Free Falling :)

On Friday May 28th I went skydiving for the first time!! My time was scheduled for 12:00, so I headed with my support group (Amy, Jason, Heather, and Tarrah) to Stuart Park in Wollongong. The jumps were running a bit late, so I didn't end up leaving for about an hour. Right before we left, I got geared up in a full-body blue and yellow outfit and got strapped into my harness. We then had a briefing session where we were taught how to "fall" out of the plane properly. The correct form was to put your head back, cross you arms, and arch your back like a banana. After a couple practices on land we hopped in the bus to the airport. The bus ride took about 15mins to the Wollongong airport.

Once at the plane we all piled in. There were 7 of us skydiving and we each had our own guide. I had a woman who was half the size of me...ahh! So all 14 of us crammed into this really tiny plane. I sat in front of my woman, and another guide sat in front of me, practically in my lap. We pulled out onto the runway and took off. We were in the plane for about 10-15mins as we made our way to 14,000ft! The views were amazing! I saw a large part of the southern coast line, Lake Illawarra, and even a couple of the islands that I can see from my apartment.

When we finally made it to 14,000ft the door of the plane was opened. I was the 5th person to jump out of the plane so I got to watch a bunch of people first. When it was my turn, my guide and I skooched to the edge of the plane. My legs were hanging out of the plane being blown in the wind. I crossed my arms and put my head back, and all of a sudden I was falling out of the sky! We dropped 9,000ft in 60secs, it was wild! At first I was screaming, and then began cheering. It was an amazing feeling only soaring through the sky! Once she pulled the shoot the ride was much slower. She loosened up some of my harness to make it more comfortable and gave me the chance to steer. It made me a bit dizzy so we only did a couple of turns. I was the last one left in the air because we were the lightest group. I liked it that way because I got the most time in the air. The sights were BEAUTIFUL!!

To land I had to grab beneath my knees and hold my legs out straight. We came in pretty fast and landed on our butts. Thankfully, the grass was nice and soft! I am so happy that I went sky diving. It was an amazing expereince and is something that everyone should do!

Cabbage, Bulli, Kitchen Sink

Thursday night we all took it easy because we had a wild Weds night. On Friday Amy, Jason and I went to Cabbage for the first time. It was an interesting mix of old people an uni students. There was a back room where everyone was dancing, which was pretty fun. Amy left part way through the night to go to the beach. Jason and I met up with her on the side of the road, to begin our walk back to the apartment. We had already made it to innovation campus when Amy realized that she had lost her wristlet on the beach. So, the 3 of us end up running all the way back to fairy meadow beach. It must have looked like Jason and I were chasing after her because she was a fair distance ahead. We made it the the beach and she couldn't remember which entrance she had gone through. So, we picked one and began searching the sand using the lights from our cell phones. Amazingly, Amy found her wristlet! During this whole process Amy somehow took a chunk out of her big toe. She now had a bloody, sandy toe that looked like cherry fun-dip. Jason gave her a piggy back ride, back to the main street where we caught a taxi. Once back at the apartment I sat with Amy in the bathroom as we attempted to clean the sand out of her wound..yuck! When her toe was clean we decided to mess with Jason and take all his pillows and comforters and hide them from him. We hide them in Kelly and Katie's room and then once he found them, we re-hid them on the balcony outside our room. So funny!

Saturday Amy and I wanted to do something outside because it was nice out. We looked at the train schedule online and chose a random town to go to . We picked Bulli, hopped on the train, and checked out the town. Once there we walked to the beach and had a picnic beachside. It was really fun and we both got some sun on our faces! That night we went out to Hotel Illawarra and had a blast dancing until super late. Tim came and ended up buying us a bunch of drinks. One was very yummy (Vodka Lemon-Lime Bitter)! I stayed till about 2 and Jason and Amy stayed out until 4!

