New Zealand Road Trip Day 3

After so many near death experiences in the first two days of our adventure, we decide to take it a little easier. We slept in a little bit, took our nice warm showers and made our way into the city centre of Queenstown. We walked around, took in the sights, and bought some gifts for people back home, and ourselves. By this point we were starving and decided to go to Naff Caff where I had the most marshmallow-ey white hot chocolate of my life and it was delicious. Oh and don't even forget the pancakes, they were just as good. Yummy. Good Food. We walked around a little bit more, emailed home once again and we were back on the road. We filled up the gas tank and Nelson, Caroline, and Jeff were on the road for day 3. We drove the short drive from Queenstown to Te Anau. However, the excitement was not done in Queenstown yet, as we were driving out of the city, A PLANE FLIES LITERALLY ABOUT 10METERS ABOVE US TO LAND!. We cannot escape death enough! We arrived at our new campsite where we would be staying for the next two nights and we found out about the glow worm caves by Lake Te Anau. We decided we had to go, but had to hustle to the wharf to make the boat. We made it just as they were boarding and went to the glowworm caves where they looked like stars on the darkest, clearest of nights. It was really cool, too bad no pictures could be taken. We came back to the town after the tour and went to buy some more gifts and find some grub. The town was dead and most things were closed, new zealand shuts down in winter. We came to a restaurant where we grabbed some grub to eat, i nearly lost my tooth here. On a full stomach, we made our way back to our camping ground and slept for the night because in the morning we were going to Milford Sound for day 4 of our camping trip.

New Zealand Road Trip Day 2

We woke up in Hokitika, took some money out at the ATM and got some essential food, BUMPER BARS!, and we were off to Franz Joseph. It was a couple hour drive from Hokitika to Franz Joseph, which turned out to be a pretty cool town even though we were only in it for about 20 minutes. In Franz Joseph, we bought our phone cards, which of course did not work, but we sent our first welcoming emails to our families and friends back home. After that quick pit stop, it was onto the Franz Joseph Glacier. Honestly this thing was one of the coolest things that I have ever seen. It was about a 40-45minute walk to the glacier, but what was crazy is how far the glacier had receded since the early 1700's. We walked through a river bed which was almost dried up, but trust me, after a storm this area would be gushing with water all over. We walked as close as we were allowed and for the first time saw the beauty of New Zealand as we stood like midgets in a huge valley with mountains surrounding us with waterfalls poking out throughout them and a massive sheet of ice in front of us. We stood in amazement for awhile, but knew that we had to get back to make it to Queenstown that night. We got back in Nelson, and Jeff hopped in the drivers seat for the first time in a foreign country which drives on the wrong side of the road, scary thought, I know. I did the drive from Franz Joseph to Haast, where Caroline then took over for the night shift. It wasn't too bad of an attempt for not driving a stick in the past 3 years. We drove past some amazing mountains with huge blue lakes at the bottoms, the scenery was breathtaking. However, the horrors came as Caroline took the wheel. We were on our way in the darkness to Queenstown when we hit a patch of black ice and sent both of us screaming like little girls. Nelson regained his position on the road and slowly we made it towards Wanaka as our hearts slowed down. We saw light in Wanaka and absolutely went crazy for seeing people; however, our night was not over. We drove through Wanaka and pushed forward towards Queenstown. But once again, the roads did not like us, as soon as we saw the lights of Queenstown we are making our way down a mountain. This mountain was much like whatever that famous street is in San Francisco which curves back and forth, but this was on a mountain. After screaming about how dumb this road was and seeing a man with a boat driving up the mountain, which we thought was absolutely proposterous, we made it to safety in Queenstown. Before even checking into a camping ground for the night, we stopped for a beer and some steak at the Speights Ale House. Speight's is as they say, the Pride of the South. We made our way to the Creeksyde Camping grounds where we spent the night in safety and made it on to day 3 of our adventure.

