Hi kids. Apologies for the lack of posts. I've been trying to hold off from making significant updates until I can get my Australia pictures up, but it's taking a while (though I did pare them down to a measly 400 photos), so here's a quick update. I fairly successfully made my transition back to normal life after getting back, save for a couple days of strange sleeping schedules. The long weekend probably helped. Amanda and I took Fatty McChu (i.e. Enzo) on a couple long walks to help him with his fattiness, and we started on season 1 of Grey's Anatomy. Monday afternoon The CP boys hosted a Memorial Day BBQ in Cuesta Park, which was lots of fun. The weather was beautiful, and there was plenty of yummy food.

An unrelated poll: Do you think animals can be evil? If not, do you think they at least do intentionally harmful things to each other? In other words, do you think there are asshole dolphins?

Hi kids, just letting you all know that we made it back safe and sound. I have grand plans to post up my pictures, but I have > 500 to sort through, so it may take some time.

Time to go fight jet lag...

Edit: The "> 500 to sort through" was just a guess, and after uploading my photos to my computer yesterday, I discovered that with the photos from my portable camera as well as the photos from snorkelling, I probably have closer to 1000 to sort through! Doh.

Also, I picked up Enzo from the kennel yesterday, and he got fat! It's probably because he never got walked, but I'm going to try my best to get him back to his slim self.

Hello from Melbourne, our last stop on OzTour 2006! We left Uluru this morning, which was pretty spectacular. Hopefully I'll have some sweet pictures to show when I get back.

Melbourne is pretty cool, and feels much more big-city than Sydney, even though it's smaller (I believe.) And we all agree that is the CRAZIEST driving city ever. Ask me for stories when I get back.

I think it's off to the big casino in Melbourne tonight; gambling with a good exchange rate, aw yeah.

Hey kids! Today we went snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef. It was amazing -- so many different kinds of creatures everywhere you looked. Unfortunately, me, Yar, Jan, Maureen, and Kurtis all got jellyfish stings! Yar and Jan's were more severe than the rest of ours, but we were all okay.

Tomorrow is koala hugging for sure. I'm excited.

Edit: Here are a few photos from snorkelling (we rented a digital camera.)

Greetings from the Northern coast of Australia! We made it to Port Douglas today and are staying in a fantastic beach-front apartment. The weather is beautiful -- warm, but not too hot. Planned activities include a nighttime rainforest walk, snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, fishing, and my personal favorite: koala hugging. Sweet!

Hello from Wellington! Just a quick note to say hiya to everyone, and let everyone know that yesterday I may have gone bungy jumping at Mokai Gravity Canyon. Maybe.

Tomorrow it's off to Port Douglas!

Greetings from Ohakune, New Zealand! Unfortunately, we had to scrap plans for the Tongariro Hike because it, um, might be snowing up there. It's a cold and rainy day here, and we're trying to figure out what to do instead. There are apparently Glowworm caves somewhere around here, so we might try to do that. I have no idea what a Glowworm is, but it sounds cool.

I got to drive last night from Wellington to Ohakune on the left side of the road! It was pretty fun, and not really difficult at all. The drive up was really nice. We passed through really lush farmlands with sheep dotting the hillsides, and we got to see the sun set along the coast. The skies were filled with stars (winter constellations) that I didn't even know existed.

Well, we have to go figure out what we're doing today. Seeya!

Hello from Sydney! Unfortunately, we have to run to dinner, but just wanted to let everyone know that I got here safe and sound. I've been having a great time so far, and looking forward to our wacky hijinks in the coming days. Tomorrow it's off to Wellington!

Cheers!

AND AWAY WE GO!

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BAZILLION DOLLAR IDEA

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