On Sunday we all went to the Dragon's last home game. We went there early and got Chicko's for lunch. I got Chicken nuggets and chips yumm! The game was fun, I don't really understand footy so I just payed more attention to what the players looked like. They all wear super short shorts, and are really muscular!! After the game Amy, Jason, Des, and I went to Crust to get pizza for dinner. We ended up hanging out there for awhile while we waited for Heather and Tim to show up. The six of us went to the Ice Creamery and ordered the Kitchen Sink. It was a massive ice cream sundae with 16 scoops of ice cream and 8 different flavors. It was served in a kitchen sink! We finished the whole thing in probably less than 20minutes. It was awesome!

What another great weekend!

PJ party, Garie Beach

On Friday May 14th Amy and I went for a run. This was my second run of the semester aka I am really out of shape. At night Heather and her friend Amy came over and we made dirt pudding. Australia doesn't sell cool whip so we had to use whip cream. It still came out really well and it was super yummy!

On Friday May 15th we had a PJ party at the penthouse. Amy, Jason and I had bought pajamas at a second hand shop for $4. Mine were pink with puppies all over them and Amy's were white with multi-colored polka dots. Jason bought a robe so he could be like Hugh Hefner. We put 5 mattresses up in our living room so that people could hang out on them. A bunch of people showed up and we had a great time.

On Sunday Jason, Amy, Heather, Tim and I went to Garie beach which is located about 30-45min north of Wollongong. Tim forgot to mention that there was a mountain on the beach that we were going to climb so we had on the wrong footwear. One our climb Amy stubbed her toe and took a big gash out of the big toe. She was bleeding all over, but we had nothing to clean it, or bandage it with so just walked around for the rest of the trip with a bloody flip-flop (thong) and foot. The hike was a bit more than I thought it would be, but we all made it to the top. It was a gorgeous view from the top (we could see all the way to Sydney)!

Beach Walk, Ice Bar, Camping!!

Friday May 7th Amy, Jason and I headed up to Bondi Junction. Our plan for the day was to do the beach walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach. The walk/weather was beautiful! It was more hilly than I thought it was going to be, but good for the ole’ legs. We past many different beaches along the way, all with that awesome blueish green water.

At night we met up with Jen Reaves and the four of us headed to the Ice Bar in Circular Quay. This was a bar that was made entirely out of ice. For a $20 entrance fee we got knee length parkas, ugg boots, gloves, and a free drink. It was good that they supplied us with proper attire because we showed up to the bar in shirts and dresses. It was so neat inside the bar, we took tons of pictures! After the ice bar we went to a German restaurant where we had planned to eat until we realized how expensive the food was. Everyone decided to just get beer and I got a pretzel. We finished up at the German restaurant and headed to Pancakes on the Rocks for a real meal. Just to find out that there was a huge line. The three of them ended up getting pies at Pie Face, I waited until we got to the Gaff to get food. There was a Extreme Adventures reunion being held at the Gaff and by buying a drink you could get a free meal (I got spaghetti bolognaise), and then later on in the night we were given 2 free drinks.

On Saturday we hopped on a bus and headed back to Wollongong (the trains were under construction). We got back to the apartment, had to quickly jump in the showers and pack bags to go camping that night. Heather and her boyfriend Tim picked us up around 1:20 and we began our journey. Tim was so awesome that he brought us 30mins into the middle of nowhere to a camp ground Coolendel in Nowra. He gave us a tent and as esky (cooler) to hold our food. He help us set up and then left for the night. The four of us made dinner (cheeseburgers) and then started a fire. Heather’s mom had sent her marshmallows, Hershey’s chocolate and graham crackers so that we could make smores! They were delicious! We sat by the fire for about 5 hours chatting about life and looking up at the stars. The stars were absolutely amazing. There was a band of stars that looked like a rainbow of stars across the sky. So beautiful! We went to bed around 11:30, when it started to get really cold. I slept in my comforter and wrapped it around me like a burrito. At one point in the night I got so hot I woke up sweating. We all woke up after 10:30 which was later than we had planned, but once we had eaten we headed out to explore the area. We hiked along the river and then hung out on some rocks. Tim picked us up around 3! What another amazing weekend!!