New Zealand Road Trip Day 1

So we arrive in Christchurch, New Zealand at about 1 or 130PM their time after a 3/3.5 hr flight from Sydney. We got through customs with another stamp in the book! and went forth to the Backpackers RV place to pick up our RV, the nomad, which would soon be called Nelson. We picked up and learned about Nelson, how to drive him, and how to put snow chains on his feet. After the boring stuff, we hit the road. Not long after, about 1km down the road, we had our first of many near death experiences of this trip at the roundabout. After surviving that one, we were off onto highway 6, to the west coast via Arthurs Pass. We drove through the remaining daylight left in New Zealand, it is winter here and only daylight for about maybe 8 hours or so. We stopped to pick up some food and moved along down the road stopping at a lake to take our first scenic pictures. It was already dark and we still had a couple hours to drive, not very many kilometers but through heavy mountains. We finally made it through the pass and onto the western coast and to our first night in Hokitika where we almost immediately passed out and slept into what would be day 2 of our road trip.

Hunter Valley

We awoke at 7AM after a night of drinking cheap boxed wine, known as goon here in the land of aussies. We took a 2-2.5 hr bus drive out to Hunter Valley, the area outside of Sydney which is known for its wineries. Our first winery was Ernest Hill, a small family run boutique winery. You can't buy their wine anywhere other than the winery, in any stores. You can only buy it at the winery store there. We tried several different kinds of wine and learned a little bit about each. The guy who was explaining the process and the wines was actually the owner of the winery. He and his son opened the winery not too long ago and it is a family run one today. Afterward we went to Tempus Two winery. This winery was a lot larger and seemed more commercial than Ernest Hill. We tried several kinds of wine here as well, but the service was not as good or friendly. You could tell this seemed to be a much more commercial winery that did not rely on the tourist buisness for income. Also at Tempus Two was the Smelly Cheese store. The cheeses here were absolutely amazing and any hangover that anyone had by this point was gone. We tried all kinds of cheese, some feta, some of this, a little of that. ya know. It was then lunch time. We were all excited for this. We went to a small little village looking area where we had lunch at Oscar's. In this little area was a fudge place as well. You can bet we hit that up! They also had a wine cellar here to, we didn't really try any wines here because we were walking around most of the time. But the wine cellar also had some beers from all over the world. Even some Miller Chill! haha. We all loaded back on the bus to go to our next winery. I forget the name of it. Some irish thing Mcgiggles or something. This one was pretty cool, but again seemed to be a lot more commercial. After Mcwiggles we went to Calais, another family owned and run one. The wine was alright here but the setting was so comfortable. They had a nice small bar with a fireplace at the end of the room and just really comfortable. This is when everyone started to show their drunkness. After a few more glasses of wine and a few more pictures we loaded up to go back to our beloved Sydney.


PS. I just got the pictures from my skydiving trip so here is a taste of that:

Bali!

