For my Birthday dad gave me a trip up to Cairns (in northern Queensland) to go scuba diving for two days on the Great Barrier Reef! Thanks Dad! It was weird at first because this was the first time I had traveled within Australia by myself. Every other time I head off to some corner of the continent, it is with at least 1 other person. While I was apprehensive to be "alone" for the weekend, it proved to be something that I really needed.
On Friday morning, I bid adieu to the girls (who were still on their cleanse at the time... and not in the best moods:) ) and started off towards Cairns. Since I was traveling alone, I decided to spoil myself... I walked STRAIGHT past the Toowoomba Transit Terminal and RIGHT into the Greyhound. Never have I traveled in Australia in such luxury. There was leg room, cumfy seats, reading lamps, and shades you could pull over the windows. The cost isn't that much different, and I think that I have ridden my last ride on the ole' TT coaches. Part of me will miss the intense feeling of impending death as the van speeds down the range towards Brisbane. However, the other part of me likes much better to be comfortable.
Travel to Cairns was the usual: city bus, greyhound, train to the airport, flight to cairns, and shuttle to my hostel. My hostel was really nice. I was staying in a 12 bed dorm, but it didn't seem like it. There was a really nice pool in the courtyard, as well as a hot-tub. I put my stuff down, changed out of my warm Toowoomba clothes and into shorts and a t-shirt, and then walked around the town to see what was up. I walked all around the waterfront, through a few parks, and in and out of a few shops. by about 4 o'clock I was pretty hungry, so I made my way to an Italian restaurant and had my fill of pasta... as well as some vino. There was a movie theater right next door and I decided that since I didn't know anyone, and had only spoken to my waitress, that I would go to a movie. I saw a French film called Summer Hours. I didn't know it was french. Nor did I know that it was subtitled. Needless to say, I fell asleep in the middle - it was the wine. I think I may have been snoring, actually. I did wake up soon enough to catch the last half hour or so. Afterwards I headed back to my hostel, chatted with a few of my roommates (German and English - EVERYONE that's traveling in Australia is either German of English.) I called it an early night, as I was being picked up at 8am.\
The next morning the Cairns Dive Center van came swinging up to the YHA and I piled in with my gear so we could head to the dive shop. We filled out all the necessary health forms, signed our legal rights away, and were then taken to the dock. From here we got onto a smaller boat (probably 30 feet) which would take us to the Live-aboard boat which stays out on the reef for a month at a time before coming to Cairns to refill on fuel. The ocean was like GLASS... and I'm not exaggerating. I mean like a lake at 6am... it was FLAT. All the staff on the boat said that they had never seen it like that before. After two hours we made it to the Kangaroo Explorer (the live-aboard) and piled out things into our rooms before getting briefed on the boat. By this time I had chatted with a few people, and actually kind of made friends. A far improvement from the night before. After our briefing, we had lunch made by the chef onboard (delicious!) and then got ready for our first dive. Unfortunately I remembered, after I got on the boat, that I was only Scuba Diver certified and not Open Water certified. The difference is that open water can go anywhere with a buddy to a depth of 18meters and I can only go to 12meters with a certified instructor. Now, in the long run this wasn't so bad at all... I got to dive with a really cool guy named Tom who knew everything there was to see about the reef. So basically he would take me along and show me all of the coolest things. The downside to this was I had to pay $11 per dive... but such is live.
All in all we did 6 dives while I was on the boat, one of which was a dive at night with flashlights. Some of the highlights of what I saw are: white tipped sharks, clown fish, heaps of sea turtles on the night dive and I was able to swim with one on my last day dive for about 5 minutes, starfish, parrot fish, and some beautiful coral. I had forgotten how cool of a sensation is is to scuba... being weighless under water is so fun. Every once in a while I would just start doing flips or barrel rolls underwater. I'm incredibly glad that I did the night dive. If you asked me that morning if I would do it I probably would have said "HELL NO!" However, by the end of the day I told myself... I didn't come to the GBR to sit on a boat... I'm doing it. We did see a few sharks on that dive, but I just pointed my flashlight (or my 'torch' as it would be called here) somewhere else so I didn't have to see them. :)
That night we were so exhausted that we were all in bed by 11. Which is good, because the staff came around at 5:30am to wake us up for our 6am dive. The sun wasn't even up yet when they were knocking on our doors. It proved to make it's way just over the horizon right as I was diving into the water. It's hard to not want to get up with you are watching the sunrise over the Pacific while floating over the Great Barrier Reef. I rented an underwater camera and managed to get a few good photos. I'll upload those sometime soon. After our last dive we had a few hours before the little boat, the Sun-Kist, brought us back to Cairns. We all sat and sun bathed on the top deck of the Kangaroo Explorer and chatted. There were people from England and Germany (obviously), a few guys from America (also studying in Aus), a guy from Korea, a few Canadians, and a few people from Japan. It was fun to just enjoy the sun, look at the reef, and talk with people from all over the world.