Nan Tien Temple

On Sunday, we all headed to the Nan Tien Temple in Unanderra. It was gorgeous! We explored for a couple hours, took some funny pictures, and got some lunch. I ordered wonton soup..expecting wontons filled with meat and got something totally different. I was pretty disappointed by my meal, but everything else was good.

For dinner, we went over to our neighbors to have Kabsah. It was very good!Such a great culture filled day!

Wollongong Dragons vs. Cronulla Sharks

On Sat night we all went to the Rugby game at the Win Stadium. We went to the 5 islands brewery first to get drinks (around 4:30). I got my new favorite drink, vodka raspberry...yum! We hung out there until about 6, before we entered the stadium. It was super cold, my toes were frozen the entire game! Matt (from Study Australia) did buy us all meat pies for dinner. I had never really watched a rugby game, but by the end I understood the general rules and point of the game. The Dragons beat the Sharks 38-0.

Manly Beach

On Thursday Jason, Amy and I headed up to Sydney for the night. We left i the morning and took the train to Bondi Junction where we met up with Chelsea (who also goes to UND). We lucked out an were able to by a "transportation" ticket, that covered all trains, buses, and ferry's for the entire day for only $20!

We met up with Chelsea around noon, and took a bus to the harbor, where we jumped on a ferry to Manly beach. The ferry was about 30mins, and we got awesome views of the opera house, harbor bridge and the city of Sydney. The weather was gorgeous!! We got some food at one of the restaurants along the strip (i got the chicken schnitzel), and then took a walk up and down the sand of Manly beach. The water was pretty cold so we didn't go for a swim. After our walk we got some gelato and hopped back on the ferry to Sydney.

The three of us decided to explore the Opera house. We had been by it before, but it had been raining so we were unable to get up close and really check it out. It was awesome just to hang out at the Opera house admiring its beauty. We then headed to Pancakes on the Rocks for dinner, which was delicious. I got the Hot Tropo which was two pancakes with chocolate sauce and ice cream on top..yumm!! I was able to meet up with Diana for dinner, it was awesome to see her again!

After dinner, we headed back to Bondi to shower up to go out. Once ready we headed back to the city to go to the Argyle Club. It was so neat. The DJ was in a floating glass box, and they had a large beer garden with really cool lamps. I got a delicious drink called Strawberry Bubbles! After hanging out at the Argyle, we headed back to Pancakes on the Rocks for a late night snack. Yet again, a really good choice!

On Friday there was supposed to be a Study Australia BBQ (the original reason why we went up to Sydney), but it ended up raining the entire day so it was canceled. We got some lunch at the mall (super fancy and huge mall...over 5 stories) and then headed back to the gong.

Marshall showed up in the gong late that night and we just hung out and got Kebabs.

Team Shark Bait

My friend Heather invited Amy and me to go sailing with her on Wednesday at Lake Illawarra. We both had class until 12:30 and we had to make the bus at 1:10. We literally ran from the bus into our apartment, grabbed a granola bar, threw on bathing suits and ran to the bus stop. Lets just say that I haven't been to the gym since winter break...so this was intense for me. We had to run across town in order to get to the bus stop. We were dodging cars and pedestrians. We made it to the bus stop just in time!

We got dropped off right near the boat rental place which was awesome because we originally had thought we were going to have to walk about 20mins to get to the rental place. The owner of the shop set up the catamaran, gave us a couple of pointers and set us out into the lake. Heather has been sailing for many years, and is actually a camp counselor at a sailing camp. Amy and I on the other hand had little to no experience. Our first lap across the lake we shot across the water and got stuck in a sand dune. The water got very shallow very quick before we were able to turn around. So, Heather literally had to get out of the boat and physically push us out of the sand.