Okay, sorry this has taken awhile to post, but I've been extremely busy writing papers and getting everything back in order with classes starting. Bali was absolutely amazing. We arrive at about 10pm the first night and made our way to the Ramada Resort where we spent the first couple of nights. The first day we headed to the nearby beach where a ton of water sport companies are located. We walked around for awhile and everyone decided that parasailing would be a good time. We talked to several different companies, negotiating how much we would be willing to pay. The price started at 100,000 rupiah per person. After a few talks and almost starting a fight, we got the price lowered to 50,000 per person, which is less than 5 dollars! We all took our turns parasailing and decided to walk a little further down. The first day was more of a relaxing day and we just hung out on the beach and went swimming in the pool at the hotel.
On the second day we had our first tour with Putu, our Balinese driver. He took us on the Kintamani tour. We drove around a good portion of the island stopping at random places and small temples. We made out way to Kintamani. From Kintamani we could see Mt. Batur which is a volcano. When we got there we were basically sitting in the clouds and could see very little so we decided to have lunch. During lunch we could see the clouds starting to move away and we could finally see the beautiful view. After twelve hours of wandering around Bali, we returned to our hotel for the night and scheduled a Putu tour for the next day as well.
The next morning we woke up and packed our bags, loaded up Putu's van, and went to our next accomadation, the Pat-Mase Villas in Jimbaran Bay. We stayed here for three nights. For seven of us, we got a 3 bedroom villa which had its own tv/hang out area, kitchen, dining room, and private pool. After being amazed with our accomadation and being driven to our villa in a golf cart, we got back into the van and went on our next tour. This time we went and saw how local clothes were made, wood carvings being made, and THE MONKEY FOREST! The monkey forest was awesome, its a little patch of woods in Ubud where the monkeys live. You basically can go in, sit on a ledge and put your hand out and a monkey will be running up your arm to sit on your shoulder. However, you have to be careful, these little guys can easily steal things right off of you. We then walked around the Ubud market where we bargained the prices down on gifts for us and people back home. After a long day, we headed back to our relaxing villa.
The next day, we decided we would like to just have a hang out day and just relax. We took the villa shuttle to the Kuta beach, a world famous beach. Here we hung out in the blistering heat all day, went swimming, got crushed by waves, and a couple of us got nice massages on the beach. On the third night, we decided that since a few people were leaving the next evening, we would go to Jimbaran Bay and have a nice dinner on the beach during the sunset. We had a massive seafood feast and racked up a bill well over 1/2 million.
The next day we went to the local beach for awhile until we once again met up with Putu who took us on another little sight seeing tour of Bali and then we had to drop the few people leaving off at the airport and find our next accomodation in Ubud, Nick's Pension. Now there were only four of us left and we were only halfway through our vacation. We found our way to Nick's in the darkness somehow, thanks to Putu.
The next morning we woke up got our free banana pancake breakfast and decided to see waterfalls and a couple temples and the rice fields. Putu picked us up once again in the morning and we headed off on our 3 hr journey to the waterfall, which was about 30meters high. We stopped along the way as we traveled up a mountian to look at the gorgeous views. Once we made it to the location of the waterfall, it was downpouring. We made a 300meter walk in the pouring down rain just so that Josh and I could get absolutely pummeled by this amazing waterfall. After getting a little more soaked we loaded back into the van to have lunch and wonder around another temple. It was then time to go to the rice fields. You see many of these fields all over Bali, but we were heading to the section of the island which is known for the rice they grow. We drove to their neighborhood and saw beautiful landscapes with high rice fields as far as the eye could see.
Once again, we loaded back into Putu's van for another 3 hour drive back to Ubud to our accomodation. The next day we slept in a little bit, hung out by the pool, and waited until it was cooler so that we could walk into Ubud center. We spent the afternoon/evening wandering around the town and markets.
The next day was very similar, we laid by the pool most of the day, got lunch and dinner at the local restaurant and just relaxed. On our last day in Ubud, we wandered into the markets once again so that we could do some last minute shopping and get stuff that we forgot to get earlier. After the market we found a driver to take us back to the Ramada Resort, where we would be spending our last night. We laid around at the Ramada and just relaxed for the last two days of our vacation, working on our tans and finishing up our books. Then the time came. It was time to leave Bali. We left for the airport and waited around for our flight to leave. Our redeye flight. Our flight that left at like 11pm and arrived at 730am. Our flight where I got little sleep. Our flight which returned us to Sydney, which seemed freezing compared to the weather of Bali.
And to think, we're already halfway through our semester abroad.
2more months.

CAIRNS!

So we left a few days ago, Saturday, to go north to Cairns, adventure capital of the world. Oh don't worry, Cairns very much lived up to its nickname. The first day we got there, we arrive early at about 10am. Since we had been up for over 5hours by this time, it already seemed like a long day. We decided to walk around Cairns and take in the town before going for a dip in the pool and a relaxing sit in the sauna. That night, basically everyone passed out early and got ready for a big day ahead.

