Lessons and annecdotes

I've been so busy that its been tough (and expensive, i'm on a backpackers budget here!) to keep everybody updated for the last couple of weeks. So I decided that I would randomly insert some things from my hardcopy journal for your amusement. All of the following are true experiences.

Neat things
1. Lemon juice and sugar on pancakes is absolutely amazing! They don't have maple syrup here. Nor do they have regular drip coffee. On the other hand, instant coffee is crap. (yes I am aware at the new developments around Starbucks)

2. If you are going to drunkenly go skinny dipping slash stargazing with random young norweigian boys on Australia's Fraser Island (known for its purest and wildest dingo population), please don't leave your bikini bottoms unsupervised on the beach. They will get torn in shreds by a dingo, leaving you as the brunt of all jokes amongst the 8 other strangers that you are camping with for the following 2 days.

3. Hostels operate using the "either/or" principle. They will either be Clean or Quiet. Never both.

4. Don't run recklessly down massive sand dunes into pristine, crystal clear lake waters and expect to gracefully dive in at the bottom. Instead, expect that you will awkwardly trip and plunk head first into shallow water, rendering your neck and right shoulder useless for 2 days afterwards.

5. The beach upon a Whitsunday Island (i forget which one) may be the most beautiful thing you have ever seen, but its actually the world's largest sting ray breeding grounds. bugger.

6. Multiple free beers + ultimate dancing until wee hours of the night with your travelling girlfriends + early morning bus departure = wreckage!

7. Aussie rules football is the way of the future, the way of the future! Less stopping, more running, less padding, more exposed flesh, less popcorn, more meat pies. What's not to love?

In closing, a little piece from my journal after a particularly strenuous 3 hour hike up a mountain called "the pyramid" with a marathon-runner Aussie boy who was heaps more fit than I... "I feel capable of just about anything. God has instilled in me a strong body, strong mind, and a strong will. He will never neave my side nor abandon his faith in me. He knows every hair on my head, every secret in my heart, and every dream in my mind. At the end of the day, my friends, that's a beautiful thing. I miss you all very much!
Cheers!