Brisbane all over again :)

Hey guys

well, I'm now 23 (that feels a little odd, I cant say I'm 22 any more) and I had an amazing time out here on my birthday. Since i last wrote, I hopped a train away from Bundy and finally finished my scuba diving! And let me tell you, I passed by the skin of my teeth

I was supposed to hook up with the dive school on Wednesday before I left to complete my last dive, but unfortunately, the water was too choppy and we would have been beaten to bits on the rocks if we tried to enter the ocean. So instead I had to do my diving on Thursday, which made me a little nervous considering I was leaving at 10am the next day and this was my last chance to complete my certification. Things started off okay, but I started to develop another headache as soon as I entered the water It was not cool. Eventually though, despite a leaking regulator, a broken snorkel, and gear that didn't fit quite right, I managed to complete the mandatory skills to become a certified open water diver. Yahoo!

Anyway, the original plan had been to do my diving on Wednesday, and use Thursday to hit the post office, rum tour and do my laundry. Well since we couldn't dive Weds, my plans got thrown all out of whack. Its alright though, I though, that just means that I'll do the rum tour on Wednesday. The brochures said the tours ran until 3pm every day, so I got a group together to go. However, I called to confirm the tour, and the lady informed me in a not so polite way that the tours were not operating due to a new exhibit in the Rum Museum. Great. Thats ok though, I could always head down there and poke around the museum at least. So Maria and I walked the 40mins (one way) to get to the distillery, only to find that the museum was closed due to the new exhibit which was showing for VIPS only. Arg! Just my luck. It was alright though. maria and I did some shopping and took some touristy photos out front, then headed home.

Thursday didn't start off much better. I arrived bright and early at the dive shop, only to be told we weren't going yet, but to pack our gear and come back in a couple hours. Great... well at least I can mail the stuff I bought. (note: Yes I'm a horrible child, I didn't mail Dad's Birthday stuff for like 2 weeks >.< ) Anyway, I literally ran back to the hostel and picked up all the stuff I'd been carting around since Sydney and the stuff I'd bought at the distillery the day before and booked it down to the post office. Now, just for the record, I bought this really nice rum liquor. A Baileys kind of thing that you can only buy in Bundaberg at the distillery. I figured this would make an excellent top off to the Birthday gifts I'd acquired, the only problem was getting it to Canada without it breaking... or so I thought. Turns out, you cant mail alcohol into Canada and the US! How annoying >.< So now I'm stuck in a non drinking hostel with a really expensive bottle of rum liquor. Sigh. Oh well, the rest got into the envelope and mailed off without much fuss. Then I booked it back to the dive shop, and waited around for about another 3 hours till we got to go diving.

And that pretty much brings us back to Brisbane. I'm staying in the 30man dungeon again, with Sam & Helen, and I've met some new friends, including Jenna and Debs; 2 Scottish girls, and Lisa from England. They are all a total blast We've spent the last 2 weeks hanging out, walking around town, and going to the weekend markets.

This is going to sound horridly cheesy, but on the first Saturday that I was here, Helen, Sam, Hollie, and Lisa and I all went into town to the markets. It was so picturesque I could have wept. Southbank is a gorgeous little area of Brisbane, with lovely sculptures, buildings, and a perfect view of the river. Combine that with a dance festival, night markets selling everything from Kangaroo scrotum lighters to Opal and Pearl jewelry (and fudge. mmm fudge) some of the best traveling friends you could ask for, and a guy on the corner playing the Spanish guitar and you get perfect!. It was amazing! We sat at an out door pub and had a couple drinks before heading back to our place for the night.

We had a birthday party on the camouflage fancy dress Karaoke night, which was awesome fun and the girls bought me a Pirate bag and a really cool card

Most nights we hang out at our hostel bar then head off to a club called Casablanca's for Karaoke. You'd be proud dad Though Helen and Sam are trained singers so it makes me sound something like a dying giraffe

I've had a lot of fun here, but its finally time to move on! The majority of us have booked our east coast package and we leave for Noosa and the Steve Irwin zoo on Monday. I cant wait! The only thing left for me to do is burn my photos to CD so I have tons of room up the coast I'm a little sad since I'll be missing Fraser Island with the girls, but I'll meet up with them again in Airlie beach.

Thats pretty much it for now To those who haven't gotten post cards yet, I'm really sorry I forgot my address book at home. i Know thats a lame excuse but its true! So if you guys could please email me your addresses that would rock!

Oh yeah and Mom, look for a package in the mail soon I'll be sending it in a couple days I think.

Love you all and miss you tons!

Amy