Tassie and The Melbourne Cup

Halloween was spent on an airplane flying to Tasmania. We had planned a trip to Melbourne and booked the tickets... then saw great fares from Melbourne to Hobart so we decided to tack that on to our trip. Minor detail: Melbourne has two airports... Hint: They aren't close to each other. So we flew from Brissy to Melbourne-Avalon airport which turns out to be about an hour away from Tullamarine Airport. So Marisa and I got a $100 cab to the other airport to make it in time for our flight to Hobart! But we made it so everything was good. We went to our hostel (called the Pickled Frog) and checked in. We were assigned a room and went to check it out and found that we were living with two very messy boys who loved cologne just a little too much. After some cleaning/rearranging everything turned out fine and we went to find some dinner. Hobart was very dead at night and we ended up eating at a pub in town before an early bedtime.

Sunday morning we got up early and had an amazing breakfast (I am sincerely going to miss scones, jam and cream when I get back to the states) and then walked down to the harbour. We hung out at Salamanca Place which is a trendy area that used to be the warf warehouses. They are all made from convict cut sandstone because Hobart was really just a huge prison colony in its infancy. From there we went on a little tour of Battery Point where all the old colonial houses are and basically spent the rest of the day walking.

Monday we had the best pancakes for breakfast before we went to Cascade Brewery for a tour. Cascade is the oldest brewery in Australia and makes ciders and beers. Its really a pretty spectacular building (it too is made from convict cut stone). Because of its location Cascade is able to make a batch of beer each year with hops that are fresh picked that morning. Most beers are made with dried hops since you can only harvest them once a year... So this special release brew is called First Harvest and each year they only make 4000 cartons to be released throughout Australia. Monday evening we headed back to Melbourne but our flight kept getting delayed. I ended up making my hat for the Melbourne Cup in the airport with a pair of nail clippers... we finally made it to Melbourne around 1am and were back at the Choi's house around 2am. Long day.

Tuesday was CUP DAY! Everyone was dressed up in their finery and flocked to the racecourse. Seeing tons of people in suits and hats is quite something! We had a spot right on the rail and got to watch all the races right up front. Olivia Newton John sang the national anthem and all the famous people sat up high in the stands. I think we had more fun :) Sydney even won money on the Melbourne Cup itself which was won by a horse named Shocking. We got to hang out with him in the paddock after the race and some of the girls even were able to give him a pet. My only complaint for the day is that it was too windy to wear my hat the whole day :( Other than that... it was absolutely perfect. When we got back to the house we had a cake for Jacob's birthday and got to hang out with the family.

Wednesday Marisa went with the rest of the girls on a tour of the Great Ocean Road and I hung out with the Choi's. Miriam, Jacob's mom, took me to a flea market where I got lots of souvenirs. Then Jacob and I went into the city and I had a Mighty Melbourne cheeseburger. It had an egg and beet-root on it! Surprisingly I liked it... then we went to the State Library and toured around. I scheduled for classes there and got waitlisted for two :( After that we walked through the Crown Casino which was spectacular before we went to have some coffee and dessert on the Yarra river. DInner was Vietnamese prepared by Miriam. Dessert was Pavlova which apparently is a traditionally New Zealand dish and was served with kiwi-fruit :)

Thursday morning we woke up at o'dark hundred and went for a hike up a very steep track called the Kokoda Memorial. Clearly Marisa and I took a bit longer than Jacob... But it was really very pretty and we saw lots of kookaburras searching around for breakfast. We spent the rest of the day in the city and did some more shopping and sight seeing before we headed to the airport. It was nice to get back to Brissy (it was WAY colder in Melbourne) but now it is time for finals. Sad. Almost time to come home... Cant wait for the holidays! Miss you all!

A Social Few Weeks...

So I have decided to do this blog entry in REVERSE chronological order so my little Jack-O-Lantern can feature at the top of the page.

The past few weeks have been filled with end of term social events... and oh guess what, schoolwork. I know its tragic to admit, but I actually have had some assignments that needed completed since I've been in Brisbane. This little guy to the left is Jack. He is my attempt at bringing fall and consequently Halloween to Australia. Since it is spring it is NOT pumpkin season here... and this was the only orange thing I could come up with. Actually was sort of gifted to me by the drunken traffic cone fairies. Its rumored they live on the floor below me.

PS. Thanks Aunt Margie for the Halloween lights... they come in handy when you have a plastic Jack-O-Lantern.

Last week at some point we made a point of making it down to South Bank, which is the man-made beach in Brissy. I took the camera so that you all can see the BEAUTIFUL jackaranda trees that were in full bloom. That picture is of campus. Pretty stunning right? Brisbane is renowned for the jackaranda trees (the other city where they are plentiful is Pretoria) and there are many legends that go along with them. UQ students claim that when they begin to bloom you must start studying for finals. If you wait until the blooms have fallen to begin your revision... its too late. Youre done for. Im thinking of gluing purple tissue paper to the trees in hopes that it will give me longer to study!