The next morning we left to go to the Great Barrier Reef! We took a boat out there which took about 2-2.5 hours. While waiting to arrive at the reef we signed up to Scuba Dive, my first time ever. While filling out the forms and listening to the instructions, we were hit with brutal waves rocking the boat ridiculously, of course individuals became a little seasick. We finally arrived at the reef and Dave, Laurie, Liz, and I had about a half hour to lay around and soak in the sun before we got geared up for our dive. We slipped into our very sexy suits and got geared up with tanks, regulators, you know, all the basics. We then prepared for our first dive where we only went down 3-5meters but we took pictures will Wally there :) Wally is my buddy in the picture here:
We then got to swim around for awhile and take in the colorful coral. Four of us loved it so much that we then decided to sign up for a second dive later that day which allowed us to go deeper, for longer, and basically swim where we want. This was absolutely amazing. We found Nemo too! I once heard the Great Barrier Reef described as a Dr. Seuss book underwater, and trust me, that nickname was also true. My favorite coral was this BRIGHT blue coral that sparkled in the water. We then all loved the 2nd dive so much that we later decided we're going to try to find a place in Sydney where we can get certified to dive!

Day 3: We slept in after a night out at dinner with Saki bombs, clearly an American tradition, and a game of Kings. We woke up scheduled our skydive and got in a van to go whitewater rafting on the Barron River. The river was pretty good with high waters and a few good dips. Our guide decided to take us surfing on the one fall and this is where Josh and I, in the front of the boat, got completely destroyed. Before we even fell out we were completely underwater. The the boat took a jump up and of course I go flying off of the raft and smacking my back on a rock, which proudly left a good indentation on my back. We survived the mighty Barron and made our way back to the hotel where we watched a movie or two and passed out early for the big day ahead.

Day 4: We woke up early to get on our bus at 7AM which took us to Mission Beach, where we would be doing our skydiving! We got to Mission Beach and Shanna, Megan, and I immediately got geared up to go, only to stand around in our harnesses for an hour until being told we were not going. We sat around for another hour before we headed to Coconutz to chill until the weather would be alright for us to dive in, hopefully. While sitting around we got the call, they were taking us up! Everyone rushed to the bus to get breifed on how to skydive and we showed up to the airstrip where we got harnessed in and made some comments to our cameramen. It was showtime. We climbed to about 13,000 feet and then the garage-door looking door opened and it was time, we were in the drop zone. Laurie barrel-rolled out first and all I saw was her completely falling to the ground. Shanna was next. I don't remember any of her departure. Then it was my turn. I scooted my butt onto the floor and next thing I know, I get a push and the back and im falling 13,000ft to the ground. Once my stomach caught back up to me, I could finally enjoy the fall, looking around at the scenery and smiling into the camera. Out of nowhere I felt us starting to slow down, apparently the parachute was let go and I didn't even notice. We began to float to the ground. My instructor even let me turn the parachute! We had an amazing flight and an easy landing. As soon as we landed everyone gave their congratulations and we had to hustle onto another bus just to catch another bus back to Cairns to jump on another plane to come back to Sydney just to jump on another plane tomorrow to go to Bali. Stories of Bali to come soon :)

Weekend and BRIDGE CLIMB!

So on Friday we headed down to a beach which is part of Sydney Harbour National Park. We hung out all day on the beach, ate pizza, played cricket, went for swims, played at the tidepool and then took a walk along the cliffs to a couple more small beaches and really nice houses. Along this walk were plenty of picturesque views of the city of Sydney. The rest of the weekend we didn't really do much just hung out around the apartments and such. Then yesterday, Tuesday, Laurie, Melissa, Laurie's sister, and I all went on the Bridge Climb! This is where you climb to the tippy top of the Harbour Bridge and because we did this at night, we had the whole city lit up behind us as we stood some like 130meters above sealevel and above some 8 lanes of traffic. AWESOME.