As all good things do... it came to and end. We were back on the sunkist, with slightly more turbulent waters, and heading back towards Cairns. We docked just around 5pm and headed towards our hostels. That night, the two American guys, two of my English roommates, and myself went to a cheap restaurant with great food for dinner. Two people from the boat met us there and joined in on our fun and conversation. After a while they were turning the restaurant to "bar-mode" and the table we were at was being taken away. We spotted a huge table with 2 guys sitting at it, and threw ourselves into it. Whether they liked it or not. The group of people we had was so eclectic and random, but it was so fun at the same time. We talked, drank, and danced the night away, and I had a blast!
The next day I had a few hours before my plane left so I sat by the pool at my hostel and tried to get a tan. Heading back to Toowoomba, was not high on my list of things I wanted to do that day... but I had no choice. After meeting people, Cairns seemed to be a lot more exciting, and I didn't want to leave.
This week went well, school wise. I had a nursing lab test-out and also a presentation for my mental health class. Both of which went incredibly well. I'm now done with class and only have two days before Lauren and I take the Greyhound to Mitchell. We spoke with the two people that have been there for the last two weeks and they really like it. They said the accomodation at the hospital is really nice (free wireless! look for photos!) and that the nurses are too. They also said that the hot-springs there are amazing! So Lauren and I are actually kind of excited.
Sorry for such a long post... but Cairns was just that exciting! I'll probably post again once we're in Mitchell.
Hope all is well at home!
Miss you all!
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
One More Thing
I forgot to put this in...
Lauren, Trina, Stephanie and I decided on Tuesday to do the "Master Cleanse." Basically this consists of drinking the most awful digestion tea at night, a quart of salt water in the morning which immediately makes you have to have a BM, and then the only thing you can have during the day is a drink consisting of water, maple syrup, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper. Now, we weren't doing this to lose weight, just to cleanse our bodies of toxins. I drank the tea the first night, which was the most HEINOUS tasting drink I've ever tasted, and after 3 hours I realized that I can't go without eating... and I was out.
It is now day 3 and Lauren, Trina, and Steph are all still going. They all crave food, and some of them are thinking about dropping out... but they're still going. Crazy people.
Lauren, Trina, Stephanie and I decided on Tuesday to do the "Master Cleanse." Basically this consists of drinking the most awful digestion tea at night, a quart of salt water in the morning which immediately makes you have to have a BM, and then the only thing you can have during the day is a drink consisting of water, maple syrup, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper. Now, we weren't doing this to lose weight, just to cleanse our bodies of toxins. I drank the tea the first night, which was the most HEINOUS tasting drink I've ever tasted, and after 3 hours I realized that I can't go without eating... and I was out.
It is now day 3 and Lauren, Trina, and Steph are all still going. They all crave food, and some of them are thinking about dropping out... but they're still going. Crazy people.
The Latest
I figure an update is in order... and I'm waiting at the internet cafe for the last episode of The Office to finish downloading and I need something to do. This week was slightly more labor intensive, school wise. I have a group project coming up in my mental health class next week. I've been gathering information and putting my powerpoint together... shouldn't be too bad.
We are nearing the end of the semester, actually. Next week is our last week of class, then we have two weeks of clinical, then two weeks of finals, and then I'm on a plane home on June 29th. It's going to rush up so fast. I'm excited for class to be done, but slightly nervous for clinical. Lauren and I will be going to a TINY town (pop. 1000) called Mitchell for our clinical placement. It is 6 hours west of Toowoomba and is called "The Gateway to the Outback." At first we thought we were going to see absolutely NOTHING that involved nursing. However, everyone we have talked to said that because it is such a small facility, we will be involved with almost every patient that comes in. Instead of being in just a certain ward, we'll see everything. I've been getting more excited. I do still have to get my uniform though... so many things to do.
This weekend I will be traveling by myself to Cairns to scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef for two days, thanks to Dad! I fly out of Brisbane tomorrow and will be diving on Saturday and Sunday, then coming home Monday. I'm incredibly excited... but this will the first time I've been alone since I've been in Australia. Hopefully I'll meet some cool people though. Trina and some of our friends drove to Cairns over Easter break and they loved it. Needless to say there will be HEAPS of pictures to upload once I am back.
I don't know if it's been in the news at home or not... but there has been some TERRIBLE flooding in SE Queensland. It poured constantly on Tuesday and Wednesday. I think we have maybe seen 5 passing showers up until now this semester. It was very hard to get up for 8am classes when it was pouring with winds up to 50kmh. Being that Toowoomba is 400-500m above Brisbane, we have not had any flooding. But the rain is so incredibly necessary. Toowoomba's water reservoirs were at 9% before the storm. I'm not sure what they'll be up to now, but I imagine it raised a bit. On Tuesday the Gold Coast received 250mm of rain... basically like 8 inches. In ONE day. That is 1/3 of their annual rainfall. The reservoirs in Brisbane went from around 16% to 70-100%. It's amazing how much rain there was. I was reading online and apparently the reservoirs haven't seen anything near those levels since 2002. I also heard that Brisbane hasn't seen flooding this bad since the flood of 74. This might not have meant anything to me a week ago, but while I was in Brisbane I saw a marker of the water level and it was easily 6' high... and that was at a point that was probably 30' above the height of the river. It's so weird to think that I was just there on Monday and that the next day buildings and cars were all flooded. That's mother nature for you, I guess.