Going back to last Sunday we had an all girls outing. The event was called "Ladies Day" and is in response to the male version which occurred a few weeks prior. Essentially it is an annual tradition where all of the girls in college wear the best thrift shop dress they can come up with (this years theme was floral) and then go to a park and get ridiculously drunk together for the duration of some Sunday afternoon. The drink of choice is cheap boxed white wine... and the rest of the events are secret. Ladies honour.

[editors note: everyone is entirely sober in this picture, as it is the first of the day.]

And finally, my favorite event of college life thus far... Emmanuel at Home. This was two Fridays ago and was such a ball. Everyone in college gets fancy and heads out onto the quad where there were tents and champagne set up. This years theme was "Hollywood" so the girls got glammed up and the boys went retro. The pictures from this night were so much fun and everyone just got to stay on college grounds for a night. At one point (wait for it... here comes the Good Old Boys' traditions again...) the boys all go out to the oval and smoke cigars with the Headmaster of college. Not to be out done, it is traditional for the girls to dance around in the bras and participate in a rousing game of limbo simply because they can. With the boys gone... girls, well the girls make the boys wish they werent out smoking cigars.

New Zealand

So for mid-semester break I went with two friends for a 9 day trek through New Zealand. It was spectacular. We left on Saturday mid day from Brisbane and flew to Christchurch on the south island. The city itself is known for guess what? A church. So after checking into our hotel (yes, hotel not hostel because we found an amazing deal) we took a stroll through the city. Its just beginning to be spring so all of the flowers are in bloom and the trees are blossoming. Christchurch has the feeling of an old European city and lots of little cafes and museums scattered all around. The church was incredible, especially when you think about where and when it was built. New Zealand stayed fairly remote and rustic much longer than you would think! Unfortunately Jess and I had colds so we called it an early night and headed back to the hotel. The next morning we tooled through a few street markets and visited the botanical gardens. Its sort of amazing how easily we amuse ourselves. We spent nearly an hour playing and taking pictures in this spectacular old hollowed out pine tree. The next morning we flew from Christchurch down farther south (and farther into the cold!) to Queenstown.

While in Christchurch we decided that hiking one of New Zealand's glaciers was a must do activity. We also realized that with our travel plans as they were we weren't going to be able to fit that in. So we changed our flights around with a little chatting on the phone with JetStar. That meant 3 extra days before leaving Queenstown and no more Auckland... but it had to be done.

Queenstown must rank in my top 5 places. We landed and stepped off the plane on to a tarmac to walk into the airport and were greeted by spectacular mountains rising straight out of the valley floor. No foot hills, no gradual grade, just mountains. Appropriately enough the range is called "The Remarkables". It is the only other mountain range in the world that runs North-South besides the Rockies. From the airport we took a cab to the resort (another great deal) we were staying at and got a bit of a tour of the city. The only way I can describe Queenstown is to say it is a cross between a Colorado mountain town and Annapolis, MD. Obviously I adored it. The town itself is set on a huge glacial lake that is crystal clear and almost always perfectly placid which reflects the mountains quite nicely. So once we checked in we headed back down into town and got lunch at a great cafe called Vudu on one of the side streets. Then we booked our activities. Jess set up a skydiving session for Tuesday and all of us booked white water rafting for Wednesday. I had planned on skiing at Coronet Peak on Tuesday but my cold had gotten worse so I had to scratch that. Very sad story. We also booked our glacial hike and transportation up the west coast to make it to Fox Glacier.

That evening in Queenstown we had dinner at a great pizza joint called Winnie's and then went to a bar called Minus 5. PS. Minus 5 is ACTUALLY Minus 5 degrees Celsius. The bar itself is made of ice, the chairs are ice, the walls are ice, the CUPS are ice... its all ice. Very cool figuratively and literally! On Tuesday Marisa and I hung around town while Jess hurled herself out an airplane at 15,000 feet. As a treat for her when she came back we had booked an hour in the hot pools up in the mountains. So once we met her after her infamous flight we headed up to Onsen Hot Pools right outside of town. This place was pretty spectacular. We had our own little room with a built in pool filled with heated run off from the snow melt that over looked the Shotover River Valley. Then, with the press of a button we could retract the wall and half of the ceiling to be right outside on the edge of the cliff. It was a nice relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

Wednesday morning we woke up early AGAIN to go white water rafting. It is still cold... remember that. So we put on wetsuits and jumped in some vans which took us to our put in site. The road we travelled on is one of two roads too dangerous in New Zealand to be covered by insurance companies. We did it with an 18 passenger van. Spectacular. Finally at the bottom I was feeling a little nauseous but got in the boat anyhow and learned how to paddle. I think I have a new past-time to take up because I absolutely loved white water rafting. We did class 4 and 5 rapids towards the end and no one from our boat even got tossed. Although, at the end as we went over a waterfall Jess did somehow manage to smack her face off her paddle leaving her cranky and with a bruised nose the rest of the trip.

