There's No Place Like Home!

I've returned from my journey Down Under, and I've begun to dig myself out from all the waiting e-mail and other things to catch-up on. The jet lag has not helped this process in any way, but regular updates should be resuming shortly.

The trip was great. I had a blast visiting Queensland and exploring what small parts of Oz I was able to see. I can honestly say, without a doubt, that the Whitsunday Islands area is amongst the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Australia is also an extremely easy place to travel in, and I recommend it highly to anyone looking for a first time trip abroad or those who just want to have a great adventure without giving up the creature comforts. It is a modern country with a great infrastructure in place that encourages visitors to travel independently with little fear of issues arising, and the people are very friendly and always happy to be of assistance. Throw in the fact that there are vast, remote, open areas to visit, and plenty of things to do, and you won't lack for adventure.

I was mainly brought down to checkout the Queensland area and write about the opportunities for adventure travel in that state and also discuss the options for work visas in Australia. I'll be going more into depth on that in the days ahead, but in a nutshell, the work visas allow young people, age 18-30, to visit the country, find good paying jobs that allow them earn money fast, and then spend their time traveling about. Many of the backpackers that I met were taking advantage of this plan by working for three months, earning up a good chunk of change, and then setting off to travel Oz from end to end. It's a very interesting program that not only provides a good work force for companies, which then turn their employees loose after a few months, so they can spend all that hard earned money i the Australian economy.

I appreciate your patience while I get things back up and running around here. Until then, you can check out my photos from the trip in my online gallery found here.