I called Greyhound [No TT-Coaches this time for me!! :)] and they said that there weren't any delays today from the flooding, and if the rain holds off tonight service should be good tomorrow. So I'm hoping it doesn't rain tonight because I only have about 2.5hrs from the time I get into Brisbane until my flight takes off.
I think that's about it for now... not much else to report on. I would like to send a big Congratulations to Ben and Liz for finally getting engaged! It's about time!
Hope all is well at home!
Miss you all!
We are nearing the end of the semester, actually. Next week is our last week of class, then we have two weeks of clinical, then two weeks of finals, and then I'm on a plane home on June 29th. It's going to rush up so fast. I'm excited for class to be done, but slightly nervous for clinical. Lauren and I will be going to a TINY town (pop. 1000) called Mitchell for our clinical placement. It is 6 hours west of Toowoomba and is called "The Gateway to the Outback." At first we thought we were going to see absolutely NOTHING that involved nursing. However, everyone we have talked to said that because it is such a small facility, we will be involved with almost every patient that comes in. Instead of being in just a certain ward, we'll see everything. I've been getting more excited. I do still have to get my uniform though... so many things to do.
This weekend I will be traveling by myself to Cairns to scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef for two days, thanks to Dad! I fly out of Brisbane tomorrow and will be diving on Saturday and Sunday, then coming home Monday. I'm incredibly excited... but this will the first time I've been alone since I've been in Australia. Hopefully I'll meet some cool people though. Trina and some of our friends drove to Cairns over Easter break and they loved it. Needless to say there will be HEAPS of pictures to upload once I am back.
I don't know if it's been in the news at home or not... but there has been some TERRIBLE flooding in SE Queensland. It poured constantly on Tuesday and Wednesday. I think we have maybe seen 5 passing showers up until now this semester. It was very hard to get up for 8am classes when it was pouring with winds up to 50kmh. Being that Toowoomba is 400-500m above Brisbane, we have not had any flooding. But the rain is so incredibly necessary. Toowoomba's water reservoirs were at 9% before the storm. I'm not sure what they'll be up to now, but I imagine it raised a bit. On Tuesday the Gold Coast received 250mm of rain... basically like 8 inches. In ONE day. That is 1/3 of their annual rainfall. The reservoirs in Brisbane went from around 16% to 70-100%. It's amazing how much rain there was. I was reading online and apparently the reservoirs haven't seen anything near those levels since 2002. I also heard that Brisbane hasn't seen flooding this bad since the flood of 74. This might not have meant anything to me a week ago, but while I was in Brisbane I saw a marker of the water level and it was easily 6' high... and that was at a point that was probably 30' above the height of the river. It's so weird to think that I was just there on Monday and that the next day buildings and cars were all flooded. That's mother nature for you, I guess.
I called Greyhound [No TT-Coaches this time for me!! :)] and they said that there weren't any delays today from the flooding, and if the rain holds off tonight service should be good tomorrow. So I'm hoping it doesn't rain tonight because I only have about 2.5hrs from the time I get into Brisbane until my flight takes off.
I think that's about it for now... not much else to report on. I would like to send a big Congratulations to Ben and Liz for finally getting engaged! It's about time!
Hope all is well at home!
Miss you all!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Brizzy
It's a rainy day in Toowoomba... so I'm sitting in front of the heater in the living room and using my down time to catch up on the blog! This last weekend, Lauren, Trina, and I took off on the Toowoomba Transit for a nice relaxing weekend outside of Toowoomba and into Brisbane. Originally, we had planned to rent a 4WD and drive around Fraser Island for the weekend, but we didn't book in time. After spending just a short afternoon in Brisbane the weekend before, we decided to go for a whole weekend.
We arrived on Friday afternoon and it was so nice to be there. Brisbane is much warmer than Toowoomba, there are TONS of people, and it is just a much more interesting place. After checking in to our hostel I went to a place, as recommended to me the weekend prior, to get my hair cut. The last time I got it cut was the week before I left the US. It was time. I was nervous to get it cut in Australia because Crystal does such a good job at home. I also refused to get it cut in Toowoomba because I knew I would end up with a rat-tail or a mullet. I am not exaggerating when I say that 70% of the males here have rat-tails or mullets. 70%. So Brisbane it was. The cut actually looks pretty good. It's short, which is a nice change.
After that we walked around Brisbane and headed across the river to the south bank where we perused a craft fair, went to a delicious Italian restaurant, had some ice cream, and then went out. We had some suggestions for a few clubs to go to. We, of course, forgot said list at home. We roamed the streets of the club district, "The Valley," trying to recall from memory some of the suggested places. When we got home we realized that we saw most of them, and actually made it to a few of them.