Thursday we got up early again and checked out of our hotel before trekking down to the city to catch a bus. We got on a coach to take us up to Fox Glacier and made a few stops along the way. The first stop was at a really beautiful orchard in Otago which is the central wine region of the South Island. From there we continued on to Wanaka which is a cute little ski town about two hours away from Queenstown. The mountains on the way there were really spectacular and we crossed over a mountain pass into the subtropical rainforest part of the island. Next we stopped at a beautiful waterfall called Thunder Creek Falls before we continued up the coast to the small town of Fox Glacier. The town has a permanent population of 250 people. We stayed at the Fox Glacier Inn and hung out in the little town for the rest of the afternoon.

Friday we woke up to TORRENTIAL downpours but were told we would hike the glacier rain or shine so we got dressed and headed down for brunch befor

e we checked in. So after hanging out in the lodge for a few hours we went to the desk to check in and were told that our hike was cancelled due to dangerous rock slides. Yes, after changing our flights and booking two days of bus rides to and from this little town, the weather stopped us from actually walking on the glacier. It was a pretty tragic moment. Our only

option was to take a hike to the terminus (the face) of the glacier, so we took it. Im very glad we did because it was

pretty spectacular just to be able to see the glacier. We got to hold a bit of the ice and even sample a little bit.

Saturday we had to catch our bus back out of Fox Glacier early in the morning and slept most of the way back to Queenstown. On the way back through we stopped in Wanaka again and then continued on to Queenstown. When we arrived back in Queenstown we were surprised to find that it had snowed while we were away. We found ourselves a place to stay for the night and then went off to complete our souvenir hunting. The rest of the evening we sort of chilled out and went to a local tavern for dinner (where we got carded for the first time all trip?) She even asked for my passport?! I guess we were looking a little ragged at this point.

Our flight out was fairly early Sunday morning and from Queenstown we flew up to Auckland. Then in Auckland we had some layover time before we flew out to the Gold Coast. It was significantly cheaper to fly to Gold Coast and then take the train up than to fly directly into Brisbane. In Auckland though Jess got pulled out by a check in agent for having too much baggage and they charged her $160 to check an extra bag! Needless to say she was very very unhappy. After our flight got delayed sitting on the tarmac we ended up getting into the Gold Coast an hour late and missed our bus to the train station. Clearly this was a good day of travel for us. Once we finally made it to the train station we still had a two hour train ride and two more busses to make it back to campus.

Even with the last day of travel, New Zealand was incredible. It is a very beautiful country, that is a totally different world than Australia. Id love to be able to make it back because there is so much that I feel like I missed. Im fairly certain I could spend a whole year just on the South Island and never see the same place twice. Its like a huge playground for big kids!

Brisbane Dust Bowl

So I woke up this morning and groggily read my facebook wall. Olena had written something about the sky being red and such so I was entirely confused. Then I opened my curtains. Apparently there had been a huge dust storm that blew up the whole eastern coast of Australia in the night and covered Brisbane in an orangey haze. We had to close all the windows, but it was still so hot outside that it was a very strange day. Hardly anyone was walking around and there wasnt even a line for lunch! But I still went to class and walked around. All the asian kids were wearing masks and such it was fairly amusing. I do have to admit though that the dust made it pretty disgusting to breathe.

There is also a very cute kitty that lives in and around our bike rack. Since I had my camera outside with me I decided to take his/her picture.

The Whitsunday Islands: Best Three Days of My Life

Very seriously, I have not been as happy/content as I was this past weekend. Ever. The Whitsunday Islands are north of Brisbane by quite a bit. They are about a two hour Greyhound trip from the town of Mackay, which has an airport that serves 3 gates? Maybe two. Anyhow the islands themselves are actually the tops of a flooded mountain range. They lie at the bottom of the Great Barrier Reef, and as far as Im concerned, are heaven.

On Thursday we cabbed to the airport very early and took a flight from Brissy up to Mackay where we sat for two hours in the airport waiting for our Greyhound bus. It was a bit late which made us nervous because we were supposed to get there at 2:10 and get on our boat at 2:30. Well we watched HSM3 on the bus, good times and finally made it to Airlie Beach at 2:30. We ran to check in and caught a cab down to the marina to an audience of crew and passengers.

