Countries Visited

    Australia
    Austria
    Bahamas
    Belgium
    Belize
    Bermuda
    Cambodia
    Canada
    Cayman Islands
    Costa Rica
    Czech Republic
    England
    Greece
    Guatemala
    Italy
    Japan
    Laos
    Malaysia
    Mexico
    The Netherlands
    Norway
    Singapore
    Spain
    Thailand
    United States
    The Holy See
    Vietnam

    Travel Goals

    1. Climb to Everest Base Camp.
    2. Climb Mt Kilimanjaro.
    3. Learn to Scuba Dive.
    4. Visit every continent.
    5. See the Galapagos Islands.
    6. Sail down the Amazon River.
    7. Climb Ayer's Rock.
    8. Travel on the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
    9. Go into space.
    10. Throw tomatos at La Tomintina in Spain.
    11. See the sunrise from Mt. Fuji.
    12. Try to figure out the Buddhist messages at Borobudor in Indonesia.
    13. Visit the Pyramids
    14. Safari in East Africa for 3 months.
    15. Go to the World Cup!
    16. See Macchu Picchu.
    17. Join the Century Club. (100 countries visited)
    18. Join the Mile High Club. (Hey why not?)
    19. Do development work in a 3rd world country.
    20. See Petra Jordan.
    21. Backpack the Eastern Block.
    22. Go back to Alaska and see the Northern Lights.
    23. Vegas Baby! Vegas!
    24. Greek Island hop.
    25. Cycle Tuscany.
    26. Visit India.
    27. Lounge forever in the Seychelles.
    28. See Morocco.
    29. Oktoberfest!
    30. Caravan across the Sahara.
    31. Visit Tibet.
    32. Go to the Cannes Film Festival.
    33. Go to the Sundance Film Festival.
    34. Eat a sushi meal at NOBU
    35. Pacific Island hop.
    36. Spend a night in the Ice Hotel in Sweden.
    37. Go to Israel.
    38. Carnival!!!!
    39. and it's slightly less cool cousin, Mardi Gras!
    40. See Glacier National Park before the glaciers melt.
    41. Fly first class on some long international flight!
    No Service Fees! Promo Code: NOFEE

Holidays Down Under

December 27, 2007

Happy Holidays from Byron Bay!

For the past few weeks, I’ve been traveling south towards Sydney on Australia’s Gold Coast. There are 300 days of sun here but apparently, they don’t spread them out because since I’ve been here, I’ve only had 1 day of sun. It’s not doing wonders for my tan. It’s not dong wonders for my liver either- The Goldie,as it is called, is pretty much the party place of Australia and I’ve been doing my far share.

Brisbane, my first destination on Eastern Australia, wasn’t that thrilling. It was a big city with nothing really to see in it. It had some good restaurants and clubs but I preferred Melbourne over it. I spent about 5 days there. I got to see some friends of mine (even one from Thailand!) but I was glad to leave.

I headed down to Surfer’s Paradise, heart of the Gold Coast. After about 5 days of partying, I dragged my hungover self to Byron Bay to meet some friends for Xmas. The Gold Coast is like being in Florida. Nothing really different. Surfer’s could have easily have been Ft. Lauderdale. Byron Bay is nice and much, much quiter but it too is like a million other places. I’ve been finding the East Coast to be a lot like other places and nothing about it makes it distinctly Australian. I felt much more in OZ when I was in WA or the Northern Territories.

Xmas was fun. Not really much to do. Xmas eve was a big party here and a very late night. I was going to Sydney for New Year’s but those plans have since fallen through and am going back to Surfer’s Paradise for the New Year. From there, its up the east coast to see the Great Barrier Reef, then flying to Sydney before I catch my flight to New Zealand.

All in All, nothing to exciting to report. Hopefully the weather will get better and I’ll start getting a tan. I have less than a month left here in Australia! It’s amazing how quickly time has flown here. I feel like it was just yesterday I got here.

and to think..it is almost 2008!

Posted by NomadicMatt | Filed Under First RTW | Leave a Comment