Crazy Night

So last night was an absolutely ridiculously crazy night and I loved it. We started off the day celebrating Josh's birthday in one of our apartments with some egg rolls and fried rice with home made cake for dessert. We then made our way down to the Olympic Stadium where we watched the waratahs vs crusaders game. After the game we jumped on the train and headed down to Darling habour. At Darling we had a drink at Cargo bar right on the water and made our way over to retro bar. This was a pretty fun bar. They had your favorites from the 90s and what not playing the entire time. We stayed here for awhile until we headed up towards the Queen Victoria Building, but we weren't done yet. We decided to stop in Hotel Sweeney's for what we thought would only be a beer. It turned into having a beer and a few shots. And then we ended it all with a shot of Absinth. WOW. From here some people when back to the apartments, but Josh, Kim, and myself decided we weren't ready to go back yet. We walked around, made our way back to Darling Harbour somehow, peered into the dark harbour waters and walked along waters edge. We stumbled upon the harbour bridge and decided: Hey! Let's have a little fun. So there were steps near the harbour that we walked down and all decided to take a little dip in the shark infested Sydney Harbour. From here we walked along the harbours water and made our way to Circular Quay. And why not, by this time it was maybe 5 or 6am so we thought we'd stay at the Opera House and watch a sunrise. We laid around on the Opera House steps, might have taken a little nap, and sat at the top of the steps, looking over beautiful Sydney Harbour and saw the sun rise right over the clouds and buildings in the background. We hung out there for awhile until we decided we needed some sleep. We got back to our apartments around 830 or 9am. It made me realize how much I really do love Sydney.

Port Stephens

Today we woke up around 7 and headed down to Circular Quay where we met up with Dave and Trang and headed off on our 3 hours journey to Port Stephens. After the bus ride, seeing some crazy scenery, we arrive at the sand dune area. Here we took a 4WD buggy thing out to one of the sand dunes where we grabbed a board, hopped on, and flew down the sand. We only stayed here for maybe 30-45 minutes, but it was an good time. We then headed down to the docks where we hopped on our boat to go dolphin watching. We arrived early so we decided just to go to the top deck and catch sun rays. As the boat started heading out to sea, we kept our eyes peeled looking for the dorsal fins of dolphins. Not too long into the trip, a pod of dolphins were spotted. After awhile of trying to get a good picture from the top deck, a couple of us headed down to the front of the boat where the dolphins were riding the wave in front of us and we could literally see the three dolphins maybe 4-5feet away from us just swimming in the water, popping up every once in awhile for some air. They are absolutely astonishing creatures. We then proceeded out to the deeper waters where we hopped in the boon net to cool down a bit. From the docks, our drive John drove us around the area pointing out some of the beaches and he also took us up to the top of a hill with an awesome lookout where you could completely see all of the land around you. We saw everything from the sand dunes, to the great open water, to the shallow waters, to the mountains, and everything in between... it was amazing.

Another Classy Day in Sydney

We started off the day getting all dressed up and heading down to Royal Randwick Racetrack where we had Members Access. Basically this is where all the ladies with crazy hats and the guys with the nicest suits go. So we had to look classy. After spending the day at the racetrack we headed over to the Blue Horizon Bar. This bar is located on the 36th, the top, floor of the Shangri-La hotel. We got an amazing view of the city as well as the harbours around us. It was absolutely magnificant. Once we got our couches put together for us it started to pour outside and the lightning lit up the sky. Hold on though, not only did we get some amazing lightning which lit up the sky, we also got a little firework show to the surprise of us all. This was literally amazing, sipping on a cocktail on the top floor of a fancy schmancy hotel with the views of Sydney before us with fireworks going off in the harbour.