After that mishap everything went pretty smoothly..until Amy had a chance to drive. She had the boat in a way that the entire bottom half of my body was in the water and the boat almost tipped over! It was pretty scary! Later on, I was driving and Heather said that I wanted to get her wet with water to push the rudders in a certain way. So I listened to her, and ended up making the boat dive under the water and almost threw her overboard...wooops! The three of us laughed the entire 2hrs we were out on the water. I had a blast!!

One detail I left out is that last week a great white shark was spotted in the lake that we went sailing in..ahhh! Thankfully, we didn't see it though!

Dreamland

On Wednesday night we had a bunch of people over and then headed out to the bars. We ended up at 151 where I won 2 free tickets to the Dreamland concert. I was originally planning to buy a ticket, but this worked out perfectly because it saved me $40. So Saturday, Amy and I went to campus east to hang out with Jen in her room and pregame. I ended up selling the extra ticket I had so I ended up making $40 that weekend...woo!

The concert was house music, which is a mixture of hip hop and techno. It started at 4 and went until 10. I stayed until around *:30, and at that time my ears were ringing so bad from the music that it was time for me to head out. It was fun, but it wouldn't have been worth spending money on.

Sunday Amy and I went to LeVendi a cafe on the beach and I got a milkshake...yum! Sunday night, we had people over and tried to get into the harp, which was closed so Amy, Jason, Heather and I went to a club called the ivory. It was definitely an older seen, lots of cougars..haha! They played some awesome music and we danced a whole bunch!

Weekend in Melbourne

On Weds April 14th I traveled to Melbourne for the weekend. I got in around 8:30 and took the skybus and a free shuttle to my hostel (Nomad's Industry). That night I roomed with a guy from England, New Zealand, Germany and a girl from France. What a mix! Since I got in late I just headed to bed.

The next morning I woke up early and headed to check out the Queen Victoria Market on my own. It was pretty chilly and started to rain, so I went back to the hostel to get some pants and a rain jacket. When I got back the guys from New Zealand and Germany had just woke up. I waited for them to get ready and then we headed out together to explore the city. We utilized the free tourist bus and tram and saw lots of the city. We checked out the Docklands, Federation Square and the Botanical Gardens. That night we all hung out at the hostels bar (and did a jager train). Kelly showed up around 10:30.

Friday, Kelly and I went to the Melbourne aquarium to check out the animals. We were the oldest ones there without children...haha! We met up with our group at 3, went on a walking tour and checked out little alley ways and explored the non-tourist areas of Melbourne. We stopped at a girly bar to get mocktails since our group was 15 girls, 2 guys. We ate dinner at a dumpling restaurant and got desert at Maz Brenner's chocolate bar (what a great invention!). We then went to the Comedy festival and saw Charlie Pickering...so funny! After the show, a bunch of us went to a bar down a sketchy alley that smelled like garbage (where all the best bars are in Melbourne) called Croft Institute. It was science themed with beakers and test tubes and we took syringe shots!

Saturday Kelly and I spent the majority of our day at the Queen Victoria Market shopping and checking out the locals (dolla forty banana!) At night our group went to a footy game (Aussie Rules football) which is a comination of soccer, football, and rugby. I also had my first meat pie at the game...it was pretty good!

Sunday was an early start. We all hopped in a bus and headed to the Great Ocean Road. The views were beautiful but the road was wild. I think it should be called the great windy road. We were in the bus from 7:30 am until about 6:30 pm. We checked out the twelve apostles which were gorgeous!

Extreme Days 7,8,9

After white water rafting, we headed to Cairns our final destination. The first night we all went out to the woolshed for dinner. Thursday was the EXTREME day. Friends of mine signed up to go skydiving and did that super early in the morning. I didn’t go because I want to go skydiving in Wollongong. I spent the day exploring the town with the girls I was staying with; we got lunch and did some shopping. That night was bungy jumping! I went through waves of nervousness on our way to the AJ Hackett bungy jump place. But once we got there I was pumped! I was one of the first people to jump off the edge. It was a WILD experience. After the bungy jump, I did the jungle swing which was a blast!

