Race Day, Girraween Camping Trip, and Cairns!!

Hello?...

Hello?....

Anyone out there?????

I think I have been losing viewers and at this rate I do not think anyone is following me anymore since it has been a month since my last post.  Hopefully I have not been forgotten and hopefully people remember that I AM coming home.

 My adventure is coming to an end and my days in Lismore are now minimal.  I have only a few days left in Lismore forever.  It is definitely bittersweet.  Four and a half months may not seem like a long time but I feel like I have been gone from home for centuries.  I am done with everything and I can't believe I actually finished my last two papers because it is hard to find motivation here.  Most students here have finals next week but I do not so I am able to relax which is nice but definitely a bit boring.  I haven't gotten much of an opportunity to take the time to blog in May because I have felt very busy trying to get last minute trips put together and finally attacking some school work that needed to be done.

Since I last wrote I gave you a brief introduction to the whole "Race Day" bit, but in all fairness I only described what I had personally heard from others and not from experience.  Now that it is marked as an experience, along with many other things, I can tell you about its excitement! Well, kind of. It is kind of one of those things where you have to experience it for yourself but I will try my best.  Like I said before.. it is an event that the school hosts, and its based all around the drinking!  Race day consists of everyone dressing up fancy, wearing big hats/bows/flowers etc., going to the horse races and drinking until you can't stand up practically.  It started at noon, so of course this means starting to drink early! I still love my sleep so waking up 8 or 8:30 was fine with me.  WRONGGG.. I woke up from screaming students drinking at 6:00 a.m. yup.  No joke here. Luckily, because I have such a talent in sleeping, I was able to fall back asleep again for another hour.  I had never had an experience like this so please do not mark me in the crazy category, but I just had to take advantage of this great event.  Again, the school encourages drinking.  So! We got 4 free drink tickets upon arriving! got to loove Australia! :-)  Here are a few pics from race day.

Here we are with our four free drink vouchers.  Thank you Australia!

When I went to the restroom.. just going in and minding my own business. No big deal right? WRRONNGG! After I flush the toilet I see something massive fall out under the toilet seat.  I felt like I was a cartoon for a moment.. squeaking my eyes with my fists in disbelief! turns out.. it was a HUGEEE frog! It was seriously so frightening!   It is definitely nothing you expect on a daily basis!  Talking to other girls later in the day I guess it turns out that frog just lives under the toilet seat until someone flushes!  Let that be a lesson to you!  Check under the toilet seat! haha. Of course I took a picture of this creepy frog!

I was actually there until sunset so it was a very long day!  Don't forget.  It is winter on this side of the world so the sun sets before six so its not completely absurd or anything!  Some were able to go strong all day and all night long drinking but I was ready for bed at about 6:00.  Unfortunately my head was pounding until about midnight so I just suffered for a rough six hours. Haha.

Anywayss... Next event!  Girraween! Bahhhh ha.

After my first camping trip to Meebun-bia I was really excited to be tested and see how much I could take on this intense camping trip.  As much as I did not want to freeze in the wilderness and hike for miles I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.  Well, I did it. HA.  It definitely wasn't what I would consider a "fun" time but it was beyond any doubt a learning experience.  This trip was a bit different.  My class was split up into small groups and it was our job to navigate through Girraween National Park without ANY help from our professor.  He was always behind us, in case anything happened, but if we decided to go the wrong way it is not like we would have been told.  Our packs were twice as heavy as the first trip and it made me regret complaining about them the first time around!  We had to carry 6 liters of water, heavy clothes (since its winter), food for 4 days/3 nights etc. etc.  Luckily our first day we did not have to walk far with our packs before we hit our campsite.  The rest of the day we went caving and watched the sunset on top of this huge rock.  It sounds relaxing but all of this was still a sweat! haha.  Again, because it is winter the sun sets early.  We can't have campfires in Girraween National Park so we did not really have much choice but go to bed after dinner (like 7:00) ha.  It was pathetic but we were all pretty tired from the days anyways.  It was about 40 degrees Fahrenheit at night and every night I woke up freezing!  Steph and I bought these funny wool sweaters from the good will for 4 dollars! Great deal!  Who would of thought that I would still freeze with that on! Yes, folks.  Australia is not warm right now! It is so crazy that it can feel like a summer day when the sun is out and then as soon as it sets it feels like winter!

Below is the massive and heavy pack I carried for four days.

walking towards the caves on the first day.

Sunset after the first day.

Steph and I in our 4 dollars wool sweaters. haha.

On the second day we got the opportunity to jump in a watering hole between our miles of hiking and boy was it freezing!! I could hardly breathe! My first initial reaction was "how do I get out?!?!"  You would think after countless swims in Minnesota lakes/rivers and 5 a.m. morning swim practices I would be able to take it like a champ.. but nope! I really think that wins the record for coldest swim of my life though! All in all it was refreshing (considering I would have 4 days without a shower) and a funny memory!  This day we did a lot of off track hiking, uphill none the less.  (Sidenote: by the end of this trip my legs were scarred and scratched from this!)  It was really quite depressing when we climbed the wrong summit!

