Australia

To Sydney.... AGAIN

2009-08-10T16:23:00.002+10:00

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2625747&id=1949055&l=0d6779ccb3

There are some photos from Syndey in the link above.
We left early Thursday morning and I had to take the GRE on Friday morning so we just went to the Opera house and saw the bridge because Patricia, Diogo, and Heidi have never been there. We took silly pictures and went shopping along the way. Then we decided to go to the world's largest IMAX theater and see Harry Potter 3D. The movie was terrible and they make you take off the 3D goggles after 20 minutes, but the screen was ridiculous.
Then Friday I had my exam, which went really well, then we did more shopping and had some awesome sushi. We also went to the Sydney Aquarium and saw the Dugongs and the whole place was Spongebob themed. They had Spongebob and his house and in the tanks.. I was in heaven. That night we went out to celebrate wherever the hostel gave us free drink vouchers.
Saturday we planned on going to Manly beach but when we got there we saw whale watching ships so we decided to do that. It sounded like the best idea because it was sunny and warm outside. But the boat was small and the waves were big... needless to say only Patricia managed to keep her breakfast. At least we saw some whales though.. but I'm not sure if it was worth feeling that sick. I swear half the boat was sick. Everyone else felt fine once they got off but I didn't so they all decided to have dinner in the spinning restaurant... I could hardly eat. It was pretty though because we got to see the city from light to dark and you can see everything. I wish I was hungrier because the food looked awesome too. We couldn't even think about going out that night.
Then Sunday we went home. It was a good weekend and I'm so glad my GRE is done with. Check out my pictures!

Bungy Jumping

2009-07-25T20:18:00.003+10:00

New Zealand Pictures on Facebook

2009-07-21T16:40:00.001+10:00

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2616036&id=1949055&l=fbd7eeb83a

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2616062&id=1949055&l=f4602e35e9

New Zealand Map

2009-07-21T15:11:00.002+10:00

This was the routes we took to get to the places we got to. A total of 2,130 km.