On Saturday we decided to go to the Lone Pine Koala sanctuary, which is the first in the world. We took the bus out of Brisbane, for a mere $2.60 return - gotta love that student rate, to the sanctuary. I think the two main highlights there were the kangaroos and the koalas. They have a massive Kangaroo park... acres and acres of kangaroo and wallaby habitat. Now, the sanctuary is around 70 years old, so all of the animals there have been bred in captivity and are incredibly friendly. I pet SOOO many kangaroos and probably could have reached out and touched a joey poking his head out of his mom's pouch. I have some great photos! They'll be uploaded soon. What I found to be the most interesting was that they use their tails for balance, and they are almost solid muscle. I felt the tail on one of the biggest males, and it was rock solid. When threatened, they can lean back and balance on their tail and kick their opponent their there wicked-muscly hind legs. These legs have one HUGE claw in the middle, that can puncture important organs of their attackers. Also, one of the biggest species of kangaroos can jump as high as 4 meters... which is around 15 feet. After we had our fill of kangaroos and joeys, we made our way to the different koala exhibits. There were old ones, young ones, just males, just females, and the coolest one was of course: moms with babies. Watching that mom sit in the eucalyptus tree and having her little baby crawl all over her and in and out of her pouch was maybe the cutest thing I've ever seen. We stayed there forever watching them, and the baby was staring right back at us. After that we made our way to the "hold a koala" area. We clearly couldn't leave the sanctuary without holding a koala. Now, this obviously isn't free. In order to do so, you had to purchase one of the 10 photo packages they offered. The cheapest of which being $15. I opted for the $25 selection which came with a 6X8 photo of me holding the koala as well as 8 postcards of the same. All of the money goes towards the koalas, so it was a justified purchase. The koala was so much heavier than I would have anticipated, and his fur felt almost like a scratchy wool blanked. We all took our turns having the little guy, Goblin, lay on our chest as we smiled/posed away for pictures. All in all it was a great day! I would have hated leaving Australia and saying I hadn't seen a koala! You can see my picture here for 60 days: http://photo.koala.net/1605029504.htm
As it was nearing sunset we hopped back onto the bus and made our way back to Brisbane. We again walked to South Bank and had a terrific dinner at a Thai/Malaysian place. The food was absolutely delicious. What we've kind of realized about most restaurants here though is that because there isn't any tipping, the waitstaff kind of serve every table. At the Italian place I think we had 3 different people serving us. At the Thai place they were a little bit more enthusiastic. At last count we had 5 different people offer to take our drink order... within 5 minutes of sitting down. It was comical. Also, it may have been THE fastest meal preparation I've ever seen at a restaurant. I ordered a drink and my meal at the same time... the drink came in 6 minutes... 2 minutes after my main course. That night Lauren and I went back to the Valley, while Trina went to bed early. Lucky her.
Lauren and I came back around 2am... only to be woken up by Trina at 5:30am screaming at us, asking if that alarm noise from the hall was a fire alarm. I was still slightly foggy and was very confused... but after smelling smoke and seeing people in the other rooms across the courtyard in the middle of the hostel getting up and moving, we decided that it was indeed a fire alarm. We got dressed, I grabbed my most important/valuable possessions and we started making our way towards the hall. However, when we got there, the staff came on the PA system and told us that it was a false alarm and there was no need to leave the hostel. We were all very relieved, yet still confused as there was no doubt that we were smelling smoke. No less than 3 minutes after I had climbed BACK into bed... we were told that "yes, you do need to leave the hostel." Clearly the fire department had a bit more intellect than those running the front desk. So all 400 people staying in the hostel that night filed out onto the surrounding street corners while we watched the sunrise, griped about the confusion, and waited for the go-ahead from the FD. It was interesting to say the least.
On Sunday we had heard about a free concert series that happens every Sunday with local indie bands. We hopped onto the city cat ferry and rode it up the river to the venue, an old powerhouse... it was a wicked cool place. The band that played was called Skinny Jean. They were a funky group, but we liked their music. As we were walking back down the river towards the ferry stop we saw the ferry racing down the river towards the stop. We had to do it - we started running. Now, we weren't just running... we were running in front of this massive park where, I think, nearly half of Brisbane was pick-nicking for the afternoon. The cheers, whoops, and hollers only made me run faster, I think. We made the ferry. Obviously. We spent the rest of Sunday enjoying various shops, cafes, and we also walked all through the botanical gardens. They were nothing like those in Sydney, but it was still nice to walk through the grass and see some flowers.
Sunday night we decided to be lazy and get cozy at the movie theater for... TWO MOVIES! We started with "Fast and the Furious 4." It was alright, but it wasn't great. After that though, we saw "The Boat That Rocked." It was amazing. Such an interesting and funny movie. If it's playing at home... go see it. Trust me, it's a good one.
Monday was pretty laid back. We went to the immigration office and had our physical Visas stamped into our passports for a memento (since ours are electronic.) After that we just did more shopping and eating before we had to get back on the Toowoomba Transit to head back up the range. It was a great weekend, and I think Brisbane is one of my favorite cities of all time. It is so laid back, the people are nice, there is an intense artistic feel to it, and we haven't been disappointed with the food yet.
Hope all is well at home!
Miss you all!
We arrived on Friday afternoon and it was so nice to be there. Brisbane is much warmer than Toowoomba, there are TONS of people, and it is just a much more interesting place. After checking in to our hostel I went to a place, as recommended to me the weekend prior, to get my hair cut. The last time I got it cut was the week before I left the US. It was time. I was nervous to get it cut in Australia because Crystal does such a good job at home. I also refused to get it cut in Toowoomba because I knew I would end up with a rat-tail or a mullet. I am not exaggerating when I say that 70% of the males here have rat-tails or mullets. 70%. So Brisbane it was. The cut actually looks pretty good. It's short, which is a nice change.