Taking a break before climbing the wrong summit! ha ha

The next morning the group decided to start hiking early.  Yes, wake up at 5 a.m... pack up.. and then start hiking!  I didn't feel good this morning when I woke up.. probably because it was so early... and I made the mistake of not drinking water or putting anything in my stomach.  We were going to hike to a certain location for breakfast and I did not realize it was 7 kilometers away.  Our group did not stop  (even though some of us needed/wanted to) and lets just say it was not a pretty sight.  Our professor said he had never had someone do that hike so fast (an hour and half) or even get there that early!  I was not a happy camper at this point in time.  Anyways I think we hiked about 14 ks that day.  Again, we were so ahead of schedule some people took naps at lunch time and then again when we hit our campsite!  We did more caving (which was really quite frightening to me but still cool!) and watched the sunset on another HUGEE rock.  It was crazy to see how far we hiked from the previous day!

Hiking before the sun is up.

Still hiking.. still no breakfast.

This was part of the massive rock that we climbed on day 3

At this point in time I was so pumped that it was my last night and i was so anxious to get 'home,' aka Lismore.  I hated the cold, I hated not showering and I hated not having a toilet, yup.  I said it!  I know some people appreciate this and props to you! but.. me, Brooke Northfield, loves showers, beds, stoves, microwaves, and toilets.  (although, I would still like to do the boundary waters!)

below is the last sunset we saw.  That mountain in the far distance is

where we were the first day (and where the previous sunset pic was from)

a sweet pic of steph and I that a girl in my group took!

The last day we did a lot more hiking once again and I was so determined because I was ready to get on that bus to take me to my shower.  I am sure all of you can imagine how wonderful that bus smelt with 20+ students who had been sweating the past 4 days without a shower.  I think I almost witnessed Stephanie pass out from the smell and that is no joke!

Overall we hiked over 25 miles with our packs.. and this doesn't count the times we got lost!  I was one sore girl with scratches and bruises all over my body!

As soon as I got back I immediately had to pack and get ready for my adventure the following day to Cairns with Andrea! Now, for those of you who may not know.. the Great Barrier Reef is in Cairns, Australia.  Cairns is not close to where I am located so we had to fly there!  Andrea had flown into Brisbane (from home!) so I met her in Brisbane and we flew to Cairns from there!  We decided to save a few dollars and just spend the night in the airport since our flight was at 6:00 a.m. plus I didn't even arrive into brisbane off the bus until 10:30 p.m. that evening. Turns out sleeping really wasn't on our agenda since we had so much to catch up on!  I never really do good off no sleep but we had a lot of laughs so it was all good!  When we finally got to check in I found it quite strange because NO ONE checked our passports/i.d./NOTHING! Not when we got our tickets nor when we went through security.  Definitely quite dodgy if you ask me!  That would never happen back home!

Our first day was pretty simple.. we spent the day exploring the city and the mall.  I introduced her to all of my favorite Australian clothing stores! Although everything here seems to be quite overpriced their clothing is priced appropriately! Actually, better than most stores in the United States!  I hear that the trends that have been here are now coming to the United States so maybe my new clothes won't be so strange to everyone at home! Ha. Ha.  Anyhow I think this night we called it an early night since we had our day on the reef very early in the morning!

At 7:30 a.m. we got on our boat "The Reef Experience" for the day!  Wow. What a WONDERFUL experience.  It was beautiful.  The boat was quiet bumpy heading out to the reef!  It took us a couple hours to get out to our first snorkel location.  At least 10 people were at the back of the boat hurling into these extremely tiny puke bags.  It was disgusting!! Before we left on the boat I was a little nervous of getting motion sickness since I strangely had gotten sick on my flights here to Australia.  Thank goodness for practically being raised up on a boat and on the water.  I was practically one with the ocean! Go Me!  Therefore, I was able to soak up the sun on top of the boat, with my sunscreen of course!

When we got to our first snorkel location Andrea and I wasted no time getting into the water to snorkel around.  Boy was it beautiful!  Because it is not jellyfish season some people (those that were comfortable enough or could convince the staff that they were good swimmers) were going without wetsuits so of course we did!  The water was pretty warm so it was not a big problem.  Can you believe that people who did not know how to swim went on this boat??  So.. some of the staff had to attach a lifesaver ring to a rope and drag people around so they could see the reef.  I'm sorry, I thought it was quite pathetic. They didn't even tell people they could not swim until they got out to the reef.  Although, I am sure this happens way too often.

Andrea and I also signed up for an introductory scuba dive!  Kind of weird that you do not need a certification to go here so I thought I would take advantage!  They taught you the basics, how to clear your mask when it fills with water, how to take out your 'breathy thingy' (thats really what they told us to call it for the time being haha) and put it back in, hand signals and of course what to do if you run of air in your tank.  Thats it!  It took about 20 minutes.

