Collections of sorts.

Here are a few of the images I wanted to post last time around...

These are the crazy, big scavenger birds called Ibis. They just roam around the busy, city confines and no one seems to notice them... but I did.

...but you can't feed them.

Brisbane by night...

From my trip to GoMA... these from the permanent contemporary collection.

From the aboriginal art collection. I would probably mess up the explanations of these artworks so I've included the descriptions for those curious.

Some more of Australia's wilderness we've encountered so far...

At this point, we had already been trekking to the lighthouse for so long... this was what we saw around the "next bend"... it was still so far and this photo barely gives a glimpse of the heat.

the most easterly point of Australia...

the view from the top of the lighthouse...

The day before yesterday, we rented a couple of bikes and went out to Tallow Beach. It was only about a 15 minute bike ride and yet the beach was virtually deserted. It was nice to have the space. Apparently, this beach runs for 7km. As far as I could see this sand-built ridge accompanied the tide the entire way.

I noticed that Tallow Beach had great sand. Just above the fine white was tiny black pebbles. They sparkled in the sunlight... any raven, like myself, would've found this a spectacle worth watching. The patterns created from the receding tide was something in itself. -Very inspiring.

Yesterday, we had our first surf experience since being in Oz. We took a 3hr lesson at Black Dog Surfing. There logo was a picture of a dog surfing with the slogan, 'If we can teach a dog to surf, we can teach you.' Quite catchy -we were sold.

The water is so much warmer than Long Beach. Here, you only need your "swimmers" and a "rashy" (translation: swim suit and a rash guard.) Conrad was a natural. He stood up pretty much every try ...with perfect technique... see for yourself... the company sends someone out to shoot photos of the experience...

Last night I got carried away with my camera... a few random portraits in Byron Bay.

Bugs live in Byron too...

Conrad and I made it safely to Byron Bay. We've been here for 2 days now... but beforehand we had another night and one more day to search and discover Brisbane. We went down to the South Bank Parklands... we took a pointless 2 second bus. We didn't realise how close the park was and laughed once we got off at our stop. The ticket lady didn't say anything! The bridge we crossed looked a lot bigger on the map... Anyway, the South Bank Parklands run all the way up along the Brisbane river. Its a nice stroll, full of vegetation, cafe's, and government buildings, including museums and ART GALLERYS!! We scoped out the scene and made a note to come back the next day. We both took some inspired photos at dusk. On the way back we saw Conrad's building... well, not quite. They have a casino called Conrad's Treasury. It was quite an impressive building. He got right up on the step for a territorial photograph. I told him to pose with a look of importance! haha, why not!

We both got up bright and early. I went to the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), they had an exhibit of Andy Warhol's work. This was the only photo I was able to take in the exhibit. After which a security guard came and told me there were no photos permitted. So, here you go guys I hope you enjoy the Warhol cameo... here you see one of his prints, its an electric chair, from the Death and Disaster series. This print was hanging amongst his cow wallpaper. They also had a floor of aboriginal artwork and another with works from there permanent contemporary collection. Both were interesting to see... a lot of work from Asian and surrounding tribes on the east coast of Australia. Conrad checked out the adjacent museum while I was GoMA hopping. He didn't think the admission price would be worth it for him. Turns out the museum admission was free. Things worked out in his favor but now he seems to think everything is poisonous. "If you don't know what it is, stay back and assume its poisonous." -Conrad Nickel.

Another interesting feature in Brisbane, and presumably the rest of Aus, are their scavengers. These giant birds, called Ibis, are commonly seen rummaging through garbages and consumming any food dropping that crosses there paths. They are so much bigger than our bird scavengers. It shocks me that these huge, odd-looking birds just roam around and no one seems to notice them. After sighting them I made an effort to carry along an extra piece of toast from our continental breakfast at the hostel. However, my attempts in aiding the wildlife was a failure because there are 'DO NOT FEED THE IBIS' posted everywhere... sorry guys, the toast went to the crows instead.