No worries though, we made the boat and didnt even take to much crap for being the late Americans. We boarded a 34m sailing yacht and from there its all a hazy dream... :)

I had a cabin with my three friends and even had a porthole to sleep next to. We left the marina and cruised up through Whitsunday Passage and anchored for the night off Hook Island. The night was mostly spent making friends with the other kids on board and we were visited by a dolphin that hung around the boat for most of the night. The next morning we woke up early and cruised into Tounge Bay off Whitsunday Island. From there they tendered us in to shore and we hiked up to a lookout point. From the lookout point we were able to see Whitehaven Beach in all its glory. The beach itself is the most photographed beach in Australia and is pretty spectacular. It is the product of an extinct volcano which put down huge quartz deposits which have since been ground into the purest sand in the world. It is 98% silica and was used to make the Hubble Telescope lens. We were told its great for exfoliating, jewelry polishing, and teeth brushing. Im fairly certain I could have stayed on that beach for months and months if someone would just bring me some food and water! While we were playing in the sand we saw a few lemon sharks and stingrays, but I couldnt get any to be friends with me :(

From there we got back on the boat and cruised to Luncheon Bay off of Hook Island. Here I got to go on a very nice dive and saw some absolutely huge angel fish. The viz was a little compromised and currents were strong but the coral was spectacular. While we were out we got to see a few Green Sea Turtles! I love them! The rest of the day was spent lounging about the deck and enjoying the sunset/stars.

We woke up obnoxiously early again the second day and cruised down around Hayman Island. Hayman is the site of the only 6 star resort in the Souther Hemisphere just in case you were wondering. We dove off the back of the boat in Blue Pearl Bay and it was INCREDIBLE. Perfect visibility and coral arches, tunnels and swim-throughs that made me feel like Ariel in her treasure room. There is also this fish that hangs about the bay named Elvis. He is a Great Maori Wrasse and has been sort of socialized to hang out with the divers. I got to feed him and give him a hug. We are talking about a fish that is 2/3 my size. After my second dive I snorkeled for a while and hung out with Elvis a little more. We also did flips and dives off the stern of the ship (5m high) plus we had a water slide. So eventually we did have to come back to port and Im pretty sure I shed a tear or two. I certainly was the last person off the boat.

Oh well. Back to Brisbane...

Conservation Trip: Wild Mountains

I know I havent posted in a while! Ive been busy!

Two weekends ago I went on a volunt

eer trip with a few other American students. We all headed over to the headquarters with our

sleeping bags in tow and piled into a Landy... which they called a Troopie. There were ten of us in this thing for two hours into the boondocks of Australia! I personally loved it... and rural Australia looks like rural anywhere USA plus kangaroos. There are broken down utes (pickups) in the front yards of doublewides. No worries :) But we did see some roos just hanging out in the shade. When we finally got to the last turn in our directions we went down this little cow path road which climbed and climbed up a crest of this huge ridge. There were really spectacular looking mountains just jutting out o

f this fertile pasture land. We passed two vehicles that had been left because they couldnt make the 20% grade. We made it. Slowly.

When we got to the top we were greeted by the caretakers of this camp and shown to our A-frame tent/cabins for the weekend. We had a spectacular view! Even the toilet/outhouse had a view! But we changed and hung out for a while before dinner and some work. We built two bridges out of logs and railroad ties to finish a fire track across the mountain. Occasionally they do controlled burns of the mountainside so that wildfires dont get out of control during the arid months. So finishing up the access track was sort of important as summer approaches. We made good progress the first day and finished up easily the second which was awesome.

The only complaint I really have about the weekend was that the whole place was vegetarian. Sort of sad but we did alright. We made our own dinners and got pretty creative. Plus they gave us chocolate cake and we whipped our own cream for dessert! We also saw the most spectacular stars I have ever seen. The Southern Cross is a little smaller than I would have expected, but still impressive. Side note. Koala noises are terrifying. It is a weird cross between a bear growl and a wild boars grunting in the middle of the night. Honestly. You need to go to youtube.com and search "koala noise". It will astound you.

Crazy Week!

I know I know... Im behind. But Im going to catch you all up right now so get ready!

Monday we went to see the Brisbane Broncos play at SunCorp Stadium. They are a rugby team with a real horse for a mascot!

Tuesday I found out that it was absolutely necessary to wear a hat to the horse races on

Wednesday so I spent the day at the local mall scrounging through craft stores... Wednesday was a public holiday for EKKA (which is sort of like a HUGE state fair). Essentially it is a huge drinking holiday for which everyone dresses up very formally and goes to see Thoroughbred races. Needless to say, after crafting myself a hat and headwear for the rest of the Americans... I went to bed early.

Then on Wednesday we all woke up at 7:30 for some breakfast and then got dressed and started with mimosas at 8am. Everyone had a great time and the races were alot of fun. I won like $2 on a bet... and lost a few but we saw alot of great hats!

Thursday was slightly less eventful. I only had class! But we talked

about American history in my politics class so that was fun because I knew the answers. Then we did have a formal dinner in the evening. I took a picture of the hall so you can all see!

