Lighthouse at Byron Bay

Hello everyone! We are actually home already, but we were having some problems posting pictures in the last week of our trip, so there will be a bunch of new ones on here. These pictures we just forgot to post. They are actually from the beginning of our trip when we were travelling with Marvin. This is the lighthouse at Byron Bay. Great views.




back at the beach...

Boat Trip

Last week we went on a 3-day boat trip, which departed from Airlie Beach and went through the famous Whitsunday Islands. We had a great time, and got to do plenty of snorkling and diving. One of the stops was at Whitehaven beach, which is known for its white sands. Unfortunately it was pretty overcast the day we were at Whitehaven, but we still got some pretty good pics. If you want to see some better pictures and some underwater pictures of what we saw, visit this website: www.powerplaycat.com If you do, look out for pictures of a huge, bluish-grey fish with big lips. His name is Elvis, and we got to see him while we were diving. Actually, he is so friendly and well-known by the crew, that he came right up to us and we could touch him!
These batfish came right up to our boat to get some bread. It was crazy. One of the crew actually caught one with his hands and picked it up out of the water for a few seconds. The were about 18 inches long and almost as tall.
This is the boat. It is a catamaran, and there were 18 passengers and 4 crew.

Whithaven Beach (boat trip continued...)

Our boat had a hot tub. Does it get any better than this?

Whithaven Beach (boat trip continued...)

Suntanning on our boat's top deck
Voted the 2nd best beach in the world by National Geographic (no, we don't know what the #1 was)
These were the "stinger suits" we had to wear. It wasn't jelly season, so we didn't have any encounters with them, thankfully!

More pics of Great Keppel Isl

Guys, take note. Try waterskiing behind this! 675 horsepower.
This is the kitchen at the hostel village. We didn't get a picture of it, but we had an incident with a possum the night before. We were having dinner and watching a possum walk by, when he climbed up onto the table and snatched a sausage off of Brian's plate. Sneaky little rascal! They're cute, but as the owner of the hostel warned us, they are smart and will try to get food however they can. Anyways, Brian snatched the sausage right back out of the possum's mouth (but didn't eat it)

Great Keppel Island

Yesterday we spontaniously jumped on a boat while we were on our way to Airlie Beach. We headed over to Keppel Island for a night. It was awesome. There's tons of hiking, snorkeling, kayaking etc. We stayed at a hostel and it was a lot of fun. Here are some pics.
Sunset (6pm)
We went for a hike and then walked around the beach.
One of the various lookouts on the island.

Coolum Beach

On Sunday we discovered this church and attended the morning service. People were very friendly and it was a great church. We really enjoyed it.
Hanging out in the back of the van (aka our living room, dining room, and bedroom)
"brekky", as the locals call it.

This is in Coolum, where we stayed for a couple days. We loved it. Jodi took this picture at 5:45am, just before sunrise (she was up early to go running, in case anyone is wondering why so early on vacation!)

Snapper Rock, Surfer's Paradise, and Caloundra

Marvin took us for dinner at the Hard Rock cafe in Surfer's Paradise.
Most public beaches have these outdoor grills that anyone can use. This is in Caloundra, where we are right now. We have no tour guide now, because Marvin left to go back to the school yesterday, so we're just going to be making our way up the sunshine coast for the next week. Next Thursday we have booked a sailing trip to the Whitsundays.
Shopping!

Ah, Surfer's Paradise. Good beaches and great shopping.

Byron Bay Pictures

Fish and Chips in the camper. A must-have when travelling in Oz.
Ice cream in Byron Bay. We walked around the town this evening, but tomorrow will be spent at the beach.
Marvin misses his computer.

Capernwray

This is the Capernwray campus where Marvin has been livingfor the past 9 months. The scenery is great, but it is in one of the coolest-climate regions of Australia. It's fall here in Oz. This is also on campus.

Port Macquarie Pictures

This was yesterday in Port Macquarie. We had lots of fun bodysurfing and being tossed around by the big waves.
This is our home for the next 3 and a half weeks. It's great!
Don't worry everyone, Jodi is not sunburned (yet)

Byron Bay

Hey everyone. We just wanted to give you all an update tonight, but we are at an internet cafe, so we will have to wait until tomorrow to post some pictures-- we have some good ones already! We left Sydney in our rented camper van with Marvin on Thurday and headed North. The temperature gets hotter and the beaches get better as we head North up the East Coast. We've seen some beautiful scenery along the way, and have ventured around Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, and now we are in Byron Bay. It's beautiful here (of course) and we will spend a few days here, enjoying the beaches and the hippie-town atmosphere.
Stay tuned for more pics tomorrow!

arrived

We've arrived in Oz! The flight was long, but not too bad. We are 17 hours ahead here, so jet lag is setting in pretty hard already. It's 3pm and we're TIRED! Marvin (Brian's little brother, for those of you who don't know) picked us up from the airport in Sydney and has already given us a tour of Capernwray school. We will be touring around Sydney tomorrow and then the next day we will be renting a camper and heading North where the weather is warmer and sandy beaches are abundant!
Here's a pic of Marvin, who now looks about 10 years older than he actually is. We're having a great time with him already, and he will be joining us for the first week of our travels.

and we have a blog!

Hey friends! So many of you have asked us to send pictures and update you while we are on our trip to Australia, so we figured we should really do this the 21st-century way by creating a blog. We are leaving on Monday, April 24 and will be returning on May 22. Stay tuned for pictures of Jodi looking grumpy during the 14-hour flight, Marvin with crazy bushman hair, followed by beautiful Australian scenery!