I'm back!!!

Needless to say it's been quite a while since i last made a post. I'll try and update everyone on my activities for the last 3 months the best i can. The last update I had was in Darwin before thanksgiving. We ended up inviting 6 Australian friends over along with us three Americans and celebrated thanksgiving. We baked a turkey and had mashed potatoes and tried to make it as authentic as possible. About this time, I found a job in Darwin working at citybeach. It's a surf shop/clothing store in the local mall in Darwin. The website to check it out is citybeachsurf.com.au. I worked there from the end of November to the beginning of January. During this time I was living in an apartment with the 2 American girls and an Australian couple. I slept on the couch but it wasn't too bad of a place. The next big event was Christmas. It was weird without family there but we made do. We bought presents for each other and even had a little Christmas tree set up. We had about 10 people over an grilled sausages and spent the day outside. One large difference about Australian Christmases is that the weather is pretty warm. On Christmas day it was 90 degrees in Darwin. This was a big adjustment! We also celebrated new years eve in Darwin. We went over to a friend's house for a barbecue and ended the night at the local pub where one of my roommates was working. On the second of January i left Darwin to meet my parents in Sydney. It was good to see them after 5 months of being away! From the we traveled to Melbourne, Carins, and Brisbane. Some highlights from the trip include watching the penguins near Melbourne, scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns, and four wheel driving on Frasier Island. They left the middle ofJanuary and it was hard to tell them goodbye! After they left I flew back up to Cairns and have been here since then. For most of the timeI've been here I've been a "hostie" on the dive boat we were on. I would go on the boat for 3-5 days at a time and I would do the dishes on the boat and clean some of the rooms. In return, I would get free room and board and 3 dives a day. Through this i was able to make 25 dives on the Great Barrier Reef. I have an opportunity to work full time on the boat and to get my Dive Mastership, but I'm not sure if I'll have time to complete this. Since I've been here I've stayed in different hostels. They're fairly cheap and it's a good way to meet people. I've also become good friends with the crew from the boat and have spent a lot of time hanging out with them. In the next few days I will know for sure what my plans in the future are. I plan on making a trip north of cairns to an area called Cape Tribulation. It's a very tropical area that boasts beautiful lakes and waterfalls. After that I will most likely head a little south to try and find some work picking fruit. I've been told it's hard work, but it pays well. I'm looking forward to the next couple weeks and I'll try and update in a couple days when I know for sure what my plans are. I hope everyone back home is doing well and I've been thinking about all of you. Until next time,
tj

Some pictures from along the way

Bali Sunset!

At the zoo

Our sunset dinner on the beach

The boys at the club

My caddie and I on our golf trip

The crew at a bar in Semanac

Our camp the first night of traveling

The hot spring outside of Katherine

Lake Argyle outside Kunnunnura

Long time coming!

Well it's been a long time since I've posted anything so I have a lot to fill everyone in on! The last time I posted we were on our way to Darwin in the Northern Territory. After the night we stopped at the christian radio station we stopped by Lake Argyle. It was one of the biggest lakes I've ever seen! There were rolling hills all around and the water was so clear. The temperature was starting to heat up and we stopped in for a refreshing dip in the lake. We spent the rest of the day driving and arrived in Katherine in W.A. that night. We slept in our traveling partner's camper but it was miserably hot! Our tires were wearing down so we had to buy a couple new tires to make sure we arrived safely in Darwin. On our way out of Katherine we found a really nice hot springs to take a dip in. We also stopped at another swimming hole called Edith Falls half-way to Darwin. We arrived in Darwin in the evening and met up with a few of Tom and Brooke's friends and had a few drinks. This was my first experience in Darwin and I enjoyed it, but it was so humid! This would only get worse when we got to Bali(the humidity that is)! That gets me to the next adventure... Bali! I can only describe it as Mexico times a thousand! It is cheap, has beautiful beaches, good waves, and a party atmosphere! We did some fun activities like whitewater rafting, a day cruise to a local island, surfing, and golfing. There was a group of 11 of us and the 8 others were all aussies. During the trip we met some really cool people from New Zealand, Sumatra, other parts of Indonesia, California, Perth, and Melbourne. Through our travels I hope we are able to meet up with them again. Our friends had spent a month there last year and had met two locals named Darwin and Chandra. They were extremely nice people and helped us out with everything we needed! The nightlife was also pretty exciting around Bali. The clubs wouldn't get going until 2 am and would sometimes go all night(but of course I never stayed out past 11 pm)! After you left the club you'd just hop on the back of a transport(a moped) and they would take you home for about $1. Everything else was cheap too! Most times you could get an appetizer, an entree, and a drink for around $4. Our last night there we had a beautiful sunset meal on the beach. You actually went and picked out the fresh seafood you wanted and they would cook it up for you however you liked. It was one of my favorite experiences and it was a perfect ending to an amazing trip! Since then, we've been living in Darwin and working... kinda! For the first 3 weeks we were staying in hostels and we recently moved into a 2 bedroom apartment. I sleep on the fold-out couch but it's still a better deal than the hostels. Our apartment isn't too fancy but it's nice. We have a large rap around balcony where we spend most of our nights hanging out on. From one side of the balcony you can even see the ocean which is pretty neat! On the job side I'm supposed to start working at a surf shop type place next week. I'm not sure how many hours I will get a week so I might have to start looking for other options. I'm hoping that I can find a pub around here that is going to have the osu/cu football game on. They don't watch football here so it might be a struggle. Either way... I'll be rooting for the pokes! With Thanksgiving coming up... us 3 Americans are trying to extend the tradition to Australia. We have started planning our meal and I hope we can all come together and celebrate the friendships we've made along our journey. It will be hard without our families but I know they'll be there in our thoughts and prayers. So I hope that everyone is well back home and have a happy thanksgiving!