Friday morning I received my package from home, and perfect timing too because I found the Steelers game on live in our commons room! So I had my jersey and snacks and a grand time! Later in the day we trekked downtown to meet our tour group to leave for our surf trip. We al

l piled into a bus and started the 5 hour drive down to Spot X. We didnt get there until 3AM! It was really cold there at night, but the night was so clear it was like looking at the stars at the Grand Canyon. Spectacular.

The next morning we were unwillingly woken at 8am for our first surf lesson. We got wetsuits and boards and after two attempts at standing up on dry land our instructor Rhys was like "okay dudes, in the water." WHAT?! Haha luckily there were lots of people to help and I got up fairly quickly. We spent two hours playing around in

the water and practicing before lunch. Then we hung out on the beach for a while and I found a stellar sea shell (which you know pleases me to no end). Later in the afternoon we went surfing for another two hours. We got to screw around on a surf board that had a camera built into it so we had footage of our surfing skills :) Later after dinner we had a bon fire and taught the Aussies how to play flip cup before we went to bed.

Sunday we woke just as early to go surfing again this time on some green (unbroken) waves. I had an awesome time and I think everyone was sad to leave, but we were all so sore. I felt like I had been put in a washing machine on permanent press for a few cycles. The surf was really strong and there were a few rip currents on the beach so it really took alot out of us. On the trip home we stopped in Byron Bay for a while and hung out.

Yesterday I booked some more of my spring break trip to New Zealand... but more on that later. As for this week Im hoping to get some homework done and rest up!

Noosa, QLD

So this weekend I went up to the Sunshine Coast to Noosa. On Thursday night we left UQ on a bus around 7pm and were dropped off 4 hours later on a street in some residential area. The trip was fairly involved with a bus to a train to another bus and another bus! But when we got there our friends had rented a house so we just hung out and played stupid campfire games. The place was pretty nice but because we got there so late I was relegated to the couch... still a step above the floor.

The next morning Marisa, Jess and I took the bus down to Sunshine Beach where we quested for our hostel. Yes hostel. As we were walking down the street we could hear the beating of a drum and then came around a corner to a fuchsia fence with Hindu figures decorating the walls. We checked in and walked past some burning incense and a man with dreadlocks playing a bongo drum at 10am. We had our own room which settled us down a bit but poor Jess didn't have the luxury of her own sleeping bag. She spent the next ten minutes freaking out about the possibility of bed bugs. From there we went down to a little cafe and had breakfast before hitting the beach.

Noosa is absolutely gorgeous and the property values are far undervalued if I do say so myself... hint hint anyone looking for a vacation spot. But really the place was stunning and we just laid on the beach for about oh the whole day. The waves were great too and there were tons of surfers, but the water was a little cold for my taste. But if this is winter Ill take it. Around 4pm we headed back to the hostel where we met up with Sydney who had made the epic journey up for the day. Then we quested for food. Harder than you would think. In these little towns it seems like everything closes at like 5 because its off season. But we did manage to find a nice pasta place with a movie/meal deal. I had pasta carbonara, a glass of red wine, and a movie ticket for $30. Not bad considering the movie tickets were $14 themselves. So we saw The Ugly Truth. I thoroughly enjoyed it... but its a little inappropriate Mom so dont go see it with Amanda! It was only rated M-15 here, but Im fairly certain it will be R in the States.

Anyhow we cabbed home and went to sleep in our comfy sleeping bags. Although we laid there "fake" sleeping for an hour before we all started chattering again. The next morning we rose at 7am and went for a beach walk/hike. At the end of our beach was a trail head into Noosa National Park which had a climb up to the top of a rocky cliff. The view was amazing! Highly recommend it. But after our walk back we checked out of our hostel and headed down to the Sunshine Beach Surf Club for breakfast, which was amazing by the way. After breky we went down to the Main Beach in Noosa where we hung out for the rest of the day before trekking home. All in all a pretty solid weekend Id say.

5 August 2009

Finally feeling better! Except there are three girls in my hall quarantined for Swine Flu... so Im pretty sure thats what I had too. Oh well, now I can say that I had and survived the great Swine Flu outbreak of 2009. Yesterday I went to a "come and try it" week program at the gym for fencing. We wore the little white pads and the neat helmet and got to fence each other. Im not sure I am actually going to take the class, but it was an amusing diversion.

I just got out of my first tutorial for my US and Global World Order class... and Im the only American in the class. My tutor was like "I guess you will be able to give us a unique perspective..." yeah you think? ANYhow. My friends and I are going up to Noosa (google it... its beautiful) this weekend and are staying through to Saturday. Ill post pictures!

Hi Lynn!

No I have not died... Ive just been sick so there really hasnt been anything new and exciting to write about. I went to the mall today and bought a sleeping bag to use when I do my community service weekend. Thats about the highlight of the weekend really. There was a back to school party on Friday that was themed "Into the Wild" and everyone got VERY dressed up for it.  I was convinced to attend for a little while just to see what it was all about.  I called it an early night because of my cold, but Im glad I went.  The costumes were ridiculous!  Hopefully my sore throat will go away so my week will be a little more print worthy.  Classes tomorrow... wish me luck.