After that we walked around Brisbane and headed across the river to the south bank where we perused a craft fair, went to a delicious Italian restaurant, had some ice cream, and then went out. We had some suggestions for a few clubs to go to. We, of course, forgot said list at home. We roamed the streets of the club district, "The Valley," trying to recall from memory some of the suggested places. When we got home we realized that we saw most of them, and actually made it to a few of them.
On Saturday we decided to go to the Lone Pine Koala sanctuary, which is the first in the world. We took the bus out of Brisbane, for a mere $2.60 return - gotta love that student rate, to the sanctuary. I think the two main highlights there were the kangaroos and the koalas. They have a massive Kangaroo park... acres and acres of kangaroo and wallaby habitat. Now, the sanctuary is around 70 years old, so all of the animals there have been bred in captivity and are incredibly friendly. I pet SOOO many kangaroos and probably could have reached out and touched a joey poking his head out of his mom's pouch. I have some great photos! They'll be uploaded soon. What I found to be the most interesting was that they use their tails for balance, and they are almost solid muscle. I felt the tail on one of the biggest males, and it was rock solid. When threatened, they can lean back and balance on their tail and kick their opponent their there wicked-muscly hind legs. These legs have one HUGE claw in the middle, that can puncture important organs of their attackers. Also, one of the biggest species of kangaroos can jump as high as 4 meters... which is around 15 feet. After we had our fill of kangaroos and joeys, we made our way to the different koala exhibits. There were old ones, young ones, just males, just females, and the coolest one was of course: moms with babies. Watching that mom sit in the eucalyptus tree and having her little baby crawl all over her and in and out of her pouch was maybe the cutest thing I've ever seen. We stayed there forever watching them, and the baby was staring right back at us. After that we made our way to the "hold a koala" area. We clearly couldn't leave the sanctuary without holding a koala. Now, this obviously isn't free. In order to do so, you had to purchase one of the 10 photo packages they offered. The cheapest of which being $15. I opted for the $25 selection which came with a 6X8 photo of me holding the koala as well as 8 postcards of the same. All of the money goes towards the koalas, so it was a justified purchase. The koala was so much heavier than I would have anticipated, and his fur felt almost like a scratchy wool blanked. We all took our turns having the little guy, Goblin, lay on our chest as we smiled/posed away for pictures. All in all it was a great day! I would have hated leaving Australia and saying I hadn't seen a koala! You can see my picture here for 60 days: http://photo.koala.net/1605029504.htm
As it was nearing sunset we hopped back onto the bus and made our way back to Brisbane. We again walked to South Bank and had a terrific dinner at a Thai/Malaysian place. The food was absolutely delicious. What we've kind of realized about most restaurants here though is that because there isn't any tipping, the waitstaff kind of serve every table. At the Italian place I think we had 3 different people serving us. At the Thai place they were a little bit more enthusiastic. At last count we had 5 different people offer to take our drink order... within 5 minutes of sitting down. It was comical. Also, it may have been THE fastest meal preparation I've ever seen at a restaurant. I ordered a drink and my meal at the same time... the drink came in 6 minutes... 2 minutes after my main course. That night Lauren and I went back to the Valley, while Trina went to bed early. Lucky her.
Lauren and I came back around 2am... only to be woken up by Trina at 5:30am screaming at us, asking if that alarm noise from the hall was a fire alarm. I was still slightly foggy and was very confused... but after smelling smoke and seeing people in the other rooms across the courtyard in the middle of the hostel getting up and moving, we decided that it was indeed a fire alarm. We got dressed, I grabbed my most important/valuable possessions and we started making our way towards the hall. However, when we got there, the staff came on the PA system and told us that it was a false alarm and there was no need to leave the hostel. We were all very relieved, yet still confused as there was no doubt that we were smelling smoke. No less than 3 minutes after I had climbed BACK into bed... we were told that "yes, you do need to leave the hostel." Clearly the fire department had a bit more intellect than those running the front desk. So all 400 people staying in the hostel that night filed out onto the surrounding street corners while we watched the sunrise, griped about the confusion, and waited for the go-ahead from the FD. It was interesting to say the least.
On Sunday we had heard about a free concert series that happens every Sunday with local indie bands. We hopped onto the city cat ferry and rode it up the river to the venue, an old powerhouse... it was a wicked cool place. The band that played was called Skinny Jean. They were a funky group, but we liked their music. As we were walking back down the river towards the ferry stop we saw the ferry racing down the river towards the stop. We had to do it - we started running. Now, we weren't just running... we were running in front of this massive park where, I think, nearly half of Brisbane was pick-nicking for the afternoon. The cheers, whoops, and hollers only made me run faster, I think. We made the ferry. Obviously. We spent the rest of Sunday enjoying various shops, cafes, and we also walked all through the botanical gardens. They were nothing like those in Sydney, but it was still nice to walk through the grass and see some flowers.
Sunday night we decided to be lazy and get cozy at the movie theater for... TWO MOVIES! We started with "Fast and the Furious 4." It was alright, but it wasn't great. After that though, we saw "The Boat That Rocked." It was amazing. Such an interesting and funny movie. If it's playing at home... go see it. Trust me, it's a good one.