Friday, we woke up early to go scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef! This was probably my favorite day. It had always been a dream of mine to go scuba diving, and to be able to go at the Great Barrier Reef was unreal. After a 2 hour cruise out into the ocean we arrived at our dive spot. I was in the first diving group and was paired up with my friends Adam, Stephen and Graham. We got all geared up and got into the water. We slowly descended by holding a metal bar in the water and moving to deeper depths. After we got several meters under the water, we linked arms with our guide and began to explore. We were under for about 20-25minutes. It was awesome, I absolutely loved it! I saw lots of coral and even saw nemo!

On Saturday, our last day, we went to the beach. We got there in our double decker party bus and everyone who past us stared and honked their horns. We went swimming in the designated area at the beach. There were signs everywhere saying to beware of jellyfish and crocodiles. Luckily, I didn’t see any crocs! After the beach we headed to the rainforest, where we checked out Crystal Cascades at river/waterfall. It was very pretty! That night we had our last hurrah at the woolshed. Jimmy and Pete used the money they had collected from the sin tin over the week to make a very strong drink for all of us to share. I had a bit too much because by about 10 o’clock I was ready for bed..haha! I did make it to the woolshed and ate like crazy when they brought food out. It must have looked as though we all hadn’t eaten in days.

Extreme Day 6

Today’s activity was white-water rafting down the Tully River. This experience was awesome! There were 7 of us on the boat and a guide (Julie, Diana, Reva, Stephen, Adam, Graham and me). The rapids were a combination of level 4’s and 3’s. There were several commands that were important for our fun and safety. “get down”, “hold on”, “left”, “right”, “forward”, “backward”.

The major rapids were on the first part of the trip. Luckily, no one fell out of our boat. Although, our guide wanted to “see how we could swim” so he had us all jump out of the boat and float feet first down a small rapid. After a BBQ lunch we all hopped back into our boats. This part of the river was a little calmer, so we played some games. The first one involved all of us piling in one end of the boat and going off a steep drop. The result of this was that we all ended up flipping over our boat and taking a swim. We also climbed a large rock and jumped off into the river. Another game we did is everyone got on one end of the boat and trip to make the boat vertical without tipping it…yet again, we went for a swim. We also went directly under a waterfall. The trip was a last and definitely one of my favorite parts of the entire spring break trip!!

Extreme Day 1

On the first day of our trip I woke up around 6:30 to take a shower before I needed to meet up with the Extreme group. I left the hostel soon after and headed out to find the bus station. I had a bit of trouble finding the bus part of the transport station. I ended up at the train station and had to ask for help to find the bus station. With the help of a very nice man, I made it. I stopped and got some brekky at Maccas (McDonalds).

When I got to the area in the bus station we were told to meet up I realized I was the first one. Shortly after I arrived my guides Jimmy and Pete showed up. Jimmy was in the process of blowing up an inflatable kangaroo, who was our mascot for the week. Within an hour or so our entire trip (aka 72 people) showed up. We all piled onto the largest coach bus I have ever seen. It was a double-decker bus, pulling a large trailer, crazy!

We drove an hour or so to the Australia Zoo (Steve Irwin’s Zoo). We checked out all the animals and went to the crocodile show. Bindi (Steve’s daughter) started the show with a display of dancing and singing. Then the real show began! Out came elephants, then birds that were trained to fly around in the Crocoseum, and then the crocodile! It was huge!

That night we stayed at a hostel in Hervey Bay in a sketchy bungalow. Right when we (Julie, Diana, Stella) walked into the room there was a gecko crawling on the wall. Our “neighbors” were a bunch of bogans (hicks) who were living in tiny trailers. After dropping off our stuff and changing we headed to our booze cruise in Hervey Bay. We were served dinner and given unlimited free beer and goon. Some people got pretty wild!