28 July - Botanical Gardens

Today I woke up at 6 am from my cough and couldnt go back to sleep.  I had a class at 9 am but it only lasted for a total of ten minutes.  A wasted walk to campus if you ask me... and even more tragically, in those ten minutes I managed to leave my camelback water bottle on the floor of the lecture hall.  It has yet to be recovered. :(  But after class I met Marisa and Jessica at the "Bean Scene" on a little strip of shops about 5 minutes from our dorm.  After coffee Marisa and I went grocery shopping at the local "Coles" AND I bought a roll of butcher paper from a little news stand on the corner.  More on that later.  But we also bought a baguette of French bread and some Australian Brie.

This became lunch after we made our way downtown to the Botanical Gardens.  They were really beautiful and actually very diverse.  There was a mangrove stand on the bank of the river that we got to walk through and these really pretty orange flowers. (see picture :) ) There was also a group of school children in adorable uniforms complete with sun hats!  I took a few pictures of them too.  But on our way back to campus we took some artsy photos and then met Tara back on campus.

I had secretly (or not so secretly) saved some of the baguette for the walk back to the dorms.  We had to walk past our lakes and I wanted to feed the birds.  I got one of the crazy red headed birds and three different ducks to eat from my hand.  All the rest were scaredy cats and didnt get any of the wonderful bread.

But tonight was also our first formal dinner.  Funniest/weirdest experience of my life.  I wore a Harry Potter robe and met in the dining hall with my mates all dressed the same.  Our tables were set for three courses and had nice linens and everything.  Once we were all sitting around at our tables a procession of our principal (clearly Dumbledore) followed by our dean (a white haired lady... McGonagall obviously) and then all the wing leaders (prefects...).  The student dean (head boy) spoke before dinner.  And we only sat after they sat down.  Then we ate a mediocre meal with a crappy dessert and had to wait for all of the "head table" people to disperse before we could sit back down or walk out.  I honestly was waiting for the girls in blue capes and the crazy russian boys to storm through the main doors and challenge us all to a battle for the cup.  I do regret to report that there were no floating candles nor mail delivered by owl... but Ill keep you updated!

Oh and the butcher paper... I hung it up the whole way around my room and went to town with my crayons on a mural.  I despise the color the walls are painted here so I am fixing that.  Ill keep you updated on that too. (Suggestions on names for the birds are welcome...)

27 July - First Day of Uni

So today was the first day of classes and Im still tragically sick.  I went to my first class which is entitled "Australians at War" it is a history course based mostly in the idea that war has had a large impact on Australian society (which is kind of an interesting assertion because most people dont think of Australia as a warring nation).  But it sounds very very interesting and I really like the professor.  The lecture meets once a week and then we have tutorial sessions which are really just smaller discussion groups.  

My next class was Coral Reefs and I had that in a building way across campus.  I am friends with another girl taking the class so that was fun.  We really didnt do too much in that session but I have it again at 9am tomorrow.

After classes we sort of just hung around on the "great court" and had pizza for lunch.  I bought more cold medicine, and the reader for my history class.  I know... very exciting shopping.  Regardless today was fun and we watched Finding Nemo after dinner.  OH and I drew a really cool whale/mermaid/coral poster on the inside of a wrapping paper thingy for Marissa to hang on her wall.  Maybe Ill take a picture of it tomorrow for you  :)  G'night from downunda!

26 July - Really a whole week...

I cannot believe I havent updated this in a week.  Its been pretty busy but still... writing about a whole week is a daunting task now.

Early in the week I went on a few exploratory run/jog/walks with some of the girls that have been living in Emmanuel College.  We made it around about half the city without public transportation and found a few cool new spots.  There is a neat fruit stand about halfway between our school and the downtown section, and an awesome memorial park that overlooks the whole city near another ferry stop.  But mostly we just settled in and went shopping in some of the main business districts.  

On Tuesday we tried one of the local bars called the Royal Exchange (RE for short).  It was a Tuesday and not many people were back to school so we sort of quadrupled the attendance by walking in.  But it was a nice laid back place with a few travelers hanging around.  We made friends with some New Zealanders and they told us the hot ski spots to hit up for spring break.

Wednesday we went to the second "college spot" we were told about.  The Regatta is an old hotel right on the river and the place itself is pretty cool but NOT my scene at all.  Way too many people, way too loud, way too disgusting really.  Plus I am completely sure that its a total rip off.  A friend bought a single drink for $16.

