Emma or going back to Whiltey for a few days. We shall see.
Dec. 6-10- Doing last minute gift buying in Melbourne/saying goodbye to Australia.
Dec. 11- I fly back home!!

So that's it. That is the rest of my stay in Australia with roughly what I will be doing. I hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving and will think of me sailing in pristine Australian waters while you eat your turkey and fall asleep on the couch. Love you! Hopefully will write again once I get to Alice Springs!!