Random day

So this is really random that I'm writing you because I didn't think I would have internet or cell service for a week or so... but God works in mysterious ways... literally. We spent last night at a stop called Mary's River between broome and halls creek on the Great Northern Highway. We woke up this morning with the sun at 5 am and packed up and left. I was riding with tom and all 3 girls were in our car. Around 10:30 in the morning we passed an older couple that had a flat tire so we pulled over to help them. Three hours later and with a hole in the fuel tank we got the tire on. When tom was jacking their car up a screw from the jack pierced the fuel tank and we watched as 59 litres leaked out on to the ground. We waited for the tank to empty and then tried to repair it with a steel repair putty. It wouldn't hold a seal and we ended up taking them 100 km to the next town so they could call a tow truck. We waited at the next town, turkey creek or warnum, until they heard back from the towers at 3pm. From there the 8 of us (including tony and mary... and their dog muffy) trekked on for the 300 km to their home town, Kununurra. Come to find out they work for a christian broadcasting company who happen to have some spare beds for free to sleep in. The company they broadcast for is hcjb global voice and they broadcast the gospel, music, and news to china india fiji and places like that. It's a pretty cool little place and they also grow mangoes and bananas so we have as many of those as we can eat! Oh... and they have free wifi so i'm able to tell you this story. It's been a crazy day that included many sunburns, a small dog, a dead roo on the side of the road that smelled horrible, and after all a nice place to rest our heads. I hope the people aren't mad at us because all we were trying to do was help them out and we ended up immobilizing their car!
CHEERS!

Last day in Broome

The time has come for Broome and I to part ways and it's a bittersweet feeling. On one hand I'm excited to move on to a new place and see what adventures lay ahead. On the other, I've met so many good people here that it'll be hard to say goodbye. They've been there for me and have become part of my australian family. My last day of work wqas on wednesday and it felt great to not have to clean another room for a month or so! The pay was pretty good, but other than that I'm not a big fan of housekeeping. As for the traveling we're heading out at noon tomorrow. We're traveling with a couple and they're taking the backroads for the first day that is only accesible with a 4 wheel drive(which we dont have)! We'll only drive 5 or 6 hours a day so we'll be able to see some things in the towns we stop in. We'll be staying at campgrounds and sleeping in the car and in a tent. The weather has been fairly nice at night so hopefully it will stay that way so we can sleep peacefully. We should get to Darwin on wednesday night and we fly out from there thursday afternoon. We'll be leaving our car parked at a friend of the couple we're traveling with's business in Darwin. I'm looking forward to being able to relax on the beach and also experience the Indonesian culture... and the cheap food! The past 2 months have been fun and there's no telling what the next couple have in store for me. Hope all is well back home... and go pokes! Cheers...
TJ

A little view of Broome

Another day at the beach

The pool at the resort

Our beautiful car

Hey everyone! So, since I updated last we've finalized our plans for Bali! Our last day of work will be the 9th of October and we will leave the next day for Darwin. I believe it's about 1200 miles from Broome to Darwin and should take us 4-5 days. We will be staying in campgrounds when we travel and will sleep in the car and in a tent. We're traveling with another couple that works at the resort with us. They are really nice and have been to Bali many times before. We fly out of Darwin on the 15th and will be there for 10 nights. We're staying at a nicer hotel for 7 days called the Bounty. It's a popular hotel for younger people and it's close to most things. We'll also be staying for 3 night in a budget hotel. We did this so we could save some money and still make sure we saw as much as possible. We'll fly back to Darwin and start making our way to the East Coast. The first place we want to see is a town called Cairns. It's a popular town and is supposed to be beautiful. It will be the beginning of the rainy season by the time we get to cairns and hopefully it won't affect us too much. From Cairns we are hoping to head south and work on a banana farm. We know a guy that owns one, so hopefully we'll be able to work there for a couple weeks and earn some money. After this month or so worth of travels and adventures there's no telling where we'll end up! I've heard the area around Aerli beach is a good spot to find a job and it's high on our list of prospects. Recently in Broome I've seen some pretty cool things. This morning I saw a Japanese fighter from WWII that had crashed in the ocean right by our resort. You can only see it a couple times a year because of the tides and this was one of them. Also, we saw some fossilized dinosaur prints. They were pretty cool but I'm still a little skeptic if they're real or not. Also, a group of us went on a cruise around the bay on an old pearl lugger. It was a relaxing day capped off by a beautiful sunset. Ill try to upload some photos for everyone to see as soon as possible. I hope all is well and everyone is enjoying life.
Much love,
TJ
p.s. Go Pokes!