Smells like gold

Wow, where to begin. At 13 days this stands as the longest I have gone blogless thus far and hopefully the trend won't continue. It would help if I knew where the last few weeks have gone as it's been an absolute whirlwind around here, but in the best possible way.

School has been consuming a lot of my time as of late but I have had my fair share of distractions as well which has definitely made the time fly by. Dad, Courtney and Dale arrived on the morning of March 6th to a very hungover Kevin. Needless to say I tried not to show it, and I think I did and I think I did a pretty good job! It was really surreal (and still is) seeing my family down under, even though I have only been here two and a half months it has begun to feel a bit like home so having them here is awesome. DC&D as I will refer to them from here on out were staying out at Coogee Beach in a nice two bedroom apartment right on the beach. The first few days I did my best to show them around Sydney which was a lot of fun. It's kind of neat showing people around a city you barely know and it was actually a great chance for me to see a lot of the city that I had yet to see.

Highlights from the first week in Sydney included an interesting, albeit once in a lifetime stop at the Mardi Gras parade, shopping at the Rocks and Paddy's markets, nighttime harbour ferry, the Opera House of course, a trip to the Blue Mountains among many other things. After writing that last sentence I am beginning to realize why not blogging regularly sucks, I'm now forced to cram a weeks worth of fun into one sentence. Either way it was a great time and I still managed to attend all my classes.

On Thursday we headed north to the Gold Coast and more specifically Surfer's Paradise. Courtney managed to score us an awesome apartment right in the heart of town which was awesome. We spent a lot of time just bumming around Surfer's and hanging out by the pool. Dad, Courtney and I took a day trip down to Byron Bay which wasn't nearly long enough but has inspired me to return. The Gold Coast is very touristy in comparison to the rest of Australia I have seen, think Puerto Vallarta meets Orlando. Theme parks, cruises, cabaret etc. are all over the place but we managed to stay away from the that stuff for the most part.

A highlight of the trip up North was our adventure to the Australia Zoo. also known as the home of the Crocodile Hunter. The Zoo was incredible and is probably the best legacy Steve Irwin could have left. We started off the day by hand feeding the elephants, yes real live elephants. They managed to leave a bit of gross snot on your hand after they took the food but it was worth it. Following the feeding we headed to the Crocoseum where they put on a great live show with birds, reptiles and of course crocs, all of which was very entertaining. We managed to spend nearly the entire day at the Zoo and I finally got to see a live Tasmanian Devil. The park was set up in such a way that it really celebrated the life of Steve Irwin instead of mourning the death. One of the most incredible things was a tribute area they had where they displayed pictures, letters and other things people had made and sent to the family. It was definitely a bit moving.

After the Zoo we headed to Noosa Heads for the rest of the afternoon/evening. We arrived just in time to see the tricks competition at part of the 2009 Noosa Festival of Surfing. Dogs riding on the boards and acrobatic tricks were some of the highlights. All in all it was a great day enjoyed by everyone I do believe.

Unfortunately I had to leave the family in Surfer's as I needed to get back to Sydney for school. They are due back in town tomorrow sometime where I am sure I will have more stories to tell. In the mean time enjoy the following few pictures from the Zoo and Noosa.

Cheers,

kc