Hangin' out (literally) in Byron Bay

hey guys,

I know an update was long overdue. Since the last post, we left Rainbow Beach and made our way to Byron Bay. We stayed two nights at a hostel near the beach and met a lovely London Ontario chap. We spent the next few days lounging around Byron Bay, taking advantage of the cheap meals, drinks and inappropriate activities at Cheeky Monkeys. We also did some great sight seeing, including borrowing bikes from our hostel to see the Cape Byron lighthouse, which is at the eastern most point of mainland Australia. The view from the top was phenomenal; we even saw a family of dolphins and a turtle swimming around!

We spent a long time trying to find another hostel for the next two days in Byron Bay, but eventually we found a place for our last two nights. We had booked a bus to take us to Melbourne for our final days in Australia but then decided to take the loss and take a plane to Melbourne instead of spending 24 hours on a bus. So, we had some extra time in Byron Bay.

We decided just for kicks to go hanggliding on our last day. What an incredible experience! It was a really windy day, but it was awesome just to soar and hang out for a while (we flew tandem). You get strapped into a suit that kinda makes you look like a caterpillar-type creature, and then just walk off a cliff where the wind takes you and picks you up. It was really hard to top that adventure.

So, here we are in Melbourne, where we will stay for a few days before driving along the great ocean road and finally arriving in Sydney to take our flight out to New Zealand. So far the city looks really fun with lots of things to do. It's a nice contrast from Byron Bay, which was more of a beach town.

Finally some pictures...the first four are views around the lighthouse, and the bottom two are from our hanggliding adventures (Jason is in the photo on the left. I am surprised the photo turned out so well considering I was flying at the same time and in an almost horizontal position).

More updates to come! Thanks for your patience! I hope all is well back home.

Oh yeah, in other news...I officially graduate on the 14th. I won't be there and have no intention of leaving this lovely paradise to attend a boring convocation so after two years of hard work I will just have to get my degree in the mail. Not the way I wanted to go out, but I can enjoy graduating from here :)