Monday was pretty laid back. We went to the immigration office and had our physical Visas stamped into our passports for a memento (since ours are electronic.) After that we just did more shopping and eating before we had to get back on the Toowoomba Transit to head back up the range. It was a great weekend, and I think Brisbane is one of my favorite cities of all time. It is so laid back, the people are nice, there is an intense artistic feel to it, and we haven't been disappointed with the food yet.
Hope all is well at home!
Miss you all!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Bunya Mountains and a Broncos Game
Last weekend we all rented an 8-seater van, and decided to have a few days of touring around Toowoomba. On Saturday morning we packed our lunches, put on our sneakers, grabbed our books, and made the 1.5hour drive to the Bunya Mountains. The Bunyas are located north-west of Toowoomba, and rise to an elevation of around 1300meters (Toowoomba is at 700.) Basically they are these steep mountains that raise up from the brown fields of the Darling Downs area. Essentially, they were like green islands growing out of the desolate land. The lush green grass and tall trees of all sorts were nothing like we had seen before around Toowoomba. We have grass here... but it's like grass at home that hasn't seen rain in a long time... kind of burned.
The plan was to do some hiking through the mountains. There are heaps of trails around the Bunyas, named for the tall Bunya Pine trees that make up the bulk of the trees there. These pines have pine-cones the size of soccer balls. There actually are warnings not to stand under the trees between December and April when they are falling.
As we were driving into the park we saw our first evidence of Australian wildlife... WALLABIES! Basically, wallabies and kangaroos are the same thing. The only difference is their height, kangaroos being taller. As a few of us chased a few around the grounds with our cameras, the others planned the hike we would be doing. After the wallabies retreated back into the woods, I laid down in the THICKEST most LUSH bit of grass I'd seen in a long time. It was quite hard getting up. Especially go go hiking.
The first hike we did meandered throughout the forest providing a few views towards the west as well as loads of informational signs on the trees, the wildlife, and the mountains. I think all in all we did 4km on this hike. We came back to the park and ate our lunch before driving further up the mountains to do another hike, which would bring us to the highest point in the mountains. We planned it perfectly, and we were able to watch the entire sunset from the summit. It was so beautiful. The sky went from a beautiful light blue, to yellow, to orange, and finally to the a deep red. It was gorgeous! We made it back down to the car just as it was getting really dark.
The drive home proved to be very tricky as the wallabies had all decided to come out to graze near the roadside. Now wallabies and much like deer, in the sense that they are (and Kep would agree with me on this one).... STUPID. Every wallaby, and I mean EVERY wallaby, would jump into the middle of the road when they saw our car coming... without fail. So a 1.5hour drive turned into 2 hours and 15 minutes... which was fine. I'd rather go 40kmh then hit one of those guys. The road to the mountains was also very interesting. Parts were only half-paved. This means that they paved directly down the middle of the road, and the other half (a 1/4 on each side of the paved bit) was left as dirt. The locals in their big off-roading-SUVs didn't seem to mind nearly throwing their vehicles into the ditch at 80kmh, but our Toyota van wouldn't have held up so well. We made it home safely though. :)
On Sunday we all piled in the van again, and drove to Brisbane for a Rugby game (not Aussie rules.) We were cheering for the Brisbane Broncos, and because this was like the rugby we have in the US, we actually kind of knew what was happening. Sadly, the Broncos lost the game... but it was incredibly close near the end. Regardless, it was nice to spend the day everyone in the afternoon sun, eating greasy food, enjoying a beer, and watching the game. We did a little walking around Brisbane... bopped into a few shops, and then called it a night and drove home. It was a great day, and it made me remember how much I liked Brisbane the first time we went. I think it may be my favorite city in Australia. Brisbane or Sydney... it's a close tie for 1st.
The plan was to do some hiking through the mountains. There are heaps of trails around the Bunyas, named for the tall Bunya Pine trees that make up the bulk of the trees there. These pines have pine-cones the size of soccer balls. There actually are warnings not to stand under the trees between December and April when they are falling.
As we were driving into the park we saw our first evidence of Australian wildlife... WALLABIES! Basically, wallabies and kangaroos are the same thing. The only difference is their height, kangaroos being taller. As a few of us chased a few around the grounds with our cameras, the others planned the hike we would be doing. After the wallabies retreated back into the woods, I laid down in the THICKEST most LUSH bit of grass I'd seen in a long time. It was quite hard getting up. Especially go go hiking.
The first hike we did meandered throughout the forest providing a few views towards the west as well as loads of informational signs on the trees, the wildlife, and the mountains. I think all in all we did 4km on this hike. We came back to the park and ate our lunch before driving further up the mountains to do another hike, which would bring us to the highest point in the mountains. We planned it perfectly, and we were able to watch the entire sunset from the summit. It was so beautiful. The sky went from a beautiful light blue, to yellow, to orange, and finally to the a deep red. It was gorgeous! We made it back down to the car just as it was getting really dark.