Before Andrea and I were going to go Scuba Diving (after snorkeling around for a while) we realized our wetsuits were too small (they actually weren't we just thought they were).  We talked to one of the young male staff and told him we needed another wetsuit.  He looked at us crazy and said "Hey, you don't need a wetsuit scuba diving if you went snorkeling without one!" ..of course we were thinking "oh.. okay?? If you say so.."  About 5 minutes later the captain and the man in charge of it all (we didn't know this) comes down the stairs and asks us why we aren't wearing wetsuits. "We don't really need one!" then he says "What about the jelly fish!!"  We reply "Oh, someone told us we didn't need one!"  Very upset he yells "WHAT! YOU TELL ME WHO SAID THIS AND I WILL FIRE HIM ON THE SPOT!"  Meanwhile.. the gentlemen who told us we didn't need one was wide eyed and staring me down frozen in place.  We lie through our teeth searching for an excuse claiming it was someone inside that we do not remember. The big boss man asks the few staff standing nearby (including the guilty one) "BOYS! Do we wear wetsuits here?!" and the boy who told me I didn't need one pipes up quickly "ALWAYS!!! you NEVER go scuba diving without a wetsuit!"  Wow. I sure saved his job for him!  He came up and apologized later saying this big boss guy is crazy.  Definitely a weird situation to put a customer in!

After that small dilemma we were on the ocean floor at the great barrier reef looking at all the amazing creatures, wearing our wetsuits but of course!  We got a 20 minute free scuba dive and covered quite a lot of ground!  It was Andrea and I and one other man with an instructor!  If we wanted we could have paid for a second scuba dive for 55 dollars at the 2nd diving location but money is getting tight and I am sure it would look very similar from the first spot so I decided to just stick to snorkeling.  We got to see a turtle when we were at 2nd location snorkeling!! It was awesome!

My Scuba dive experience was AMAZING though!  I felt like a mermaid.. I think it is where I belong! :-) I wish I could have heard Disney's song Under the Sea! ha.ha. just kidding!  But.. after that I am definitely going to get my scuba certification hopefully in the next decade! Here are a few pictures from Andrea's underwater disposable camera!

Me!

Andrea and I!

My instructor and I!

Andrea and I snorkeling!

The turtle we saw snorkeling!

another pic of that cute turtle!

The whole day on the boat we got complimentary breakfast, lunch and on the way back we got wine and cheese!  The end to a perfect day! 

The following nights we got the opportunity to meet a lot of backpackers down at the bar at our hostel!  I could not believe how many people were from England!  It is so interesting to meet people here that are traveling around the world that are around our age.  It is not uncommon for Europeans to take a year off and go see the world!

The day after the reef we played it pretty low key and enjoyed a day out in the city and laying out under the beautiful, warm sun (since I hadn't seen it in a while in Lismore).  We decided we should probably plan something for our last full day and we happen to see a flyer for tubing down a river through the rain forest.  That sounded amazing to us and a half day was only 40 dollars! What a steal!  We talked to the travel agent at our hostel about it and she reassured us it was an awesome activity!  I guess people take booze with them and drink down the river.  Well, good thing we did not because it was the sketchiest thing I had ever done!  A man came and picked us up from our hostel in a van with a trailer attached holding 5 tubes.  We proceeded to pick up only two more girls and that was our 'huge' group.  The sun was not out ...  in case you have forgotten.. when the sun is not out its pretty cold.. yes, even in Cairns!  I know we were all praying the rain would hold back for this trip down the river.  The man was quite an awkward man (actually.. maybe crazy is a little more accurate) and pulled out laminated snake skins that ate his cat.  I guess he shows all of his customers this.  We drive for quite sometime and start pulling into a small town.  Suddenly he says "Hold on" and leaves us in the van.  I see him in the rear view mirror riding a bike behind the trailer and goes down a small bank near the river.  All four of us girls were quite confused at this point but just laughed it off.  We then see him throw his bike into the woods and run back to the van claiming the river looks 'good today.'

We did a few more additional stops where he took the time to look at the river.  Yup, strange.  We finally get to a random place in the woods where he pulls over and takes the tubes/helmets/and water shoes out of the trailer.  I was assuming there would be some kind of building for his business but nope.  He was kind of a jerk and did not seem to love his job.  We had to wear helmets and shoes because there was small rapids on this small river.

We begin the 'adventure' by him crashing his feet into the ground claiming he needs to "scare away the snakes."  From my experience in the Australian bush a total of 7 days I knew this was completely unnecessary but I was laughing because this was already so sketchy.  He shows us how to sit in his dumb tubes and tells us we have to keep our butts in the air so we don't break our tailbones.. how reassuring.  He was getting very frustrated because one of the girls was unable to stay on the tube so he was crabby the whole time.  He even talked crap about her to me while she was behind off her tube.  We had to keep stopping so he could look at parts of the river and decide which part we should go down... again, how reassuring.  Some parts were actually really frightening and Andrea and I almost crashed our heads into a fast coming tree off the shore.  He later yelled at us saying we have to get off of our tubes when this happens.. okay, jerk hole.  I will make sure to jump off in the middle of small rapids, genius!  It was one of those experiences where it was so terrible that it was hilarious!  It was beautiful though but definitely not what I would consider the rain forest from my experiences.

We were on the river for a good couple hours and he told us we got to stop for "tea."  We were quite excited since Andrea and I were freezing! Too bad there was no tea.. only water.. and small bags of candy he picked up at the gas station on the way here.  How glorious.  I was freezing wet, probably blue, standing in the rain while we waited for him to smoke his cigarettes on our "tea break." 