Typical Friday Activities

So today I woke up to go swimming in the pool for an hour and a half as part of my lab practical for Marine Science. We were learning "proper snorkeling technique". Aka the instructor sat on the side and laughed as we treaded water. After our lab we decided it would be fun to go to the zoo, of course, as soon as we said this it started to rain. I came back into my apartment to grab my camera and Oh! look at that! it decided not to work today. So I had to take it down to the Olympus place near my apartment. So now I have no camera for a week. But then we decided to hit up Sydney's Chinatown where we sat down for a late lunch on the side of the road. From here our group split ways as Kim and I headed over to the Invisible Children meeting here in Sydney. We met some awesome people there. People who have been two Uganda a few times, people from New Zealand, the Blue Mountains, a few girls from the states, and a girl who moved here from the states. We talked about the upcoming event and just basically got to know eachother. We met a guy from the Blue Mountains who offered us a ride home and a tour of the Blue Mountains if we wanted to make our way out there sometime soon along with the local rugby union game. I love Invisible Children and the people you meet with it!

Fun weekend in Sydney

So Friday night we headed down to the stadium grounds for our first rugby match. We went to the New South Wales Waratahs vs Queensland Reds game. One thing we noticed is that Australia is not very good at picking intimidating names, a waratah is a native flower of NSW and the reds mascot was a koala. We had a great time watching the game, trying to understand what was going on, and drinking a few beers. The game came down to the last few minutes as the Waratahs defeated their rivals. Apparently this was kind of a boring game to be at, luck us. We've decided that we're going to go see some of the rugby league games, the league is the one with all the meat heads who just try to kill each other. After the game we headed out to a bar for a little bit on Oxford Street, I felt a good 10-15years younger than anyone there.
Saturday is a whole story in itself. It was the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade here in Sydney. We headed down to Kings Cross early in the afternoon and had a few beers at a local irish pub. From there we wondered the streets of Kings Cross and made our way down to Oxford Street where the parade was. The parade didn't start for awhile but we made our own fun just dancing around and taking pictures with some crazy people. The parade was a lot of fun with a lot of crazy sights that you would not want your children to see. After a few hours at the parade we wondered back to Kings Cross where we got some food, wondered a little bit more and hop on the train back home, or so we thought. We took two trains to Chatswood just to find out that both the train to our station was done for the night and the bus we could take ended at like 930, ridiculous. So we hopped back on a train downtown where we waited for a while longer until our bus finally came.
Today, Sunday, I met up with Nikki and her friend who basically are in charge of getting Invisible Children up and running down under and talked to them for awhile and plan on getting events and screenings set up all over Sydney with them.
EXCITING WEEKEND!

Classy

Today, the boys and I decided to be a little classy and went to a wine tasting happening down in Hyde Park. We each wandered around and sampled 5 wines each. We spent a good bit of time there but then the food started to smell amazing so we decided to leave before we spent anymore money. From Hyde Park we walked through the cathedral nearby, I believe it is St. Mary's and around that area. We stumbled upon the Royal Botanical Gardens so we decided to take a stroll through there. This part of Sydney was phenomenal, statues, fountains, and flowers everywhere. This trip really made me appreciate Sydney that much more. From the Royal Botanical Gardens, we wondered downhill until we saw the Opera House and Circular Quay. From here we caught our favorite Manly ferry and went to Manly beach for a few hours of fun in the sun.

Coogee and The Cat Empire

On Friday, our whole group went down to Coogee beach where we grilled up a few sausages and learned a little cricket. Trust me, it's a lot more fun to play cricket than watching it on TV. Then we just chilled on the beach for awhile, went swimming, and took a walk around on the boardwalk to a couple different beaches and bays. The sights were awesome. We also wandered around in a tidepool for awhile which was pretty cool too. Saturday, a few of us woke up early and spent a few precious hours by the beach and hurried back to get ready and head out to the concert. We got to the concert, picked up our tickets, and went to the gate. Apparently in Australia they have two sets of standing room areas. Josh and I were in the front row, but the rest of the group got stuck in the back and the bouncer wasn't having any of them trying to get up front. The concert was awesome though, the opening act had a couple accordians, a bassist, a violinist, and a guitarist. They played some classical european music with a little kick. The Ca Empire then came on and put an awesome show and we got to see everything from the front row.