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Thursday I went to bed early.  I was sooo tired that there was no way I was doing anything.  During the day had been one of our exploratory walk sessions and I was beat.  Im pretty sure I was out by 6PM

Friday was a pretty lazy day too.  I met a few more of my college-mates. (one was from NZ another from New South Wales AU) Mostly I just read my book on a blanket in the quad because the sun was absolutely perfect.  Then in the evening a few of us went over to the kids at the Sir Fred apartment and watched some aussie footie before we went out for the night.  A few Australian kids took us to a club downtown but not everyone could get in.  It was also ridiculously cold out that night so Jess Marissa and I stopped for pizza and then took a cab home!

Saturday everyone that went to Cairns (plus Jess) went to an AFL (australian rules football) match between the Brisbane Lions and the North Melbourne Kangaroos.  The stadium is called the Wallongabba "Gabba" for short.  It was an awesome time even if we didnt know all the rules!  Brisbane won by quite alot and their star player, Brown (Brownie as they call him affectionately) kicked his 400th career goal.  Im pretty sure Ill be able to follow AFL if for nothing more than "Brownie".  But I got a really cool Lions scarf that looks like the Gryfindor (sp?) scarf in Harry Potter.  Add that with my robes and all I need is a wand!

THEN this morning we woke up at 6:30 to catch a cab to a pickup point for our shuttle to our whale watching tour.  Yes it was that convoluted.  But we drove up to Redcliffe just north of Brisbane for this tour on the "Eye Spy" with "Capt Kerry".  Really nice boat, really nice crew, really nice scenery.  I had an incredible time.  We saw three different pods of Humpbacks that were very interested in why we were floating on their ocean.  They hung out with us for most of the day.  They would play around and breach and put on a show, and as we would turn to leave they would do something spectacular to make us stay around longer!  It was pretty amusing.  Plus we saw a mommy whale and her newborn calf!  Dolphins came and played in the mix too.  All in all a pretty awesome day.  But as we were leaving the boat to go back to the shuttle to Brisbane the crew invited me and the three girls I was with to the local pub.  So we went.  It was a good time and we got to have dinner and talk to the crew a bit.  It was cool to hang out with an authentic aussie gathering.

Anyhow Im going to upload a few picture and go to bed.  Im sick and I have class in the morning so I need all the sleep I can get!

July 20 - Brisbane, QLD

The past few days have been sort of crazy.  I moved into my college (dorm) and orientation week started today.  Ive been sleeping alot, trying to catch up after the last few JAM PACKED days.  Its my effort against becoming ill.  But the food here at Emmanuel College leaves something to be desired.  Ive already gone to the grocery to buy some Ritz and peanut butter.  Thankfully the food in the city is more than respectable and Im really enjoying trying new restaurants (only downside is its expensive!).  But I made a trek into the city on one of the CityCats, their high speed ferries yesterday.  There was a music festival in South Bank, which is like the river walk section of town with lots of shops and trees and such.  That was alot of fun to see the city.  On the way back we went to KMart for some essentials.  MOST EXPENSIVE KMART EVER.  But I needed a hair dryer so I could take a shower!  The dorm rooms are designed to stay very cool for the summer months so there is no heating or air conditioning systems.  That means that now, in the dead of winter, they are frigid.  I wasnt brave enough to take a shower and have wet hair knowing that it wouldnt be dry for hours.  So I saved my first showering experience for this morning... but more on that later.

In the evening we all went to see Harry Potter at a movie theater in Indooroopilly.  Yeah try to say that word to a local and not get laughed at.  Im still working on it.  I enjoyed the movie, but the busses we took to get their stopped running at 9:30pm.  So at 11:30pm we were looking for cabs in the suburbs of Brisbane.  Luckily we found them and it was one of the cheapest cab fares of my life... nothing like Washington DC.

This morning I attempted a shower.  Queensland is under level 5 (apparently this is high?) water restrictions because this place has some serious water shortage issues.  Signs in the bathroom say 4 minute showers, mind you... it takes 3 minutes for water to become a bearable temperature!  Then the lights go out because they are on a 4 minute timer which is outside the shower.  So sopping wet you must peak out of the shower and press the button again for light.  It will take time to get a hang of this!

July 18 - Brisbane, Australia

We had to wake up again early this morning.  I cant wait to sleep in tomorrow.  At the airport I had the best muffin of my life, pineapple-coconut.  Security is way more lax in Australian airports.  No liquid restrictions AND you can keep your shoes on.  After we got to our college (dorms) we went out for lunch at this cute seafood place nearby.  I had cod and chips but a little bit of culture shock, I had to pay for my tomato sauce (ketchup).  After that everyone went shopping for essentials at KMart but I took a nap.  I was exhausted.  AND ITS COLD HERE.  There arent any heating units in the dorm rooms and I am freezing.  Im so glad I brought my own blanket.  As I type my nose is absolutely freezing!  The next few days will be interesting.  I registered for classes today and have finally caught up on my journaling.  Time to explore the city.