When we returned to the hostel, we went across the street to another hostel to hang out at their bar. We certainly brought the party when all 74 of us showed up at the bar, when there had only been about 10 people there. Julie, Diana and I shared a cocktail jug of a delicious mixture. After lots of dancing we headed to bed so we could be ready for the next day!

Extreme Day 5

Today we woke up bright and early to catch a Maxi yacht to the Whitsundays to do some snorkeling. In our itinerary it said this yacht was a multi-million dollar vessel…we all felt otherwise! Yet again, almost everyone was hung-over from partying the night before so I was sure that people were going to get sick.

After a decent ride out into the water, we arrived at the area in which we got to snorkel. I put on my stinger suit (to protect myself from all the jellies in the water), grabbed my snorkel and goggles and jumped in off the boat. Right when I got in the water there were several huge fish swimming around me. It was awesome! I had a noodle with me which was nice so that I could just float along the water. I saw some awesome coral and fish.

After swimming around for awhile we got back on the boat to have lunch. I don’t think that they were prepared for the amount of people who were on the boat, because by the time I got up to the food, all that was left was bread. So for my lunch, all I ate was bread…definitely not enough! Once lunch was over we sailed back to the marina in Airlie Beach to grab the rest of our bags and head to mission beach. We were given 20minutes to find some food before we hopped on the bus. My friends and I went to a grocery store where I found a value pack of Tim-Tams!! Best find ever!! Happy with my Tim-Tams I got on the bus with Adam as my travel partner. The bus ride was 6 hours long.

Halfway to Mission Beach we stopped at a McDonalds. I literally ran out of the bus and eat the entire group (72 people), and was the first one in line. A bunch of the boys decided it would be a good idea to have an ice cream eating contest. About 5 of them each bought 4 cones. They were all cocky thinking they would devour the ice cream. One guy only ate one and a half cones…so weak! A guy just on the sideline was so unimpressed that he began to just grab the guy’s ice creams and eat them himself. He ended up eating the most of anyone and he wasn’t even originally in the competition. All the other boys ended up throwing up their ice cream..yuck!

We all hopped back on the bus and arrived at mission beach late at night. We were brought to our rooms, which I would say were our best accommodations, the whole trip. I roomed with Julie and Diana and we each had our own beds. The room even had towels (which was great because I had only brought a beach towel and it was stinky!). We showered up, watched a little TV for the first time and went to bed.

Extreme Day 4

Today was a great day because we were given a chance to do whatever we wanted. We could rent a jet ski, go tubing, or just hang out by the pool. The weather yet again wasn’t working with us, so we spent a lot of the day trying to soak up the sun when it was out, and hiding under a roof when it began to rain.

Adam, Julie, Diana, Erica and I decided to do a little exploring of the island. We went on a bit of a bushwalk (aka hike) to an island. It was really neat because when the tide changes the footpath disappears under water. We were able to make it across before this happen, and we were the only ones on the trip to make it out to that point.

After our walk we tried to open up coconuts to try the milk. The boys were using rocks to try to break them open. This technique didn’t work very well. We were very excited when we were told by one of the workers at the resort that there was a coconut opener in the near the golf course. We gathered 6 or so green, ripe coconuts and tried to open them on this spike. It was very efficient and we were able to gather a lot of coconut milk. I tasted the milk, and it was gross. I was also worried because I had heard that if you drink too much you could get the runs.

That night we had a beach party. This night was much more fun because everyone was out and about. We played drinking games out on the tables outside the bar and then had a massive dance party on the tables. It was so much fun!

Extreme Day 3

Today we arrived in Airlie Beach at a public rest stop area. We were given about an hour to get changed into bathing suits and clean up, as well as pack a small bag for 3 days of beach bumming. We ate McDonald’s b-fast sandwiches for brekky before we hopped back on the bus to be dropped off at a marina.