[aw, I was just informed that I cannot upload images from my camera... apparently, it slows all the computers down so they have a "no uploading or downloading" policy. That sucks... you won't be able to see any more pictures for now. sorry. :( ]

Since being in Byron, Conrad and I have caught a lot of sun. Even on the first day, it was overcast with little tropical downpours. Regardless, at the end of the night my nose was red from the rays. We quickly settled into our place. Its a great location, just a walk down from the beach and right off the main strip in Byron. We've been cooking all our meals there. Conrad is a great cook... I like that feature very much! Today we went on a bit of an adventure. There is a lighthouse just outside of Byron. From the beach it doesn't look very far and you pass the most easterly point of Australia. We decided to seek it out today. The hike was way longer than I'd thought. Probably a good 3 clicks from our place. You go up, down, around and back again on these pathways with frequent steps. Right at the beginning of the hike I got bit on the bottom of my foot by a giant ant. Those buggers have killer bites; it stung, I cried, we trekked on. By the time we made it to the lighthouse we were so pooped. We pretty much said, "Fuck the view" and sought out shade and a rest. All humor and exaustion aside, the view was great. We saw a pod of dolphins passing in the distance. There was also a little ice cream seller, which must make a killing on hot days like today. We slowly made our way back to the town. No more bug bites but a lot of breaks on the beach. There are three separated beaches on the way back. We stopped for a refreshing dip as often as we could. By the time we got back to our place we had been out for 6hrs. The quick little day activity turned into a day mission. We ate, guzzled back some precooled refidgerator water, then passed out.

Now, we're looking into taking some surf lessons. Although, I've been a few times it might not be a bad idea. The surf here is constant and they always look difficult. The beach is always full of sun bathers and surf soakers.... we're both just doing our part to fit in!

From Brisbane to Byron

A taste of Fiji...

Our beachside bure... this view is from the rear. Behind the bamboo fencing is the outdoor shower. The resort is only 2 years old and just won an a

Kids on their way to school.

The first night we were there... this was our welcome.

It seemed like every where you looked was picturesque.

My saviour: the Fijian gecko. These creatures can be seen at night, hunting mosquitos. Go Gecko Go!!!!

Valentine's Day dinner on the beach.

Conrad's horse was not very cooperative during the beach walk. We each had someone leading the horse. The little boys pictured with us were our guides. There was also the older brother of one of them. He is the one seen leading in the picture of the horse refusing to go.

This is the village at the base of the waterfall hike. I liked their system of hanging the clothes in ascending order according to size... very organized!

The waterfall was more like 60 ft high... impressive either way. The water was cool and fresh. Kind of like the Nanaimo River after a really hot summer... a little taste of home, half way across the world.

These are some of the children that lived in the village. We saw them playing and/or bathing in the water on our way down. They were the cutest little things and were sure to yell, 'bula! bula! bula!' as we all passed by.

This was a performance on our last night at the resort. It was a traditional Meka dance. There were people of all ages in this group. They sang and danced in incredibly colorful outfits.... half was made from real plants and flowers which was pretty neat.

Its funny... when you ask someone to take a picture for you they literally take a picture of just you. That's okay... but I wish they got a little more of the group in the photo.

This is a couple of British travellers, Keira (aka Kiwi) and Mark. They were really friendly and had lots of advice to give about travelling through Oz. This was taken on our last night there. The resort held a bit of a limbo contest. Kiwi and I were the finalists, but as you can see by the last photo its pretty clear who won... my back still hurts.

This was taken on the night when we danced our hearts out! We played Flip Cup; we limboed; we had a few refreshments. Oh ya, this was also the night that we had a 4am wake up call to catch our flight out of Fiji. All I can say is the bumpy, 2 hour drive to the airport was almost interrupted by an emergency pull over. We both were troopers and hung over... oops, I mean... hung in there! Thank goodness for 4 hour flights to Oz... we both slept like babies.

We stayed in Brisbane last night at a backpackers hostel... the Palace. We've locked down a place to stay in Byron Bay from the 20th (my Nanny's birthday!) Its a fully functional studio-type apartment. We will be staying in Byron for a couple of weeks. Now, we have a couple of days to check out the city of Brisbane. We bought a cell phone today... the number is 04 4778 6485. I'm not sure what Australia's country code is.... sorry guys, we won't be using the phone for international calls. It would be way too expensive but it will be on in case of an emergency and you need to contact us sooner than email. Regardless, we do have a camera on our phone and have already enjoyed this little feature. Hope you enjoy them too!... sorry, computer won't let me upload the pictures off the phone.

Side note: Conrad has read the blog since I've posted the other comments and he wanted me to point out that he DID pack overnight things in his carry-on and I didn't... even though he told me I should. I didn't listen.... just to be clear.