The drive home proved to be very tricky as the wallabies had all decided to come out to graze near the roadside. Now wallabies and much like deer, in the sense that they are (and Kep would agree with me on this one).... STUPID. Every wallaby, and I mean EVERY wallaby, would jump into the middle of the road when they saw our car coming... without fail. So a 1.5hour drive turned into 2 hours and 15 minutes... which was fine. I'd rather go 40kmh then hit one of those guys. The road to the mountains was also very interesting. Parts were only half-paved. This means that they paved directly down the middle of the road, and the other half (a 1/4 on each side of the paved bit) was left as dirt. The locals in their big off-roading-SUVs didn't seem to mind nearly throwing their vehicles into the ditch at 80kmh, but our Toyota van wouldn't have held up so well. We made it home safely though. :)
On Sunday we all piled in the van again, and drove to Brisbane for a Rugby game (not Aussie rules.) We were cheering for the Brisbane Broncos, and because this was like the rugby we have in the US, we actually kind of knew what was happening. Sadly, the Broncos lost the game... but it was incredibly close near the end. Regardless, it was nice to spend the day everyone in the afternoon sun, eating greasy food, enjoying a beer, and watching the game. We did a little walking around Brisbane... bopped into a few shops, and then called it a night and drove home. It was a great day, and it made me remember how much I liked Brisbane the first time we went. I think it may be my favorite city in Australia. Brisbane or Sydney... it's a close tie for 1st.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Melbourne
Sorry this has taken so long!!!
For my Birthday weekend, Lauren, Alex, Stephanie, Steffen, and I all decided to head to Melbourne for the weekend. It had been a few weeks since we had come back from New Zealand, and it was clearly time to be away from Toowoomba. The travel was a little hectic: Toowoomba city bus, Toowoomba transit, goldcoast train, taxi, plane, bus, walk to the hostel in Melbourne. The way home was very similar. Basically two 10 hour travel days.
Our hostel in Melbourne was very.... eclectic, and not terribly clean. The only reason we stayed there was because it was basically free. Their website said online that for three of those four nights we were staying the rate was only $.01. Now, this shocked many of us, so we even called to check before we booked. We were told that this was indeed the correct price. However, when we arrived to the hostel with our booking confirmations, we were clearly told that this rate was a mistake. I did manage to negotiate the rate... and we were given the $.01/night rate. There is a common phrase however, and I believe it is: you get what you pay for. And we did.
The slats holding my mattress up rarely liked to actually hold my mattress up, and the slightest move of the mattress sent me flying to the ground. This ended up providing for a fair bit of comic relief. They also offered us free breakfast every morning: white bread, butter, and jelly. But it was free, and that's all that really matters.
We arrived late Thursday night, climbed into bed (and fell), and got ready to enjoy Friday. We spent Friday walking all around the city. We ate tons of food, rode the tram around the city, went to a MASSIVE outdoor market selling crafts, cheap things, and tons of food. After we had walked more than our little feet could believe, we decided to go and watch a Rugby game (Australian rules.) Now, this may be the most confusing sport I have ever watched. It was a cross between NFL and soccer... but it took us most of the game, and heaps of questions to the people sitting around us, to kind of, almost, slightly know what was going on at the end. The team we decided to cheer for, the Collingwood Magpies (GO PIES!), ended up winning in the end, so all was well. At this point, it was about 11:00pm and almost my birthday, so we went to the nearest pub so I could have my first drink as a 21 year old. We all had a round of Jager, and then walked further out of the city to an area called Fitzroy where there are lots of pubs. We found one that was having 90s night, and we danced the night away to the sounds of yester-year.
On my Birthday we slept in a bit. The first thing we did was go to Melbourne 360, which is basically one of the tallest buildings in Melbourne, and you can go to the observation deck on the top. It was neat to see the city from so high, and the weather was beautiful that day. After that we went to the outlet mall... which was pretty pathetic actually, then we walked around town more and walked down along the river. All of these events were interspersed with various eateries: Krispy Kreme for breakfast, Greek for lunch, and BBNT which was an amazing fast-foodish Mexican place. Later that night, before we went out, we went to the casino to try our luck. I went in with $10, and I think I lost it all... but I was up $6 at some point. After the casino we went to a club for a few hours and danced. I had blisters the next morning.
Sunday was a day of rest. I think I slept until noon. After that we did a bit more shopping at the mall and then I came home to take a nap. That afternoon everyone but Alex went to see Wicked the musical! It was amazing! I hadn't seen it in a few years (I saw it in London freshman year) and it was nice to see it again, especially after I knew the music better. Once we got out, we went to BBNT for some more Mexican food and then went to the casino again. I did much better this time. I started with $15... I lost 10 at roulette and then won that back, as well as my 10 from the night before playing some weird $1 matching table game. I saved some chips as a memento. We called it a night soon after, as we had a long travel day on Monday.
All in all it was a great weekend! Melbourne is much like Sydney and Brisbane. An incredibly clean, and young city. It was crammed full of art all over the place, and may be one of the most cultured cities I've been to. I would go back in a heartbeat. It's one of my favorite places we went to. Check out the pictures!
Hope all is well!
Miss you all!!
For my Birthday weekend, Lauren, Alex, Stephanie, Steffen, and I all decided to head to Melbourne for the weekend. It had been a few weeks since we had come back from New Zealand, and it was clearly time to be away from Toowoomba. The travel was a little hectic: Toowoomba city bus, Toowoomba transit, goldcoast train, taxi, plane, bus, walk to the hostel in Melbourne. The way home was very similar. Basically two 10 hour travel days.
