Been there, done that....

        As promised, I want to tell and show you how great it is to quite your job, move out of your place and just travel around the country with family and friends :) as if anyone would argue that point right!? Of course not, but here's some details anyway. It's been an awesome time of some "firsts," "bucket list" items, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences that I can now say Yup, check, been there, done that, thank you Lord, how cool! :)

        It began with the arrival of my family mid October which was very special. They were able to stay at my place and see all of my local haunts and meet a lot of my friend which was all neat for me, but also it got me outside of my usual experiences and I saw some parts of Sydney that I hadn't before. And then we ventured off to other states and saw stuff that lots of Australians haven't even done (kinda like I'm an American who's never been to the Grand Canyon)

What a joy to walk out of the water from a surf and have my life's biggest fans watching and waiting 

The joke of the trip was how many pictures mom took of the Opera House (she "had to get all the angles") This is the only one with her in it as well

100+ degree (40c) days had our water bottles near boiling. Most hikes started at 6am. yes- I'm wearing a fly-net

Sleeping under the stars in swags had us all nervous (about bugs and/or critters) but ended up AMAZING

Another once-in-a-lifetime experience. The most fun was doing it with mom because she was yelping and and shrieking and laughing the entire time

After the girls left from northern australia I continued further north with a rental car and a couple random "rideshare" travelers and I saw the rainforest, a crocodile (from a safe distance on a boat) and more beautiful coastlines and beaches. 

All these beautiful beaches and blue water gone to waste (as far as swimming goes) 

My night spent in the middle of the rainforest with all the sounds of the night lulling me to sleep

Amazing root/tree natural "art" in the rainforest

Just another beach.... ;)

Soon after I went up the east coast and met a work mate for a little surf/Roadtrip. Sadly it was more road than surf, but we still had a great time and I had my feet on the "pure white" sands of Whitehaven Beach and saw platypus in their natural habitat among other things. Admittedly, saying goodbye to the fam and then also Gus (while he kept cruising) was sad for me. But alas, I had other places to see, and things to do. And the really sad (and bigger) goodbye is yet to come.

At Hamilton Island (Whitsundays)
(We drove like crazy people to make it up there!)

5am look in the mirror.
Platypus/Platypi/Platipuses (???) are morning creatures