Western Oz adventure

Having left JD and Oisin in Vancouver over a year ago, we reunited in Perth. Al Pal made the short trip across Australia for 2 weeks of adventuring, reminiscing, mankini-ing and schooping.

First off, we caught up with ClaireBear and Raymon in Perth. Great to see our buddies on the other side of the world for a quick round of SupaGolf and a proper Aussie BBQ (shrimp, Alf and Ailsa, the whole lot).

On Sunday night, after 24hours travelling, JD and Oisin arrived in Perth keen on some sleep... (loosely translated as "schhooooop"). We went straight to the Bottle-o and stocked up for the next few days on the bus. Having drank our way through that supply, we tucked into the Duty Free the lads had brought over and started bellyflops into the pool. This was a precedent that would serve us very well for the next 2 weeks.

Our bus trip took us 3,500km along the west coast, stopping at beautiful beaches, gorges, off-shore reef, pie shops and more bottle shops. The opportunities for swimming in mankinis were unfortunately very common. Our fantastic driver Peter was the epitomy of the Western Australian character ("alright you mob, where are those 5 IRA bastards?")!

After another Raymon BBQ on our return to Perth, we headed south to the beach in Mandurah and vineyard in Margaret River. More of the same over-indulgence left us needing a holiday after our holiday. To top it off, we came back to Fremantle for "one good lash at it". The local economy has been boosted by our liquid intake and we were happy to help in our own special way. Great couple of weeks with na buachailli. See you in Dublin in 6 weeks! Photos are here.

Melbourne & Tasmania

Next stop on our Australia leg......Tasmania......a place I never thought I'd be. We landed in Hobart and went our separate ways. We were here for the Australian Mixed Ultimate Championships, Rob was playing with a team from Perth and I was playing with a team from Sydney. We had tried to surprise Al who was flying in from Sydney.....small world! A 3-day tournament which saw my team come last and Rob's team not far behind. I had so much craic, met some really good people. My highlights include; playing again, seeing familiar faces and making new friends, GOON o'clock 9am, Robin Hood fancy dress, Joel and Jamie, crazy dancing, press-up competitions, my team. A great great weekend, my only lowlight being losing to Rob's team! We didn't see much of Tasmania....next time.

From Tasmania we flew to Melbourne to see Rob's friend Brian who has set up camp there. Brian showed us the sights of St Kilda's (we had just missed the AFL final) and the lads had a great auld catch up! We met up with Ciara (my friend from work) and Fiona (Al's cousin) for some lunch dinner dates......such a nice way to spend time in this cool city. Thanks a million Brian for the fun times!

Photos are here

Byron Bay, Brisbane & Fraser Island

Landing in Ballina airport was not quite the west of Ireland we were semi-hoping for. Byron Bay is gorgeous, we spent a few days chilling out and being 'healthy', I flew the flag going to a few yoga sessions. Next Ann joined us from Brisbane, it had been 2 years since I had seen her.....well it was a mighty reunion :) beach session, apres beach sessions, hippy trip to Nimbin and a few chilled out gigs with a few 'rack offs' thrown in! We then went back up to Brisbane with Ann who showed us around her new home town. We had a great time having kanga banga BBQ's and meeting her house mates Jo-el and Leroy. We held Koala bears, petted and fed Kangaroos (after eating their cousins the night before), went to a comedy gig and walked all around the city.

Next it was off to Fraser Island to explore. We had a good group of 12 who bundled into an freelander, tight squeeze but good craic. We saw so much wildlife things I'd never seen before: Humpback Whales, Dolphins, Sea turtles, Tiger Sharks, Eel Rays, Manta Rays, Tuna and a King Brown (second most deadly snake in the world and he reared up!) A great 3 day trip camping and exploring.

Back to Brisbane for one last night with Ann - Thanks so much for such a great time Ann, I can't wait to see you in July! Photos are here.