Our hostel in Melbourne was very.... eclectic, and not terribly clean. The only reason we stayed there was because it was basically free. Their website said online that for three of those four nights we were staying the rate was only $.01. Now, this shocked many of us, so we even called to check before we booked. We were told that this was indeed the correct price. However, when we arrived to the hostel with our booking confirmations, we were clearly told that this rate was a mistake. I did manage to negotiate the rate... and we were given the $.01/night rate. There is a common phrase however, and I believe it is: you get what you pay for. And we did.
The slats holding my mattress up rarely liked to actually hold my mattress up, and the slightest move of the mattress sent me flying to the ground. This ended up providing for a fair bit of comic relief. They also offered us free breakfast every morning: white bread, butter, and jelly. But it was free, and that's all that really matters.
We arrived late Thursday night, climbed into bed (and fell), and got ready to enjoy Friday. We spent Friday walking all around the city. We ate tons of food, rode the tram around the city, went to a MASSIVE outdoor market selling crafts, cheap things, and tons of food. After we had walked more than our little feet could believe, we decided to go and watch a Rugby game (Australian rules.) Now, this may be the most confusing sport I have ever watched. It was a cross between NFL and soccer... but it took us most of the game, and heaps of questions to the people sitting around us, to kind of, almost, slightly know what was going on at the end. The team we decided to cheer for, the Collingwood Magpies (GO PIES!), ended up winning in the end, so all was well. At this point, it was about 11:00pm and almost my birthday, so we went to the nearest pub so I could have my first drink as a 21 year old. We all had a round of Jager, and then walked further out of the city to an area called Fitzroy where there are lots of pubs. We found one that was having 90s night, and we danced the night away to the sounds of yester-year.
On my Birthday we slept in a bit. The first thing we did was go to Melbourne 360, which is basically one of the tallest buildings in Melbourne, and you can go to the observation deck on the top. It was neat to see the city from so high, and the weather was beautiful that day. After that we went to the outlet mall... which was pretty pathetic actually, then we walked around town more and walked down along the river. All of these events were interspersed with various eateries: Krispy Kreme for breakfast, Greek for lunch, and BBNT which was an amazing fast-foodish Mexican place. Later that night, before we went out, we went to the casino to try our luck. I went in with $10, and I think I lost it all... but I was up $6 at some point. After the casino we went to a club for a few hours and danced. I had blisters the next morning.
Sunday was a day of rest. I think I slept until noon. After that we did a bit more shopping at the mall and then I came home to take a nap. That afternoon everyone but Alex went to see Wicked the musical! It was amazing! I hadn't seen it in a few years (I saw it in London freshman year) and it was nice to see it again, especially after I knew the music better. Once we got out, we went to BBNT for some more Mexican food and then went to the casino again. I did much better this time. I started with $15... I lost 10 at roulette and then won that back, as well as my 10 from the night before playing some weird $1 matching table game. I saved some chips as a memento. We called it a night soon after, as we had a long travel day on Monday.
All in all it was a great weekend! Melbourne is much like Sydney and Brisbane. An incredibly clean, and young city. It was crammed full of art all over the place, and may be one of the most cultured cities I've been to. I would go back in a heartbeat. It's one of my favorite places we went to. Check out the pictures!
Hope all is well!
Miss you all!!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
A Million Thanks!
I would like to devote this post to you. To everyone who was kind enough to think of me on my Birthday. The letters, cards, and emails that poured in around my Birthday made my time so much better! It was so wonderful to get a brief update on everyone's lives back home, as well as to know that people were thinking of me. I had one of the best 21st Birthdays ever, and it was because of the love and caring that was sent to me. I appreciate it, and you all, so incredibly much!
Thank you SOOO much to:
- Denise and Rich
- Mickey Morehouse
- The Kims
- The Cahills
- Mary Jeanne
- Cousin Janice
- Bobbi Lensing
- Bill and Joanne
- The Hughes
- Tricia Cook
- Melissa, Clif, and Anna
- The Heitchues
- Grandma
- Memere and Pepere
- The Valatie Reeves
- Larry and Ellen
- Barb Smith
- Kim Smith
- Kay
- The Seymours
- The Judges
- George and Kelly
- M'Oncle Claude and M'Tante Annette
- Cousin Steve
- M'Oncle Alphie and M'Tante Stella
- Cousin Dick
- M'Tante Helen
Also a massive thanks to Mom and Dad for their great Birthday thoughts, gifts, and love while I'm away!!
Hope all is well at home!
Miss you all!
Thank you SOOO much to:
- Denise and Rich
- Mickey Morehouse
- The Kims
- The Cahills
- Mary Jeanne
- Cousin Janice
- Bobbi Lensing
- Bill and Joanne
- The Hughes
- Tricia Cook
- Melissa, Clif, and Anna
- The Heitchues
- Grandma
- Memere and Pepere
- The Valatie Reeves
- Larry and Ellen
- Barb Smith
- Kim Smith
- Kay
- The Seymours
- The Judges
- George and Kelly
- M'Oncle Claude and M'Tante Annette
- Cousin Steve
- M'Oncle Alphie and M'Tante Stella
- Cousin Dick
- M'Tante Helen
Also a massive thanks to Mom and Dad for their great Birthday thoughts, gifts, and love while I'm away!!
Hope all is well at home!
Miss you all!
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