J on the Flip Side: I want to be the next Steve Irwin, well, except for that dying by stingray part.

I'm in Australia! It's awesome! But after leaving New Zealand, it's been hard getting used to traveling solo again. It almost feels like a breakup in a way. After spending all my time with a great group of people, it just feels like something's missing now that they are all gone and I'm alone again. But I've been having a great time traveling in Australia anyway, even though I wish my Stray family could be here too!

The highlight of my past few weeks has been reuniting with so many of my traveling friends! First, when I had a few days free at the end of my New Zealand trip, I got to visit with two of my friends from the SANCCOB penguin rescue center we all volunteered at in Cape Town! We had a great day going to the beach, checking out a gannet colony (they are bird nerds just like me!) and then playing mini-golf. It was so good seeing them and reminisce about our time in South Africa. It was a nice break from hanging out with my Auckland dorm mates - two strippers who brought home random guys at all hours and the drunk German guy who liked to puke and Skype his mom simultaneously... seriously!

These are Gannets in love

Aimee, Kev and me at our SANCCOB reunion.

Sorry guys, I didn't get a pic of the strippers.

Then when I got to Australia, I was so happy to see Jazzy Jugs and Matty from the Stray Bus!! Reunion with two of my best friends. I couldn't be happier! We spent a few days together at the beach and sightseeing around town.

What's that in the background?! Oh yeah just the Sydney Opera House, NBD!

Me and Jazzy and the Harbour Bridge

Goofin around at Bondi Beach

Then I got to spend a day with another one of my favourite traveling friends, Justine, my marine warrior partner in crime from our volunteer project in Fiji! She was a totally awesome tour guide and took me to the Australian reptile park where we got to cuddle with some kangaroos, then we went on a waterfall hike, and that was followed by a picnic on the beach with some wine (even though it was drizzling and blowing a gale) It was such a great day! It was great to reminisce about all our awesome times in Fiji, especially Fiji Day at the Dive Shop... you know what I mean Justine! We finished off the day with a steak dinner with one of Justine's friends at a kinda posh golf club. I'm pretty sure we traumatized all the nearby tables with all the tales of debauchery we ended up telling! Thanks to my dirty mind and crazy stories as of late, I think I earned myself a permanent spot as the first international member of Justine's SWAD group (I'll let you guess what it stands for...)! I'll have to Skype in for all future meetings though :)

J-Team Marine Warriors Reunite!

Justine making friends with the world's biggest alligator snapper!

Kangaroo, would you please be my pillow for life?

Check out that weird looking kangaroo in the back...

One of the things I wanted to do most in Australia was go see Uluru, the famous giant red rock in the center of the country. It just so happens that two of my friends from volunteering in Galapagos live in Alice Springs, right in the middle of Australia! So I went to visit Scott and Bronte there for 2 days. Scott was away though, so me and Bronte went on a girl's road trip to camp out beside Uluru for the night. Little did I know that it was still a 6 hour drive to get there from Alice Springs! Thankfully Bronte was willing to make the drive, so we piled our camping gear in the car and went! It turned out to be awesome, we popped in a tape we found in the console of the top hits of '96, which is probably my favourite music ever!! We sang along to 'Millions of peaches, peaches for me...' and 'I'm just a girl', followed by 'All that she wants is another baby, she's gone tomorrow boy', among others. Love it!

Thanks for driving Bronte!!!

Can't beat this road trip sunset view

We got to the Uluru national park and set up our tent before packing the car with our wine and chocolate and headed out to watch the sunset at Olga's Rocks, a beautiful crazy looking rock formation jutting out of the red earth. The clouds seemed to clear and we had a beautiful sunset. When the sun hit the rocks, their red colour became even more intense, if that was even possible, and the shapes of the rocks were so beautifully illuminated. It was one of the most dramatic things I've ever seen. We just stared at it and soaked in the beauty for hours.

Olga's Rocks at sunset

The other side of Olga's Rocks

Olga's Rocks obligatory selfie

Wine o'clock

The next day we woke up really early for the sunrise at Uluru. We popped our heads out of the tent and realized it was already light out, so we booted it over to the rock and caught a few beautiful glimpses of the giant red rock all lit up with the rising sun. It was a totally magical experience. We wanted to climb up the rock itself, but the trail was closed due to high winds and temperatures over 38 degrees. Yes it was stinkin' hot!!! But a few guys had climbed over the barrier and decided to climb anyway. Bad decision on their part, since we saw 3 park rangers get all suited up and go up after them to bring them back with hefty fines. So we though it best to just walk around the base of the base of the rock that day.