Hope you enjoy some of my photos from my recent trip to Nicaragua with Samaritan's Purse.  It was an amazing, unforgetable experience.

Enjoy!!

OK,

 

The rest of my pictures are now up.  Hope you all enjoy!

 

Carla

I'm home!!!  It's so good to be home....minus the cold, the mail stacked up, the reality, etc!!!  But, I am really glad to be back!

 

Had a blast in Hong Kong.  It's such an interesting city.  So Asian, but so Western as well.  Sooooo busy!  A little to big for me!  Was exhausted after leaving there cuz I did so much walking and sight seeing and shopping since I only had 3 days there!

 

Flights were alright.  Too long (12 hours, 8h layover in Vancouver!), but I survived!

Hope you enjoyed my travels!  Will be putting up the rest of my photos hopefully in the next week!

 

Had a fantastic time in Melbourne with Elly!

 

Spent my first day walking around the city, along the Yarra River and to the Shrine which is a huge beautiful building built after WW1.  It's amazing!

 

The next day was crazy hot (>+35), so we headed out of the city eventually to the beach seeing a few towns along the way.

 

Monday I went on a bus tour along the Great Ocean Road.  WOW is all I can say!  Some amazing scenery, rock formations, rainforrests, etc!  It was a crazy long day....leaving at 8am and not getting back to Elly's til 11:30pm!

 

Tuesday was spent wandering around the city some more, then 3 hours worth of taking the braids out of my hair....and that was 2 of us working on it!!!  All I can say is afro!!!!  Took some photos of it!  After dinner that night went and walked along the Yarra river again looking at the floating flags and fish for the opening ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games.

 

Wed. I spent doing laundry, packing, hair cut, and shopping (but didn't buy much!).  Went to the night market with Elly after she finished work, then just watched the opening ceremonies from her house since it was $400-500 for a ticket!!!!

 

I'm now in Hong Kong with only a few days of my holiday left.  Sad that it's ending, but looking very forward to coming home!  Once I get settled I'll upload the last of my Oz photos, my NZ ones that Jason has and Hong Kong. 

 

Caught up with Paul and Stever (friends from Contiki trip) in Perth.  Did some sightseeing around Perth, went to Fremantle which had beautiful old buildings and a great beach!  Did a tour of Fremantle Prision which closed in 1991.  Definately wouldn't want to be a prisioner there....yikes!  Went on a river cruise for a day and saw Perth from the water.  Saw some huge homes along the waterfront.  Was a gorgeous day....and was about 35 each day I was there!

 

Then onto Adelaide to visit Sam and Hugh (Hugh was the Aussie that came to S"toon to visit me).  Went south to Victor Harbour and Granite Island which is a penguin refuge.  Didn't see any penguins cuz it was mid-day and they come in at dusk.  But did a walk around the island and wow, there were some huge rocks!  Went up into the hills behind Adelaide which is so gorgeous and peaceful, but only like 20min from the city!  Wandered around the city as well which also has some gorgeous old buildings....parliament, casino which used to be the train station, some cool university buildings, a huge old church.  Went to the Barossa wine valley for some tours and tastings....yum!!!  And, today....my last day in Adelaide....we're going on a tour of Haigh's chocolates, going to the beach (cuz it's >30 here too!!!) and going to an Aussie rules football game tonight!!

 

Off to Melbourne next, then Hong Kong, then home.  Can't believe it's almost over already!  But, I am looking forward to coming home.  Just going to be such a wimp cuz I'm used to +30 now!!!

 

Hey all....

 

My photo album is now up to date.  Click on description below the photos and it explains some of the photos so you actually know what it is you're looking at!  If you care!

 

You can also view them as a full screen slide show in case you hadn't found that yet.  Top right hand corner of the photo gives you the option.

 

Hope you enjoy!!

 

Wow....it's amazing up here in Cairns.  But I'll go back a few days....

 

As I mentioned before....stayed on the Gold Coast (about 1 hour south of Brisbane) with a couple friends for almost a week.  Did some great sightseeing from there.... 

 

Spent a day in Byron Bay wandering around looking at the great surf beaches....didn't try it though...need to come home un-injured!!  Also went to Australia's most eastern point while there which was up on a cliff with a lighthouse and some amazing views of the area.

 

Spent a day driving around the Gold Coast and up to Surfer's Paradise which would probably be the biggest city on the Gold Coast.  Also some amazingly beautiful beaches here.  Very popular place, so was very comercialized and touristy.

 

Went to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo for another day.  Saw so many cool animals!  lots of Crocodiles, tigers, elephants, camels, cassowaries (big...huge bird), kangaroos, koalas, tasmanian devil, lots of bright coloured birds, and managed to bypass the snake area...hooray!!!  Was a great place to spend a day at!!!

 

Went up to the Sunshine Coast from there which is about 1 hour north of Brisbane.  Not quite as touristy/comercialized, but just as nice as the Gold Coast.  Drove around the coastal towns, looked at the Glass House Mountains, and just relaxed some more!!

 

Flew from Brisbane to Cairns on Feb. 25 and am loving it!!  Very, very humid and hot here....so the AC is mandatory!!!   It relies heavily on tourism, so the city reflects that with backpackers, pubs, internet cafes, and tourism places everywhere....but it's still gorgeous! 

 

Yesterday I went out to the Great Barrier Reef for the day!!  Definately the highlight of my trip just like I anticipated it would be!!  Went to 2 different sites on the reef to snorkel and saw some amazing tropical fish and gorgeous coloured corals.  On the 2nd site the reef was so shallow that I could reach down and touch the corals!!  Was a great day!  Took a bunch of photos with an underwater camera.  Will post some (if they turn out) when i get it developed.

 

Today, I went on a safari tour north of Cairns to the Mossman Gorge, Daintree River, Cape Tribulation Beach and walked around the rainforrest.  Learnt a lot about the rainforrest flora and fauna.  Was a great day!

 

I'm off to Perth next in a couple days and I've heard it's beautiful there too!!  Can't wait!!