After we finally got to our stopping point we climbed up the small bank and stood there.. wet.. while bugs were biting us left and right.  He grabbed the bike he threw in the woods earlier and said he would be back in 10 minutes.  Of course he had to pull out a cigarette on his bike before he left to add to his classiness.

When he finally completed his smoking bike ride to the van and returned Andrea and I were talking to the two other girls comparing Australian/American life, which is always pretty entertaining.  Of course this man always had to pipe in.. but he finished off the last 20 minutes of the drive by complaining about the government and how they watch all of us.  He also said soon we will all have chips in us so the government can keep track of us and listen to our every word. "Soon, the people who don't want chips wont get a choice because they wont have any rights." etc. etc. etc. YES! LUNATIC!  I was SOOOOO happy to get out of that van and to get back into our hostel.  That warm shower never felt so amazing!

We spent our last night hanging down at the bar and meeting heaps of people!  Andrea stayed up all night and I got one lousy hour of sleep.  And yet again, we had a flight at 6 a.m. back to Brisbane.   Then our three hours bus ride back to Lismore. Joy.

As soon as we got back, even though we hadn't gotten much sleep we had to go the bar downtown for the mandatory end of the year party held by my outdoor professor!  How strange! That would NEVER happen back home. 

On Andrea's last day I was able to bring her to the famous Byron Bay!  I decided that it is one of my favorite places in the world.  So beautiful, even on a cloudy day, and something I could never get sick of!

Her trip quickly came and went and now I'm down to 2 more nights here in my Lismore room.

I have been doing great and am definitely sad to be leaving.  I am excited for my summer in Minnesota but worried about adjusting back to my life at home since I am told it can by the toughest part of this whole experience.  It will be weird no longer seeing a palm tree every day or having the ocean at my fingertips.  Also, leaving a group of amazing friends that I have been spending the last 4 months with will be really quite sad.  At this rate I really am not ready to say goodbye but I do not have much of a choice!

I am so thankful for this experience and I really think every college student needs to study abroad.  Something that I will never be able to put into words.  What a wonderful opportunity!!!

p.s. obviously I will not be coming back to Australia so please do not send anymore mail from this point on! Thanks!  Again, thank you to all of you who sent me mail this semester it definitely made my day(s)! :-) I will be out of touch for a while unless I find free internet somewhere!  I am off to fiji June 3rd-8th and then New Zealand June 9th-19th!  I have 8 flights before I come home.. that is an awful lot of flying. brutal!  If I do not get the opportunity to blog while I am in Fiji or New Zealand I will update you all about my last adventures after I arrive home in the United States.

AND... I bought vegemite to bring home so all of you can taste it and wonder why Australians are obsessed with it!

looking forward to being out on the river with the family, warm Minnesota weather, bonfires, friends, paychecks (but not the working part), an apartment without bricks, a clean house/apartment, a big bed, my nieces Annie & Chaco, cheap Diet Coke, my trip to Canada, and last but not least seeing Duane!

See you all soon!

Ta-Ta!

Update from Australia

(Sunset in Lismore.  Both of these pictures were taken at the same time.  One side of the street was the moon and the other side was the sun setting.)

          

           G'day!  No worries mates, my feet have been planted on the ground since my recent landing from skydiving last weekend.  No other surprises as of yet.  I am glad to have accomplished something that I never thought I would have been able to do just a few months ago.  I have proven a lot to myself and discovered a lot about who I am during my time here in Australia, which I find is more valuable than anything!

               Many people here take the opportunity to Bungee Jump (In New Zealand) AND Skydive but I am happy to report that I can still draw the line.  I think that is a step too far and I would rather not jump off of a bridge/cable car only to be connected by a rope.  As neat as it would be to say I did it, I do not think I could do it mentally.  Jumping out of a plane sounds a lot easier than jumping, by yourself, head first towards the ground.  Really? Common.  So maybe that helps bring some comfort to those at you at home who are freaked out that I jumped out of a plane (which I am definitely doing again back home by the way! haha).

            Anyways.  I had my first and last test of the semester this week. Ha. So strange how school works here. Back home I have constant exams and tests practically every week.  For the rest of my time here I have a small presentation, 2 papers and a reflection paper.  Not too bad.. although those 2 papers are pretty long but hopefully I can push through.  Unlike St Cloud State right now, Our last day of the semester (well, last day of finals anyways) is June 5.  We have a second "study week" which is a full week off of class to "study."  Luckily, I do not have any final exams I only have 2 papers.  So.. I will be done with classes the 21st of May.  What a short semester considering we started at the end of February and have two full weeks off of class in the semester.  Not to mention we only need to go to classes once a week.  I wonder how it will be transitioning back into my hectic lifestyle back home.  Oh well, this was a great and much needed "break." Hey- the work here is still hard and I still studied and learned a lot! Don’t be too hard on me about this!