Life Down Under

So I'm almost finished with the first week of class, all seem to be pretty good except for my AUST300 but it's all good. A couple days ago a few of us went for a quick run so I've decided to try to do some sort of exercise each day. Yesterday because a few of us went to the beach for a little while, I decided to do a couple count downs of sit ups and 6inches. Today a few of us went for a run, longer than the first. Ya know you have to get that beach body haha just kidding. But the first week of class is almost over and on Friday were going down to Coogee beach for the day and BBQ-ing. Saturday were going to the Cat Empire concert so it looks like we should have a good weekend coming up.

First couple days of classes

So we started classes yesterday, Monday, and of course as I was registering for a new class, that class was currently going on. I show up for the lecture like 40 minutes late, great first impression, I know. Luckily the prof was cool and I had a tutorial with him directly after. It was my AUST300 course, envisioning Australia. It's going to be TONS of readings. No tests thought, just a few papers, participation, and a presentation. Then today I had my first Intro to Marine Science class which seems like a really cool class. On Fridays we have practicals and one of them is just doing precautionary snorkeling tests in the pool on campus. The later on in the year we go on a weekend-long field trip where we'll be snorkeling and seeings all kinds of cool stuff in the bay.

Manly

Today we had it in our plans to attend our beach of choice so far, Manly. We woke to clouded skies but still decided to head to the beach. Luckily as we arrive the sun began to pour through the clouds and what at first seemed a terrible day for the beach turned into one of the best. We got there early afternoon, not really sure when? maybe around noon-ish. We started the beach day off with one of the great culinary experiences of Sydney, the meat pie. Then we proceeded on just to hang out on the beach and frolic around in the waves. A couple of us headed back due to a little sunburn, but hey! were in Australia! Tonight is probably just going to be a chill night because classes start tomorrow, I thought I forgot about something.

So yesterday, Saturday, was a fun day. We woke up to cloudy skies around 10 and all made plans to go to the aquarium. We waited and we waited and waited some more but we finally left and made it through the torrential downpour to downtown. Once we got downtown it was pretty clear skies with clouds later on in the day. We walked over to the aqaurium where we spent a good 2 hours. They had all types of native Australian fishes and sharks along with a manatee. We came back to our apartments had some tacos for dinner and then headed downtown for the night where we went to Argyle. The night rolled on, met some chicas from Melbourne, nice to meet some Australians for once, but eventually headed back to our apartments.

First week or so

So I arrived here early on Saturday the 14th of February and after a long wait in customs, beagles sniffing all of my bags for like 25-30 minutes and finding out where to catch the airport transfer to my school, I finally made it to my apartment. The first couple days were kind of boring just because I was down here earlier than most other people. It included a lot of running around finding stuff for the apartment and just walking around trying to get my bearings. A few guys from above me and the girls from below me all decided to head over to the Ranch my 2nd night here for a few drinks and just hang out. The next day the rest of the people with the group I'm traveling with showed up and we just ran around getting their stuff to settle in and had dinner together up at the Ranch. We finally went to downtown Sydney the next day and it is absolutely amazing down there. We took a bus tour and saw most of the famous sites around Sydney and went to the ever popular Bondi beach. Yesterday was our first really nice sunny day out so a few of us decided to head to Manly beach and catch some Australian waves and go for a nice swim. Manly is an awesome area and were for sure going back there. Then last night two others and myself wondered downtown to the Harbour and walked to the Opera House and later met up with our program director and his brother and friend and a couple girls from our program for a beer and to share some stories.

ONE WEEK!

So I am one week away from leaving the country for nearly 5months for a semester abroad in Sydney, Australia. I have absolutely nothing ready to go haha and it is really setting in on how far away I'm going and that I am basically going there not knowing anyone. I'm working once again at the Boys and Girls Club, trying to scrape some more money together to spend in Sydney. I have also been getting more and more exciting just reading the number events the program is offering to us. They offer us trips from the Great Barrier Reef to the Blue Mountains to rugby matches to BBQs on the beach. All it is now is a waiting game and preparing, making sure that I don't forget anything too important. Speaking of that, I should probably try to get something done.......