Brent left Australia to go back to Canada today, so needless to say I’m pretty sad-- but at least I have lots of good things to write about! Brent is still waiting for some paperwork from Toronto before the Australians will make a decision about his visa- so we are still playing the waiting game. We aren’t sure how much longer we’ll have to wait after the paperwork comes through- but we’re hoping it won’t be too long.These past few weeks have been really busy, so I haven’t had much time to write my blog. I had an exam on September 28th covering respirology and hematology- which I think went well. I got 94% on the multiple choice section, but still haven’t got my mark back for the long answers- although it is only PASS/FAIL right now, so marks don’t really matter anyway. I only have one more exam until summer holidays- so I’m pretty excited about that!!
After the exam, we had a week off school for Australia’s Labour Day. Brent and I packed in an unbelievable amount of stuff into the week off- and it turned out to be just AMAZING.
The first Saturday off, Brent’s friend, Alphabet, took Brent and me (plus one friend from school) up to the Hunter Valley (a few hours north of Sydney) for a day of wine tasting. I’m not sure how many wineries we visited- but it was a very full and fun day.
On our drive home, we also saw tons of kangaroos (as well as some dead ones at the side of the road :(…), wallabies and –even a wombat. Brent spent quite a while chasing kangaroos to try and get some good pics- but they were a little too fast for him. He he he.
On Sunday, Brent and I volunteered at a GIANT outdoor concert in the city called Parklife. There were 35000 people at the concert, plus about 2000 more “fence-jumpers”. 
We were ‘medics’ for the day- and I got Brent as my partner, which made my job easy since he was much more qualified than every other medic there.
We saw a lot of “fence-jumpers” who either injured themselves by trying to get over the fence or by security, who chased them down (and weren’t particularly gentle once they caught them). We also saw A LOT of not-so-smart kids who overdosed on alcohol, GHB, or ecstasy. There were about 70 people sent to the hospital by ambulance- almost all of which were drug overdoses. Parts of the day were interesting for sure, but after 14 hours we were sure glad it was over. 
Monday morning Brent biked down to Kings Cross to pick up our rental car while I packed up our stuff. We left pretty early, but still managed to get a parking ticket in the 5 minutes that we spent lugging our stuff down the stairs to the car (since the elevator in my building was broken). Parking tickets in Australia start at $80- so needless to say it wasn’t the best start to the trip. Luckily, things only got better! :) 
The rest of Monday was spent driving up to Byron Bay (about 9 hours north of Sydney)- with a short stop in a small town called Taree. One of my good friends from school (Martha) is from Taree- and invited us to stop by on our way through. It was a nice little visit- and Brent and I got to meet her family, eat some strawberries and brownies and tell stories about how cold it gets in Canada. :) 
We didn’t get to Byron Bay until past 9pm- and unfortunately we had booked a place at what ended up being a horribly dirty and uncomfortable hostel. There was a nice write up about the place in our Rough Guide- but it was definitely not very accurate. Anyway, we just decided to go right to bed and wake up early so that we could get out of there as soon as possible. 
Tuesday we were up early, so we went to visit a few different beaches (which were all beautiful). We also had a great breakfast and then headed up to visit the lighthouse and walk to the ‘most easterly point on the Australian mainland’. We saw heaps of dolphins while we were there!
At around noon we headed up to the Gold Coast and Surfer’s Paradise. I’d heard lots about the Gold Coast- and it was ok- but it made me think of what Miami beach might have been like about 25 years ago. We stopped at a quiet, but gorgeous beach- called Mermaid beach- to bodysurf some waves- and then headed to one of the biggest surf lifesaving clubs in Australia (called Northcliff) for lunch. The Gold Coast was a nice place to drive through, but I was glad that we weren’t staying long. 
We kept driving (through Brisbane) that afternoon until we got to the Sunshine Coast. The Sunshine Coast is where Brent lived for 5 months when he was here a few years ago. It is a beautiful place. We stopped at one of the beaches just before the sunset and saw the biggest JELLYFISH ever that had washed up on the sand. 