July 17 - Michaelmas Cay, Great Barrier Reef

Today was beyond words.  INCREDIBLE.  One of the best days ever. Period.

After breakfast we walked down to the marina where we boarded a huge catamaran called the Passions of Paradise.  The back was entirely set up for scuba rigs and the front was just nets to hang out in.  Unfortunately it is about this time that the battery in my camera decided to die.  Just my luck.  But regardless we had a great ride out to the reef, which took about 2 hours.  I spotted humpback whales off the starboard bow about an hour into it and we stopped to watch them play for a while.  Once we got to the reef we were divided into groups.  I was in the certified group which only had 5 people diving in it.  They tendered the certified group out to a little shoal called Banana Bomie and we dove off the back of a small glass bottomed boat.  The water was incredibly warm at 75 degrees Fahrenheit and it was significantly warmer being in the water than the air.  We went down to about 15 meters and dove through some very cool coral tunnels and swim throughs.  In one you could look up as you passed through and see a cathedral up to the sky with fish swimming in circles.  It was pretty spectacular.  Just on the other side of a tunnel was a huge Green Sea Turtle.  She was just having a snack on some algae around the reef and hung out with us a while.

After that dive we went on shore at the cay and saw all the birds nesting on the far side of the beach.  Blue Footed Boobies fly the whole way from the Galapagos to nest on this specific spit of land.  Pretty cool!  After some time warming up on the beach we snorkeled back to the boat for lunch.

The next dive was a Paradise Reef and was incredible.  I enjoyed this one more.  Maybe because I was more comfortable, or maybe just because only two of us dove this one.  It was much deeper than the first dive and looked like the drop off from Finding Nemo.  We saw perfect little clown fish families and some pelagic fish like barracuda.  We also saw a White Tipped Reef Shark, but he was very uninterested in us.

On the way back to port the weather got pretty rough and alot of people got sick, but we hung out on the front nets and got pounded by waves.  By far the most fun Ive had in a long time.  The past few days have been awesome but Im so tired Im not sure I could take another day of it.  Id love to get to dive again, maybe on the Gold Coast.  Oh and the captain of the boat complimented my sunglasses and said he had just lost his pair of Maui Jims to the sea.

Jul 16 - Cairns, QLD

Today we had to wake up at 6:50am! for "breky" (breakfast).  At our table Tara and Sean tried vegemite and swore up and down they wouldnt wish that experience on their worst enemy.  After, we had a short little information session where I signed up for a weekend learn-to-surf trip.  Then we all loaded up into a coach bus that drove us up the coast in into the mountains to the rainforest.  All I can say about the drive, beyond it being beautiful, was that it was really really twisty.

We got to hang out with some kangaroos at the top in a nature reserve.  They were sooo sweet and just wanted to lay around and be pet.  I held a Costal Carpet Python around my neck!  She was remarkably friendly as well, much to my surprise.  Next we got to hold koalas... which is only okay if they are domesticated ones.  Apparently in the wild they will rip you to shreds before you even know what hit you.  Later we took a ducky tour on one of those truck/boats through the rainforest which was pretty cool.  Plus we got to meet aboriginal people who taught us to play a didjeridoo and throw boomerangs.

Dinner was at the bar/saloon called the Woolshed which had a line out the door and around the block to get in.  We got a steak, salad, potato, and beer for $10.  I guess that explains the line.  We didn't stay too long, because the next day was the dive trip!

July 15 - First Day in Cairns, QLD

Some of these are going to be post dated, because I JUST got my internet in my dorm room...

But the first day in Cairns was awesome.  Our flight from Sydney was pretty short and we all got to sit together in the back so it was fun.  The people that run our program picked us up at the airport and took us to our hotel and then straight to dinner.  We ate at a local place called the Blue Sky Brewery.  Tara and I split a "jug", their word for pitcher, of the Blue Sky Pilsner with dinner.  Then we had a little info session that I nearly fell asleep in before we went back to the hotel.  Tara and I watched a local grudge match of "footy" (rugby) between the Queensland team and the New South Wales team before we went to bed for the night.

Hours and Hours Later...

Im finally in Sydney!  Australia is beautifully sunny today and I left the airport with a few new friends during our seven hour layover.  The flight wasnt TOO bad.  We got two nice meals on the plane and I sat next to a very well behaved 7 year old boy so there was lots of leg room.  For some reason Qantas Airlines seemed to be understaffed this morning and we had to wait in a line about an hour.  While standing in the line though I spotted a girl with an AustraLearn luggage tag and an University of Kentucky shirt!  It was Tara, Amy's sorority sister from school.  Small world.  But regardless we decided to quest out into the city to see the Opera House.  The birds here are crazy and their are cockatiels flying in the trees just like a pet store!  Also we saw VERY huge bats and lots of people wearing ski hats because they think its cold!  Ill post a few pictures and write more later but we are getting on a flight for Cairns!