            In addition to my last presentation and two papers I have our last camping trip for the semester.. which is soo soon that I am scared!  It gets really cold here at night and I will be a freezing girl.  There is no professor on this just me and 5 other people in my group.. trekking through Girraween National Park.  Yikes Stripes!  I think this will be my last test of 'doing things that I never thought I could.'  I know I will come back amazed and say it was worth it but it will be no piece of cake!  No bathrooms.  No firepits. No high ropes courses.  Just us and the wilderness. Middle of no where for real this time.  This is no joke.   I am actually really excited and thrilled to tell you all about it, and it hasnt even happened yet! haha.

           The day I get back from Girraween my friend Andrea from home is coming to visit which will be so exciting!! I am meeting her in Brisbane the next day and we are flying to Cairns for the weekend to snorkel and spend a day on the Great Barrier Reef.  It will be nothing short of amazing I am sure and I am so excited to show her Australian life!

            The night we get back from Cairns my professor planned a traditional party to celebrate the end of the year.  Normally, when a professor says this back in St. Cloud it means "we can all chip in a few dollars and order a pizza" and "I can return all the papers you wrote this semester." Woo (That woo was sarcastic if you couldn’t sense it by the way).  That is definitely not how Australia does it.  We are going out drinking with our professor, yup that’s right!  Everyone from my outdoor education class is meeting at a bar called Tommies on Tuesday night and drinking the night away. HAH!! I love Australia!

    This coming Saturday is a big event.  Everyone and I mean EVERYONE from the Uni is participating in "Race Day."  Everyone dresses up really fancy, big hats etc and goes to the horse races.  Of course many people are waking up at 6 a.m., I wish I was kidding (St. Cloud, you think you can drink? HA. I laugh in your face), to start drinking. It’s an all day event and I am sure it will be a hott mess but such a blast!

           Although I have so many things to look forward to here I have had too much time to think about home and unfortunately am kind of feeling homesick.  It is hard to see pictures from back home or hear stories and know you are missing out on spring Bonfires, family gatherings, get togethers with friends etc.  I love Australia and a part of me never wants to leave but I miss the simplicities of home sometime.  I know I will quickly want to return to Australia once I arrive back in the U.S. but I can't even think about going home yet.  It will be very bittersweet that is for sure. Hard to believe that my experience of a lifetime is coming to an end.. and I will miss it.  But.. I will never forget!


  p.s. did I mention that Maccas (McDonalds) tastes normal to me now?? This isn't a recent development or anything but I have forgotten to mention this in my previous blogs.  Here I was the first week in Australia here saying I will never like it and now I love it, just like home (except the prices, the sizes, the fountain pop and no free refills).  Oh dear! I can go to the grocery store without being scared of the weird labels and I find myself staring at an 18 pack of Diet Coke on sale for "10.98" and saying... "That is such a good deal!" ...vomit.

      
     Oh.. ANDDDDD I forgot to tell you. I got bit by an ant a few days ago when I was laying by the pool and let me tell you.. these things are vicious!!! It feels like a bee sting when they bite you!  I could feel the sting for about a half hour after it bit me too.  From what I hear, they don’t actually bit you but they pee on you.  (I am not really sure how accurate this is, to me, it sounds like a drunk Australian trying to pull a "Dumb" American's leg but I will get back to you on that.)  Anyways.. I still have the bump from where it bit me and it is swollen, red and it itches. oouchie!!

I will take an ant bite/pee (haha) over a spider bite here any day!

     Wow. I am jumping around a lot in this blog. Deepest apologies.. but these are all random thoughts that do not belong anywhere! haha.  Another random story... Last night I finally got the opportunity and the nerve to try vegemite because well ya know just to say I did! I was told "oh its quite lovely" yeah no worries I gagged.  It was the most repulsive thing I have ever tasted.  It shocks me how much they eat this crap! I think I will be bringing home some vegemite for everyone to taste.  Props to anyone that likes it.

below: a round about with the cool looking palm trees!

below: yet another huge spider, so many different kinds!

Miss you all soo much!
Cheers my luvs!

My. Favorite. Experience. EVER.

I figured I should blog sooner than later since word may travel fast.  Pictures do say a thousand words so I will start off with a picture!

Wait.. maybe that one doesn't help you any

how about this one?

Wait.. maybe that one doesn't help you either..

This next one ought to do it!

Yup folks, I went SKYDIVING!! Who would have ever thought?! And to be honest.. it was one of the best things I have EVER done in my life! What a thrill! What an experience! I recommend it!

I would do it again in a heartbeat too!

Of COURSE I was nervous before we went.. but surprisingly it was smooth sailing once I got on the plane.. and I didn't cry!  It helped that everyone in the plane, besides me steph and amy, had jumped thousands and thousands of times, yes literally!  It gave us the right mind set to relax.

It is about a 20 minute plane ride to reach the point where you jump.  I signed up for the highest jump so I jumped out of the plane at 14,000 feet!!  YES!! it is a 60 second free fall and you fall at about 120 mph!! AMAZING!! It is a feeling unlike any other and it was nothing like I imagined.

Here is me hanging out the plane.  To start you need to tuck your feet under the plane and tilt your head all the way back (making your body form like a banana shape) then your tandem master pushes you out and you are on for the best experience of your life!!!

here is me dangling out of the plane!!

below is the most easterly point of Australia!

