Tazzy, worth every penny...see why

Tall trees walk and we arrived at a cool waterfall...hurray!

Just posing under the canopy in the tall trees walk

Some more growth in the tall trees walk

Hey Look it is one of those tall trees the park is named after, this one was around 50 meters (about 150 feet)


The view from the place we stayed at looking at lake Tullah

The Hinty dunes with rain forest in the back

The view of our crew we traveled with for 3 days

The view from a lookout overlooking the franklin river

Our sweet ride we had throughout tazzy

What we think of Tazzy!


The views that Lake St. Clair had to offer...don't mind the dodgy camera work


Megan crawling through the bush to view "bridal falls"

Nelson falls, the power of this was beyond belief...the video does not do justice

The Hinty Dunes view, it was very windy and cold but so worth it

Saving the best for last, this is Montezuma falls walking on the suspension bridge that is 90 meters (270 feet!) above the cliffs below, listen to what Megan says closely. The rain was pouring on us the whole way there and it was worth it

Historic Richmond...it's sooo tiny

Today we woke up and went over to the Salamanka market to go find some local Tazzy goods. It was by far the best market we have been to since we began our travels. It was big, well organized and had the least amount of tourist stuff compared to all others. We also scheduled a tour of Australias historic Richmond that had the oldest standing bridge, oldest jail (gaol as they spell it...weird!) and church. It was a very quick tour but you get what you pay for and the town was so small we didn't need a lot of time anyway. During the whole tour it went from cloudy skies to blue skies then right when our tour ended it started to pour again. Tomorrow we begin our big hike with a guide for 3 days in the Tazzy wilderness. It should be an adventure considering how rainy it has been since we got here, but don't worry Megan has a plastic bag and waterproof pants. Expect updates as soon as we can find some shelter and an internet connection.

Oh yeah, if Ryan and Vanessa were in Australia they would already be married! So in i think 9 hrs from right now they should be exchanging vows in Maui! Congrats again guys, can't wait to hear about it when we return.

Running out of money but not fun

So, last night was a fun adventure, desperately hungry but we couldn't leave our room until we figured out how much money we had left for the day for our big dinner. Well, as it turns out we had $33. That sounds like a lot if you are in the states, sure just go down to a mexican place and eat like a king for that amount of money. But here in OZ stuff is expensive and their dollar is stronger than ever, so we walked around 2 miles trying to find this "strip" of all sorts of restaurants in North Hobart. Well, there is no "strip", actually there wasn't even anything open. It felt like a scene out of 28 days later, just wind and a couple cats roaming about. So we walked to a place called Salamanka and found TONS of people, loads of restaurants YES we found the mecca! Wait, no we didn't, because in this Salamanka place everything is 25 per meal and up and all italian or some other variation of Italian. We walked tired and hungry from place to place, feeling defeated until we stumbled upon Korean! I have been pestering Megan to find some Pho (beef noodle soup as they call it here) and we found it here in Salamanka.

Come to Tasmania!

Where is Megan? She is trying to lose me I know it.



Inside a part of the Hobart botanic gardens

So, we are now in Tasmania home of the Tasmanian Devil. Yep, the one you see in all those cartoons is exactly the one that is here as it turns out. We flew from Melbourne (We stayed in St. Kilda, just 10 minutes outside of Melbourne central)and enjoyed the area but it really just felt like any other beach town. So knowing that we are going to be staying in Melbourne for a week at the end of the month we went out to seek more adventure. So Tazzy it is! We flew from Melbourne to Tazzy on a company called JetStar (i guess it is a little brother of Qantas) and was quickly shuttled to our little place in Hobart. It is a very quaint town that feels like an old port town. We did quite a bit of walking around and seeing the sites the site we liked a lot was the botanic gardens. We spent around 3 hours walking there, although it was much smaller than Christchurch it still had some very neat areas. So tomorrow (Saturday) we plan to go to the local markets in the morning then get a tour of Australia's oldest town Richmond. Then after that our big 3 day adventure tour begins exploring all over the small island that is Tasmania!

Someones getting married while we are away...and we have a treat for them!

It just so happens that when we planned our big trip our good friends Ryan and Vanessa decided it was also a good time to get married. So, to make us feel like we had a great part in the success of their marriage we enlisted some of Australia's finest travellers and locals to give some great wedding advice to both Ryan and Vanessa that will be sure to alleviate any wedding jitters. We love you Ryan and Vanessa...we wish we could be there! Enjoy.

Arrival in Melbourne, what a sweet sound it has

So we arrived in Melbourne and had to sit in a shuttle long enough to find the soundtrack on the bus amusing so we recorded it for all to enjoy.

Since we arrived we have been staying outside the Melbourne City Center at St. Kilda a quant beach town that is similar to the ones in San Diego, Los Angeles etc etc but it is cooler because it is in Australia! We have not done much more than walk around and eat and enjoy the sites before we head off to Tasmania!



Disclaimer! If you do not find this funny it may be that Me and Megan have been spending WAY too much time together

Sydney...Sydney and more Sydney

The crew touring around the opera house...Matt caught in the middle of talking (not angry!)

Inside the Sydney Opera House...such cool structure!

Does this city ever stop!?
Since we arrived in Sydney it seems like a non-stop marathon of walking to places, walking back from places, walking around in places then walking some more. We have been doing a lot of the same things but just seeing them in depth. For instance, we finally got to see the inside of the opera house with Megans parents...which was amazing! Just standing inside of it was very cool to see, on top of this we got to see some sets and rehearsals of choirs and the ballet. Sydney is a pretty big place to shop and be "metropolitan". So that is exactly what we have been doing. Since we have not posted much it isn't we aren't doing anything it is just we aren't doing anything worth posting about...unless some of you want to hear about how Megan found a $5 dress, or how we had $5 pies with Megans parents on "pie night" at the Lord Nelson pub. Another one of our best values we have done since in Sydney was the $10 admission fee to go see the Australian Museum. WOW! What a great place, even though half of it was under construction it still took half a day to walk through and see and experience the wealth of information available, from bugs to mummy's it was all there. We even got to go in the "kids" area and hold and play with some stick bugs (Megan too!).

Video of Matt holding the stick bug in the Australian Museum

At the New South Wales Museum standing next to a Van Gogh...right before they arrested Matt for standing too close to a Van Gogh