We walked out onto a pier on which we boarded our rides for the day. There were 3 jet boats waiting for us. About 15-20 people climbed on each boat and we quickly took off into the water. We were cruising, and “battling” with each other. We were jumping wakes, making whirlpools, and trying to splash the other boats. It was wild! Unfortunately we hit a large patch of rain, which when going fast felt like I was being pelted by hail. We then got out into the open ocean. The waves were so huge that they entire boat would get airborne. I had to hold on for dear life at some points! During this entire boat ride the majority of people on the boat were heavily drinking goon and playing spin the bottle. After about 45min on the boat we reached the Whitsunday Island.

We went on a hike to a lookout point that had a beautiful view of Whitehaven beach. It truly was beautiful white sand. We climbed back down the mountain to get back on the boats to head to the next island. As I was sitting on the boat waiting for everyone to get on I watched as on girl practically drowned trying to walk through the water. She was so drunk that she was being dragged through the water. They had to physically pull her up onto the boat. This girl ended up passing out on the boat for the entire rest of the day, missed lunch, and never set foot on the beach…what a waste of a day!

At the next beach the boats anchored in the water and we all ran to the beach. We hung out there for several hours and people drank the entire time. We ate a really good lunch, and enjoyed a couple of hours of sun since we hadn’t seen any in days. By the end of the day people were black-out drunk. We all had to pile back on the boats to head to the hotel/resort we would be staying at for the next couple of days. The waves on the ride home were as huge as the way there, people were passed out, falling out of their seats, and one kid even passed out to the extreme that he continually banged his head on a metal post without ever being woken up by it. I was freaking out the entire time, praying that no one would get sick on the boat. Thankfully, everyone pulled through!

We arrived at South Molle Island, as a drunken mass of people. Several people fell face first in the sand and had to be dragged up the beach. It was a mess! By this time I had, had enough and just wanted to get to my room and get away from the chaos for awhile. I was rooming with Julie and Diana. We had a little bungalow to ourselves. It was ice because it had air condition but the water in the sink and toilet ran continuously for the entire time we were there. Such a waste of water! After relaxing for a couple of hours we had to get ready for the plastic theme party.

The front desk gave us all different colored plastic garbage bags and we were told to make an outfit out of it. I made a shirt and used a second color plastic to make a belt. My roommates created dresses and surprisingly even though we were dressed in plastic we all looked pretty decent. We went out but everyone was hung over from the day, that there were really no people out at the resort’s bar. So Adam, Graham, Diana, Julie and I came back and hung out in our room for several hours chatting. Great end to a WILD day!

Extreme Day 2

Jimmy came to our door and woke us up around 7:00am. We got dressed and loaded up on the bus and headed to catch a ferry to Fraser Island. The ferry took about 45min to reach the island. Once we arrived we got on 2 four-wheel-drive buses and started our adventure. I have never been on such a bumpy bus ride. At first it was fun, but everyone on the trip was hung over from the night before so I was very concerned that people were going to be sick on the bus. Our first stop was Lake McKenzie which was beautiful. The water was so clear; you could see your toes as though you were just staying on the beach. It was an amazing blue color.

Unfortunately, it rained during the entire day. The only times it was sunny was when we were on the bus driving to our next destination. We stopped at a resort on the island and got a buffet style lunch which had amazing rolls. I devoured a whole bunch of rolls. We then got back on the crazy buses drove along the beach. The beach is 75miles long! We also checked out Lake Wabby and Lake Birrabeen.

Had the weather been nicer I probably would have enjoyed myself better. After about 6 or 7 hours on the buses our Fraser Island excursion was finally over. I was so relieved to be out of the 4x4 bus. We got back on the ferry and headed to land, where we got on a bus back to the hostel. We were fed dinner which included pasta and meat sauce and garlic bread. I ate my meal so fast because we only had a short period of time to take showers. I ate so fast that I was able to get the first shower, before 49 other girls. It felt so nice to be clean after a long day of being wet and sandy. After everyone showered up we piled onto the bus for our overnight (12hr) bus ride. I sat with Adam who was a great travel buddy. We chatted for hours. Every 2 hours or so we stopped for bathroom and food breaks, this was good because it allowed us to get up and stretch.