Dont worry.. I made it to the ground! and safely too!

It was spectacular and I can NOT wait to do it again someday!

Of course I probably will never get the opportunity to sky dive with such a beautiful view though!

I feel like this deserves its own blog because nothing can compete with this.. so soak in the pictures and enjoy! :-)

Cockroach

I was thinking the other day that I am pretty lucky considering I haven't had too bad of an infestation problem.  Did I jinx myself or what.


It is currently midnight and I got up in the dark to go to the restroom thenn I see a MASSIVE cockroach two inches from my hand as I reach for the light switch.  Good thing the light in the hallway was on so I was able to see my enemy.. otherwise the whole college here would have been awaken by my screams.  I am terrible at thinking of quick ideas and it took this type of situation for me to realize I have never had to even think about how to kill a cockroach.  I think I thought about grabbing a camera before I even thought about grabbing something to kill it, I hate being a tourist Goll Darn it! It is seriously so massive I doubt a hit with a shoe would do anything. Although, I did grab my sandal but by that point in time he ran behind my closet, which is screwed to the wall and the floor.  So, unfortunately, now I am wide awake in the dark and unable to create the right mindset to fall asleep.  I have heard way to many stories from my mates about waking up with spiders or cockroaches on them.  This is never a problem I have experienced in Minnesota.  I feel this may be a long night.  Oh, how I hate the bugs here.. who am I kidding.. I will never get use to these scary "creatures."

Wish me luck.


pssst.  I think these bugs are on steroids!

Fraser Island

  G'day!  I wish I had a justified excuse as to why it has taken me so long to blog.  The internet has been anything but cooperative lately but I really need to remember to blog soon after my adventures.  I returned on Saturday from Fraser Island and it was a great trip.  For those of you who are great at fine details, may have noticed the time difference on the clock to the right.  We had daylights savings here. So.. for the third time since I have been here, the time difference between Lismore, Australia and Minnesota has changed.  I am not 17 hours, nor 16 hours but 15 hours ahead this time.  The time difference still makes it very challenging to contact those at home.  Also, I got to register for my fall classes for St. Cloud on Friday at 6:30 a.m. because of the time difference.  Joy.  I do not have classes on Friday so usually I do not have anything to awaken for.  However, I am really thrilled for fall classes.  I am getting really excited to start spending time in the classrooms as a "teacher."  I quote that because I will not officially be student teaching for another year in the Fall but I will be spending some time in classrooms.

     Before I left Lismore I actually had no clue what to expect with Fraser Island nor did I research it or look into it.  I was definitely in for a surprise because it was anything but what I was expecting, maybe even hoping for.  I was expecting/(hoping?) for a resort on the ocean where I can lay in the sun and just relax.  Hmm.  Nope! It felt, and actually was, more like a camp.  When we got to the island, after an hour ferry ride and previous to that was a 5 hour bus ride, I looked like I was going to be camping again because it was just trees everywhere.  After we got to the resort, I was shocked that it was so beautiful inside.  After all the dodgey hostels we have stayed in I figured, "This is too good to be true."  Good thing I prepared myself because, what do ya know, it was too good to be true.  The resort that we initially walked in technically was "part" of where we were staying because that was where the front desk was and the pool/hottub (the swimming area was great and relaxing!)  However, our place of residence for the week was up "heart attack hill" (wish I was kidding, this is what they called it) in one of the many cabins for other fellow backpackers.  The cabins were actually pretty nice compared to other hostels I have resided in the past (minus the ants in my bed, but really.. I would rather have ants than any type of spider here so it's okay, I guess).  Our cabin had 5 different rooms and four of the rooms were students from our school, Southern Cross University, which was pretty exciting.  So, many of you may be wondering who was sleeping in the 5th room.  HA!!! That is a story all within itself.  I will save it that for a little later in the blog.  

anyways. to start off the pictures...

below is a picture of my friend Olivia and I after completing the long bus ride and then arriving on the island after the hour ferry ride.

This was my first glimpse of the island.  Absolutely beautiful of course.  Australia really does not let me down in this aspect.

this was our cabin, my room straight ahead!

This a picture of my mates which were my fellow room mates for the week

(Left to Right: Jori, Steph, Dani, Gretchen and Me)

        Alright, so I am going to give you a little history, I learned heaps on the 3 tours we got to go on but I will try to keep it limited so its not a snooze fest!  We actually got a really amazing tour guide, his name was Karl, and he was awesome!  He actually enjoyed what he did for a living and it showed.    He provided the facts in such an enjoyable way that it was no where near boring which made it a GREAT experience! 

   We had 3 FULL days of tours (pretty much sunrise to sunset) and had Karl for each of these days.  We drove all over the island in a HUGE bus and boy was it a bumpy ride.  There is no roads on this island so we were driving up and down sand in the bus so it was fun!  We were on the bus for a few hours each day so although we were tired it was impossible for most of us to catch any ZZz's.  When we initially started our first tour day I literally felt like we were going to roll the bus because it was so bumpy and tippy.  It was not rare for your bum to bounce off your seat, it was quite humorous.

Below is a picture inside the bus.