View Larger Map

New Zealand July 5 - 20

2009-07-21T14:15:00.002+10:00

Wow I have tons to tell about New Zealand. I thought I'd be able to get online more often to write but that was impossible. We left July 5 for Christchurch and got our campervan which looks exactly like the pictures. It was pretty small but at least we could stand up in it. Thank God we're short. It had a kitchen, shower, toilet, stove, dishes, seats and a table, and the table and couches turned into our bed. It didn't hold much but just enough and we decided not to shower or use the toilet in the van cuz we really didn't want to clean it out afterwards.... no way. It also had a fridge and the lights worked without plugging the car into an outlet but we had no heat which was killer sometimes. We couldn't afford to stay in a campervan park everynight for that so we traded in the TV for more blankets. We stayed the first night at Diogo's friend's place in Christchurch and I got to see the Uni I almost picked instead of UQ. It's sadly smaller than Gatton, but at least the pub had people in it.
July 6th - we headed to the west coast through Arthur's Pass which was awesome. I've never seen so much beautiful mountains but it took us all day to get through it. Driving through this whole country was awesome because every 20 minutes the landscape changed. At first it was green as green can get with lots of sheep and then it would change to rocky landscape with snow-topped mountains and then you'd be in the mountains. So cool. We parked the car when it got dark and slept just off Arthur's Pass (cuz it's really dangerous). In the morning we kept going and made it to Greymouth. We were going to go see the pancake mountains but we really wanted to make it to the hot springs in Hamner. At Greymouth we didn't stay long but went to the beach for a couple pictures. The beach was not a sand beach but a rock covered beach which was actually very pretty. From there we kinda took our time stopping in random towns and taking pictures with random things like beautiful scenery or weird looking cattle or giant statues. We passed through Reefton and had some amazing pies and then stayed the night near Reefton on the way to Hamner.
July 8th we made it to Hamner Springs and spent much of the day there. The hott springs were awesome. They had the pools filled with water from the springs that were each different temperatures and had different minerals in them. So we jumped in each one at least once. It was awesome to see the mountains from the hott springs (and much warmer). Then we got back to Christchurch that night. We went out for a bit but we left at a decent hour the next day for Queenstown. We stopped in a bunch of towns on the way there and took our time to get there. We got there Friday night and Diogo's friend (from Christchurch) Mariana met us there. It was late and cold so we just found a bottle of wine and chilled for the night.
Saturday morning we went Bungy Jumping at the Nevis site which was ridiculous. You fall 440 feet from this platform in the middle of a valley with a river running through. I've never been so scared in my friggin life!!! They suit you up in a harness and they also attach you by your feet. They put a cord on the side of your ankles for you to pull so you don't come back up like a fish but instead attached by your harness like in a chair. Diogo went first and screwed that up. It's not a big deal if you don't pull it but it was hilarous when he came back upside down. You have to pull the cord on your second bounce and he was pulling it all wrong. You have to pull it to the side but he was pulling it towards him. I was the next to go and it all happens so fast when you're getting all attached that you don't have to time to think about what you're doing. I didn't look down at all when I got to the platform cuz I'd flip. And next thing I knew I was falling. There's like no feeling like it. I thought my stomach would drop like in a roller coaster but it doesn't and the bounces don't snap like a rubber band like I thought they would but the first bounce you go halfway back up. Crazzyyyyy. It's the second highest bungy in the Southern Hemisphere and you feel like you're falling forever. Surprisingly I didn't scream but I could hardly talk when I got back up so... And I remembered to pull the cord the right way. That day we also did the sky swing at a different site. The guy made me wrap my feet around the ropes of the swing so that when you drop you swing upside down. This wasn't nearly as high as Bungy but you had to pull your own cord for you to drop and its still no picnic. Then you have to attach yourself to get pulled back up. So awesome.
Sunday we left for Te Anau and got there for the Glow Worm caves which were pretty sweet. They take you on a boat ride over the the caves across Lake Te Anau and the cave still has a river running through it so it's pretty young in cave terms. They take you through the cave and at the end they put you on a small boat with all the lights off and you can't make any noise because they react to light and noise. It was like the stars in the sky it was soo cool. Google "Glowworms" they're pretty cool. Monday we went on a bus ride to Milford sound and stopped at different spots in Fiordland National Park. We stopped at this spot called Mirror Lakes which (you guessed it), the mountains in the background are mirrored perfectly in the lake below.... so sick. Then we stopped at various mountains and glaciers to take pictures and went on a couple short trails. On our last trail, we got back and the tour guide found a couple of Kea's (they're the only snow mountain parrott in the world) and both me and Diogo got to feed them. I have videos of that. Then we finally made it to Milford Sounds which we took a cruise boat through. We saw some waterfalls and fur seals laying on the rocks and the captain practically got us right underneath the waterfall. We stayed another night in Te Anau.
Tuesday we headed off for Dunedin which actually ended up being my favorite town. When we got there we did the Speight's Brewery tour. Speight's is the number one beer in New Zealand and the brewery only brews keg beer and still has all old copper machines and all original machinery from the 1800s. The guy made it really interesting and at the end we got to try all their beers. The next day we went to the Cadburry Chocolate Factory and every time we went to a different room they gave us candy bars. I think we all rolled out of there. That place was cool and at the very end they take you to one of the silo's and drop 1 ton of chocolate through this fountain and it gets everywhere!! We also visited an old church from the 1800s and went to Lanarch Castle. It's the only castle in New Zealand which is actually only a mansion built by an Australian banker that looks like a castle. It's not even that old so I wasn't that impressed but it was still good to see it. We also drove all the way to the peninsula and saw some Albatross (they have an Albatross and penguin colony in Dunedin) but it was too expensive to go on the tours.
We drove out of Dunedin and camped. That was when there was an Earthquake in the South Island. We weren't anywhere near it but in the middle of the night I felt the car rock. Pretty sweet. We were already on the East coast and had parked by the beach. The next day we walked different parts of the beach and went through to Timaru. I thought there would be something to do there but we ended up finding nothing. So we just went back to Christchurch. By then we were beat and tired of sleeping in the cold so we spent the weekend in Christchurch. We also got sick and somehow we made it through the airport without being quarantined for swine flu. lol. Overall.... awesome awesome time. I swear I saw that whole country. Right now Diogo and I are making a video with all of the pictures and videos that I took so when its done I'll post it on youtube and you can look at it. I'm so glad to be back in Australia... I don't have to wear a winter coat!! School starts July 27 and for the next 3 weeks I need to study for the GRE that I'm taking in Sydney on August 7th. Wish me luck!!! I'll post more in the meantime.

