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...apparently not if you don't wear this underwear.

Aloha, oy.

Surprise! (...to some) I'm in Hawaii!

As it works out, the cheapest route home meant a stop in Honolulu, so I decided to extend my stay to about 9 days.

I'm sure I don't have to tell anyone this, but Hawaii is amazing. America, we're lucky that this is one of our states. I'm staying in Honolulu with a friend of a friend, and it's worked out so well. He's super laid back and friendly, he's let me use his extra car for the week so I can check out the island - Oahu, by the way - and he and his roommate have taken me out, introduced me to their friends, had barbecues...it's been pretty great. Unfortunately, my camera decided to crap out literally 2 days after the warranty expired (which was in Japanese anyway, so that may have posed some problems), but I'm including some stock photos of things I'm seeing around here to give you some ideas of where I am - once I get my disposable cameras put on CD I'll provide some originals.

Diamond Head: hiked it, along with a million old (and some young) Japanese people. Beautiful view.

View of Honolulu and Waikiki Beach from Diamond Head.

I was able to go surfing on the North Shore - that's right, where *gasp* Jack Johnson lives. I took a lesson from a family run school where the owner had not only also lived in Japan but had just gotten back from a trip to New Hope, PA, my very own birthplace. Small world, huh. Surfing was incredible, I loved it and hopefully will get to go at least once more before I leave.

Hawaii has been a perfect last stop on my way home. Not only is it beautiful, it's got a ton to do but is also relaxed enough to give you time to enjoy everything. It's been a good place to relax and clear my head a bit. Also, having been a little homesick for a while, and also having missed Japan for the past two months, it is the PERFECT place to be. It literally has everything I missed from home and most things I miss from Japan (onigiri! green tea and every other drink ever imaginable in convenience stores! Japanese people being cute everywhere!). That said, I'm announcing my arrival home: *dum da da dum* Thursday! I can't wait to see everyone and pile on the sweaters and show everyone up with my sweet tan! Email me phone numbers, please, so I can get in touch asap!

Thanks, Band

After a lot of job hunting, puzzle-doing and movie watching, come Thursday night Nat, Lindzy and I geared up for a night out in the big city of Brisbane. After a short while we ended up at a not-so-special bar in the Valley, where we happened to spot one of the members of Crystal Castles, a band from Lindzy's cold home country of Canada. We had known they'd be in Brisbane, but ticket prices were apparently much more than they'd be at home (much like everything else in this country) and we definitely couldn't afford it.

Me: "Lindz, that's the guy from Crystal Castles."
Lindzy: "Oh yeahhhh.....do you think if we ask they'd let us come to their show?"

...So we take a moment to gather our confidence and look as good/poor as possible, then stroll over. I believe our oh-so-subtle begging went something like this:

Lindzy: "Hey, so are you guys from Crystal Castles?"
Ethan: "Yeah."
Lindzy: "So we really want to come to your show but we're traveling and can't afford the $50...are you able to put people on the guest list?"
Ethan: "Yeah."

After that intro, we actually talked to them (being Ethan, the DJ/other instrument guy/producer and Chris, the drummer) for quite a while. They were really nice - and Ethan was wearing both a hoodie and a jacket, as though he was still in Toronto and not in a warm Australian summer - aaaand they actually did put us on the guest list! So the next night we got to go see a sweet show for free! If you're into glitchy nintendo electro, check them out.

Can't You Hear, Can't You Hear That Thunder?

I have been in Australia for almost two months now, ah! I apologize for the lack of posting, it certainly doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about it - Nat and I were staying in the Daintree Rainforest of the Far North for three weeks, and once you step inside, internet (along with electricity, dry clothing and time management) becomes an elusive beast. But more on that later.

INTERESTING FACT:
Australia has less than 10 cities.

That's right, almost the size of the continental U.S. and under 10 cities. Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra....the list really stops there as far as notable cities goes.
For help with these (and help with placing where I am in the world), a map for you!

Don't be fooled by certain places marked on here as cities - i.e. Townsville, Mackay, Freemantle, etc...they are marked to be the same size as Sydney and other famous places, but in reality they are the size of Allentown or smaller.

I started in Perth, which I heard from almost everyone I met there is the most isolated capital city in the world as well as the second windiest. It was definitely very windy. The first part of the statement, though, left me with the misconception that Perth is the capital of Australia. It is not, it is a mere state capital. And for the second half of our geography lesson, Canberra is the capital of Australia. The beaches in Perth are beautiful (warning: I'm about to say that about almost everywhere I've been so far). The people in Perth really like to dress up like they were going to a day at the races when they go out on a Saturday night, and they like to drink champagne like it isn't only for special occasions.

Sydney for New Year was phenomenal. We stayed with our friends Tom and Rich who we had met in Thailand. In the time we had been apart they'd moved to Sydney, found a house with three other cool people, and were working on getting jobs. They lived about a 5 minute walk from Bondi beach (one of Australia's most famous beaches & home of BONDI RESCUE (=Baywatch Australia)), which was incredible. On New Years Eve a big group of us went to the Botanical Gardens, which are right on Sydney harbor (views of the Opera House & Harbor Bridge). It's the main touristy firework viewing location in Sydney, so we waited 4.5 hours in line to get in - and we had gotten there late, half our group was there almost 2 hours before we met them. At first it seemed daunting, but time went pretty quickly. Once inside, the view of the fireworks was definitely worth it. They don't just do one firework display, they do about eight from all different locations throughout the city. There were some from the top of the bridge, some from the Opera House, several from various building tops...everywhere you looked there were fireworks to be seen. Pretty incredible. The only thing missing, however, was the countdown. We were all (by we I mean thousands of peoople) standing, ready, but things just started going off. No warning, no 5-4-3, just ... HAPPY NEW YEAR! Little strange, but all in all awesome.

After Sydney it was a flight to Cairns to meet Nat's dad and a two hour drive up to the Cape Tribulation area, where he lives. This and the three weeks following was one of the most incredible times I've yet had, so at nothing else, I'm going to save it's description for a separate post, soon to come.

Natalie and I are now in Brisbane where we are completed by Lindzy (yay!). Lindz and I are busy job hunting (boo!) and doing other really cool things like blogging and catching up on movies we've missed in the last year and a half.