Below is a picture of a few of us girls with our great tour guide, Karl, in front of our bus.  This was actually taken after our last day but I figured I would display it earlier in my blog to help you set the scene in your head!

It is not rare to see Dingoes on this island so these signs are everywhere!  Kind of frightening but they are so cute.. hard to believe they are so dangerous!  There is an estimated 150-200 dingoes on Fraser Island and they are the most genetically pure dingoes in Australia; since they are on an island they do not breed with wild dogs, duh. haha.

Alright, so Fraser Island (pronounced Fray-sur by Australians here) is the largest sand island in the world which was amazing in itself.  Our tour guide told us that this island has been completely buried under sand 8 times, in its thousands of years of existence, which I thought was soo crazy.  We learned a lot about sand but I will hold back, whoever thought that SAND, out of all things, could be so fascinating?! I am not being sarcastic here!  Below is a picture of their "highway" on the island.  You drive along the water, how sweet is that?  I enjoyed it anyways! :-)

This was part of our tour on the first day.  This is the Hammerstone Sandblow.  Look at all that sand!  It was amazing sand and it felt great in between your toes.  It didn't have annoying little sticks or sharp pointy things like you come across with most beaches.  Just pure sand in between your toes..... a little like sand would be in heaven I imagine! :-)... and when we walked to the left (my right in the picture) leads you to a fresh water lake..

Tah dah!  Lake Wabby.  A fresh water lake formed when a creek became blocked by a shifting sand dune! (of course, like Karl says "this didnt happen over night") How sweet!

 After lunch we went to this next lake, yes a fresh water lake, named Lake Birrabeen.  Isn't it beautiful?  It was so refreshing seeing all these lakes, since I AM from the land of 10,000 lakes. Reminded me of home a bit, but.. unfortunately I have never seen a lake THIS blue.

  Most of us enjoyed spending a large amount of time in this lake.. I felt like a little kid again enjoying the simplicities of swimming!

end of day 1! of course my friends and I spent a great couple nights at the Dingo Bar at our "resort"/CAMP but unfortunately since it was an island, we were the only people on the dance floor, which was kind of weird.

       Day Two: BAM!  To be honest, I couldn't tell you if this had a name or what but it was overlooking some more sand, of course, and the ocean.  Beautiful.  We didn't get the opportunity to ever swim in the ocean off the island because it wasn't safe and definitely not recommended.

Same thing just me in it! haha.

        Below is the Maheno Shipwreck.  There really is no truly exciting, amazing story but I will tell you anyways.  It was orginially built in 1905 as a luxury cruise ship that went betwen Sydney and Auckland and one of the fastest ships at the time (set a record in 1907).  During World War 1 it was a hospital ship in Europe and in 1935 it was being towed to Japan to be scraped BUT it was struck by a cyclone and washed ashore.  During World War 2 the wreck was used for air force target practice.  Out of 50 bombs they only hit it 2 times. haha. sad.  The ship cost too much to remove so they decided to leave it ashore as tourist attraction.

Below is the "Coloured Sands"

Supposedly there is 72 different 'colours' (I type papers for classes here with these weird spellings haha)

Next we went to the Champagne pools.  Theses Champagne pools formed natural fish traps, from waves at high tide, that the Aboriginal people used.

Below are my mates and I in and around the Champagne pools!

Next (yes, this was a long day) we went to Eli Creek. It was really neat because you could walk to the top of the creek and float down until it comes onto the beach by the ocean.

     On the other side of the water there was a wild dingo! It was closer than it looks, considering they can be very dangerous.  Many mothers were grabbing their children and escaping while other rude and dumb tourists were surrounding and crowding the poor thing to take pictures.  I swear, some people just can not respect nature and let it be, they were just asking for trouble.  Very frustrating!

After day 2 of the tours we went down to the ocean before dinner and enjoyed a BEAUTIFUL sunset.

Day 3!!!  My favorite..

     Lake McKenzie!  Again, so hard to believe it is fresh water!  A few of my friends and I swam across the lake and back!  IT was great!  The sand in this lake is said to have minerals in it so when you rub it on your jewelry it makes it shiny and when you rub it on your skin it makes it soft! Also, the water also had something in it that made your hair soft which was definitely noticeable!

  below is a huge iguana that I saw a few times on the island.  (Mom- This is what crossed the path when I was on the phone with you right in the middle of the resort!) (He doesn't seem very big in this picture but they really are big!)

Here is another picture of another one.. they are huge!

       After Lake McKenzie we got to go for a 40 minute walk in the rain forest!  It was absolutely amazing.  I wish pictures could do it justice but it is not possible.  There was a small creek going through the rain forest and from what my tour guide told us, the water is thousands of years old and completely fresh and okay to drink.  It is water that has been packed down in the sand for thousands and thousands of years and it is released from more recent rain compacting it.  I guess that is the easiest way to explain it.  Also, because there is no erosion in this rain forest there is nothing unhealthy or harmful in the water.