There are shark nets about 500m off shore everywhere in Queensland, but they didn’t make me feel much better after seeing what kinds of things still get through!Brent is still in touch with his old roommate (Peter) from the Sunshine Coast, so we ended up staying over at his place for the night. Peter and his girlfriend had just bought a brand new puppy- so it kept us very entertained for the better part of the night. They also took us to dinner at a nice Thai place on the ocean- which was delicious.
Wednesday morning Peter and his girlfriend got up early to go to work, so Brent and I got an early start too. We went to visit Brent’s surf lifesaving coach for a while and then headed back to the Kawana Waters beach where Brent trained everyday while he was here. It was another BEAUTIFUL beach. 
For lunch we had famous ‘Works burgers’ (with everything you can imagine including an EGG on it) at Mooloolaba Beach. We went for another quick swim at the Alexandra Headlands- but Brent caught a wave right into a wall of shells, so we didn’t stay there too long.
We drove up to Hervey Bay (across from Fraser Island) that night and checked into a much better YHA hostel- where we paid the same amount as in Byron Bay for our own little enclosed cabin- which was still basic but much more comfortable! We had a cheap dinner at the hostel, played some chess and booked some tours for the next few days. 
Thursday we went on a whale watching tour in Hervey Bay for most of the day. We saw tons of humpbacked whales and had a great lunch on the boat. We hadn’t planned it- but it ended up being prime whale watching season (since the whales migrate down the coast each spring)- so we definitely got lucky. 
That evening we went for a swim in the ocean at Hervey Bay. The water wasn’t that great looking, but the sand was super soft, and the water was really warm, so it ended up being just perfect.Friday was probably my favourite day. :)
We went on a full-day guided tour of Fraser Island. I’m sure it would have been even better if we had enough money and time to camp and rent our own 4X4, but we definitely saw enough to know that we want to go back. We had a really knowledgeable guide who took us all around the 170km sand island. We walked through rainforests, swam in freshwater creeks, drove along 75-mile beach (which is a HUGE beach that is also a highway and a runway), visited the Maheno shipwreck, saw the coloured sands, and spent a while at a very famous freshwater lake called Lake MacKenzie(where you can polish your jewlery with the sand). It was a GREAT day and I really didn’t want to leave the island (at least until I heard about all the deadly animals and bugs living on it).
That night we had dinner at a popular Mexican restaurant in Hervey Bay which we decided was probably the BEST Mexican food we had ever had!
Saturday morning we got up early and headed over to the beach where there was a master’s surf lifesaving carnival/competition going on. Brent’s old club was there, so he was happy to see a lot of the men that he used to train with. It is amazing to see the number of masters still involved in surf lifesaving here- definitely something you would NEVER see in Canada. 
After a few races, we decided to start driving back towards Sydney since I needed to be at the hospital by Monday. We ended up driving about 11 hours that day and making it all the way down to a town called Port MacQuarie, which is about 500 kilometers north of Sydney along the coast. We stayed in a Quality Inn motel that night, watched a movie and ordered in some pizza. It was a nice treat after our week of hostels.Sunday morning we headed over to a well-known, but quiet beach in Port MacQuarie called Shelly Beach. It was beautiful and the waves were perfect for body surfing. :) We swam there for about an hour before tearing ourselves away to go back to Sydney.
At the end of it all, we had driven 2700 kilometers in 7 days.This week has been a bit of a blur since I have been trying to keep up with school (we are in cardiology block now), but also trying to spend as much time with Brent before he had to leave. It is weird being here by myself again- but I have lots of good cooking ideas now and I have a surf board and a commuting bike to keep me busy… so I’m hoping these 6 weeks will go by fast. It’s pretty strange, but my little box of a room almost feels too BIG now that Brent is gone. :(
Luckily, I have more visits to look forward to very soon! Uncle Tom will be here in about 3 weeks and then Mom will be here a few weeks after that! Very excited! :)
Anyway, sorry for another VERY long blog but thanks for reading it! Brent also has a link full of pictures incase you are curious to see more! http://picasaweb.google.com/brentmc77
Miss you! xox