Adam, Julie, Diana and I chose to sit on the bottom part of the bus because there were less people and the people on the top floor of the bus were drinking throughout the ride. At one point, Tim stumbled down the stairs, sat on a girls lap and passed out sitting on her. He was completely out of it to the point that the girl was able to draw on his face using a permanent marker. She drew him a bunch of facial hair including a unibrow. It was hilarious. He didn’t move for awhile and finally after an hour or so he started to move around. He looked as though he was going to throw up, and everyone began to freak out! Jimmy found a garbage bag and tied it around his ears, so he had a vomit bib. I don’t think he ever got sick but it was still pretty funny/scary.

Beginnings of Spring Break 2010

I had been looking forward to this spring break trip for several weeks, and on April 1st it began! I traveled all by myself. I took the train from Wollongong to Central Station in Sydney and got a connecting train to the domestic airport. I got there pretty early because I wanted to make sure that I made my flight, so I got to spend about 3hrs hanging out in the airport. The flight to Brisbane was very quick, only taking about a hour and a half! I chatted the whole plane ride with an Australian guy who was sitting next to me.

Once in Brisbane I caught a shuttle bus to my hostel for $16. It was great because it dropped me off right in front of the building. I stayed at Base Brisbane Central for about $27. I was in a room with 5 other girls, 2 were from Canada, 2 were from England and one never spoke so I have no idea where she was from. All of these girls were actual backpackers who were in Australia just to travel. It was really neat to chat with these girls and learn about some of their experiences. They all went out that night, but I decided to stay in because I knew I was going to have a long and crazy week ahead of myself! Unfortunately, the bars closed at midnight, so everyone returned to the hostel and continued to party. People were on the balcony outside my window until about 3 or 4 in the morning. Overall, I didn't get much sleep, but it certainly was an interesting experience at my first hostel!

Left/Right

On Friday we had nothing to do so Katie and I decided to go on a bit of an adventure. We played the left/right game. This entailed walking along the road and when we came to an intersection we played rock-paper-scissors to choose which direction to go in. I was left, Katie was right. We ended up at Stuart park where we hung out at the beach for awhile.

At night we checked out the Full-Moon festival at north gong beach. It was not as exciting as I was expecting so we decided to leave shortly after arriving. We then tried to go out, but when we got to a bar I realized that I didn't have my ID on me. So our evening came to an end, without much excitement.

Climbing Trees :)

Today (Weds March 24th) my day started off with 2 tuts (AUST 101 and SOC 103)...yes I am in all freshman level classes and it is awesome! My day was done at 12:30, but I hung around campus until 1:30 to attend my Unicrew meeting. We met on the duck pond lawn for about 15-20mins and then split our separate ways.

I headed back to the apartment for a few hours. At 4:30 I went back to school because I had volunteered to work the trivia game at the Unibar. Reece one of the organizers of the group was there to help us set up, and let us know what we were supposed to do. He then left me and another girl to run the game. There were 3 rounds, all of which I barely knew any of the answers myself. I didn't want to be the MC so I was the score keeper. At the end of the game their was a tie between 2 teams. For the tie-breaker I got 2 schooners of iced water, and one representative from each team had to skull (chug) the ice water. The first team to finish everything, including ice, won free tickets to an upcoming gig.

I went back to the apartment for the 2nd time, and my friend Heather came over for dinner. We had pasta with sauce and garlic bread. It was super yummy! After sitting around and chatting for awhile we headed to ColdRock (same concept as coldstone) to get some ice cream. I got a caramel ice cream with brownie crushed in it! We took our ice cream and walk to the park.

As a kid I loved to climb trees, so I felt tonight was a perfect time to play like a kid. So I climbed a tree, played tag in the park (a good workout without having to go to the gym), played on a playscape, and walked on the beach in the dark. I had a total blast!!