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.