This was us in the rain forest on our last tour day.  Our last full day on the island we spent the day out by the pool relaxing, because you know... we got it oh-so-rough! ;-)

       Over all, it was a great experience and I got the opportunity to meet and create friendships with people from my school that I hadn't gotten to spend time with yet!  That was actually one of my 'favourite' parts of this trip!  It may sound dumb but I learned a lot about myself on this trip which is always important!

         Don't worry you silly gooses.. I didn't forget to inform you about my room mates in that extra room in our cabin!  HAAAAAA!  Well, where to start.  Two guys resided in that room and informed us on their first day there that they were from South Africa, which I thought was pretty sweet considering I think it would be a great place to visit.  I took it at face value and didn't really question them.  Well, on their last night on the island they informed my mates that they needed to make a confession. well.. well.. well.. they actually were NOT from South Africa and they lied about their names (I didn't really know their fake names to be honest anyways, I think Charles was one of them).  They were actually from Norway and to be honest, excuse my language, they were assholes.  Their "real" names were Stian (stee-in) and I don't remember the other because it was no where near pronounceable for me.  I actually entered the room after their small confession so I got to question him about things.  It turned out to be a debate and he seemed very opinionated about the world and Americans in general.  Of course I am always beyond curious how people view Americans so I wanted to listen in.  He proceeded to tell us that we are ignorant people, but we individually can not be blamed because that is how we are raised in our country.  Also that he, and others, HATE American tourists because "we" act like we own them, and everyone outside of the U.S.  Then he justified his comment by explaining that us girls were different, however, I highly doubt that us group of university females truly made his list of exceptions in the world.  To be honest, I think he just wanted to save himself from getting snapped at by a group of angry, non-trusting girls at that point in time. 

     He was a very well-rehearsed and well educated man however and, as we all agreed later, did present his point of view farely well.  He did tell us that we, Americans, know very little about anything around us in the world and all we learn or care about is American history.  To be honest I could agree a small bit about this.  I felt disappointed when he could recite countless stories in history from various countries.  I don't know.  It was a very big learning and eye opening moment in my life.  We sat around and talked to him for a couple hours so there is no way that I would be able to recite everything that was said in this conversation but it was very interesting.  He was smart, but still, an asshole.  He was fairly calm through the whole argument as each of us had our fair share of being upset with words he murmured.  He excused himself after a fair amount of conversation and went to bed, which was respectable.

         The small group of us that were sitting around the table in the cabin got the time to reflect on what just happened and discuss a lot about our country etc. which eventually lead to other conversations and what not.  It was actually a really interesting night and I learned a lot from everyone at that table!  Got to LOVE learning experiences like these!  For real though!  Ha.

When us girls like to reminisce about our trip to Fraser we like to refer to these gentlemen as "The Pathological Liars"  HAHAHA. It gives us a good laugh!

Well.. that pretty much sums up my trip to Fraser Island in a Nutshell!

        It has been a whole week since I have returned and yes, it took me forever to write and I am forever sorry but I will NOT leave you guys hanging in the dark!  I definitely want everyone to know about my adventures in the land down under, it just sometimes takes me longer than I hope it would.

            I am back in low-key Lismore where I am back to reading books and going to classes.  I actually finished my 3rd book this week (in just a couple days).  It was an amazing book, Thanks mom for sending it!! It is a book that definitely makes me want to read it again, and to be honest, I haven't read many books like that!

       Lismore is starting to get quote, unquote, chilly.  Again, NOTHING like Minnesota and NOTHING like Minnesota's Autumn.  It is weird to me that it gets dark here at 6 p.m. with what seems like a "cool summer night" in Minnesota.  The chilly nights remind me of late spring nights where you have to wear a sweatshirt to keep warm.  I actually started sleeping with my sleeping bag on top of me at night because of its chilliness.  Again, it is weird because I can still go lay by the pool during the day no problem (because the sun is so intense and warm) but at night a sweatshirt is a must.  I am sure that "pool weather" will decrease slowly but surely.. which I am not looking forward to so I am trying to spend as much time as I can outdoors.

     Today, I went to my first rugby game ever!  It was definitely very interesting and I do not think I will EVER understand what was going on.  It was a school event so of course most of the students were down at the field cheering on the game with their goon.  I am still not use to the fact that you can drink on campus or at school events.  I come from a school in Minnesota where students are pouring their alcohol into flasks and shoving it down their pants before a sporting event.  And here.. just a different story... students bring their goon bags down to the field and pour it into their mouths.  Did I mention that I even saw some rugby players drank beer while they were off the field?  Just so weird and something I have never seen.

I do not know if I told you this in my blog or not.  But. Very often, here in Australia, instead of students carrying around their goon (boxed wine) in a box, they just carry the bag and drink it straight from the bag.  It was funny at first but I guess it is just something that I am use to now.

     Goon is really growing on me, and although many international students are thrilled to return to their cheap booze and make goon history I predict it may be my drink of choice back in the states.  But.. we will see how it goes! haha.

   Well, well, well.  It is currently past midnight and I am feeling well accomplished for finishing up, yet another, blog.  I wouldn't be surprised if some of you skipped over my facts about Fraser Island but, hey- thats okay! Take what you want from this and read what you want!  I won't be offended! :-).

I miss you all and thank you for continuing to follow me through my adventures!

Cheers!!!