Finally! Random Pictures!

OK, I'm not even going to bother writing a big long intro, in case things go horribly awry. Here goes...



Alright, the first picture of many... this is a shot of the beach on the island. Just around the corner on the right is the jetty, the site of many a night-time dive (almost always drunken, and usually near a random reef shark). This would have been at around low tide. At high tide, the brown rocks on the left would be covered with water. Also, ignore the time in the lower corner, it wasn't actually 6am when this picture was taken. My camera had some problems with is before it gave up the ghost.


Not a reef shark, I'm not exactly sure what this is. Shawna and I were walking along the beach in ankle deep water when this curious fellow happened by. He asked us for some change, but we had none. He then swallowed a whole turtle, and grinned impishly. The whole scene was very surreal.


Turtle! This one was probably not eaten right away, as there were no seagulls or sharks in the immediate vicinity. However, there's a pretty good chance he was eaten. Circle of life and all that. Stop crying.


So Australia Day was January 26th, and to celebrate, they had a cricket match between Aussies and the Rest of the World (basically Aussies vs Kiwis, with 1 Canadian - Shawna. I was working this day). Anyhow, Shawna apparently did O, but kept dropping the bat, owing to years of baseball and the busting of kneecaps. So this picture was taken after she hit the ball, and the dude with the perplexed look on his face was going to catch the ball, essentially making Shawna 'out', but she knocked the ball out of the air at the last second with her hand. He was less than impressed. Keep in mind that this game was interrupted by not one, but 2 streakers, so it wasn't exactly the Ashes tournament. Look it up, you cricket-hating bastards.


Oh, wouldn't you like to hear the story behind this one....


Just a pic of downtown Nimbin, the bustling metropolis that it is. It's really laid-back, and VERY political, which may sound like a bit of an oxymoron, but they're more interested in politics than any other group of people I've ever met.


After visiting Nimbin, we ended up in a rainforest that this ONE botanist planted 20 years ago. Before he was there, it was all scrubland and vast meadow, now it's 300 hectares of protected parkland, full of wildlife and trees of all sorts. This dude lived here, miles away from civilization near a lagoon, and just did his daily thing. I guess that involved a lot of talking to himself, and laughing maniacally. Seriously, this guy was interesting, but a little out of sorts. Anyways, we hung out and ate macadamia nuts from the shell (contrary to popular belief, macadamia nuts are not native to Hawaii, they were brought from Australia years ago. In fact, most of the macadamia stuff you can buy in Hawaii is actually imported from Australia. Isn't learning fun?) and listened to his ramblings about how many species of what-have-you lived in his little corner of the Earth. I don't remember a word of it though.


This will be my final picture of this post. To those of you who think that Australia is all outback desert and coastal beaches, this should dispel such thoughts like demons from a recently exorcised child. Anyways, I snapped this while I was travelling by train from Byron Bay to Sydney last week. Beautiful rolling hills, and lots of trees, cows and dirt.

I'd like to take this opportunity to mention that taking the train anywhere is quite possibly the nicest way to travel. It's cheap (cheaper than taking a bus in Oz, as a matter of fact), roomier, and you get to wander around, and head to the mess car if you get hungry. I will be taking the train as often as I can now. Very much a more personal experience running through the countryside.

So that's the next big lump of pictures. Tune in next week when we look into why Aussies call ketchup 'Tomato Sauce' and call tomato sauce 'The Tool of the Devil'.

Cheers mate!