A preview of my New Zealand Adventures

2009-07-03T15:38:00.001+10:00

Here's the sites for some of the tours we are going to do in NZ.

http://www.partner.viator.com/en/3218/tours/Fiordland-and-Milford-Sound/Te-Anau-Glow-Worm-Caves-Tour/d756-2264RJ400

http://www.partner.viator.com/en/3218/tours/Queenstown/Queenstown-Nevis-Highwire-Bungy-Jump/d407-2454ZQN_NEVIS

http://www.partner.viator.com/en/3218/tours/Queenstown/The-Ledge-Queenstowns-Sky-Swing/d407-2454ZQN_LEDGE_SWING

Diogo's birthday present for me!:
http://www.viator.com/tours/Christchurch/Christchurch-Gondola-Dinner-and-Maori-Concert/d400-2950CLT07A

http://www.viator.com/tours/Queenstown/Doubtful-Sound-Wilderness-Cruise-from-Queenstown/d407-2264RJ301

My 21st!

2009-07-03T15:31:00.002+10:00

Wow I had an amazing birthday. My friends and I (whoever was still left in Gatton) went up to the Sunshine Coast in Noosa for 3 days and my friend Taz rented out this awesome place for us and paid for it all. She's just amazing. It had a kitchen, dining room and living room with a balcony on the top floor and 3 bedrooms and a hot tub and grill on the bottom deck... just like Cribs style. We cooked dinner and just chilled out every night except we went to this Reef and Beef place on my birthday and got some amazing food and drinks. Also that morning the girls made this huuge brunch with pink champagne. How spoiled am I? Everyday we were tanning and sleeping on the beach and just enjoying ourselves. I just had the best time. I did miss everyone at home tho and thought about the big night I could've had at home but we'll have to postpone that til December. BTW my official day to come home is December 3rd (I'm not changing it again lol). Tonight we are celebrating Wayne's wife's birthday and my birthday at the staff club (we have the same birthday) and then tomorrow Diogo and I are going up to Brisbane to go to a BBQ and watch a band with some of his friends from Brasil. And then Sunday I leave for New Zealand!! I'll keep everyone posted on my adventures and hopefully I'll live to tell how scary Bungy jumping is!!! EEK Love you all!

Riding Vegemite

2009-05-29T20:58:00.003+10:00

My stirrups are kinda short but hey I'm learning.

Echidnas!!!

2009-05-29T20:37:00.002+10:00

Wow I haven't written in ages... sorry guys. It's cuz nothing really has been going on. I got bogged with assignments and I haven't really done anything exciting since my mid-semester break. Well today, Renee, Patricia, and I drove up to Currumbin Wildlife Center and volunteered working in one of our professor's reproduction centers with Echidnas! They don't breed in captivity and they've only ever had two echidnas born in captivity in Western Australia Zoo. So one of his students is doing her research on why they don't breed in captivity. So we got to help with their enclosures. Some enclosures have logs that they dig under and some have nesting boxes. They're trying to see which they prefer. The problem is with the nesting boxes is that they just dig under the boxes and they needed to be insulated. So we helped with that and then they let us walk around the Wildlife Center for free and I actually got to see a Tasmanian Devil! They think she's pregnant too which is probs why she was so active. Then we walked back and helped check their body temperature's. They have this microchip under their skin that you scan like an Avid Chip and it rings up their ID and their body temp. They also have cameras everywhere and the males have reflectors attached to their spines and at night you can see them running around. They watch them 24/7 and moniter their activity because the WA Zoo noticed that they are really active two weeks before they breed. I had a blast and hopefully there will be more to do next week. I'll post pictures in a bit. Toodles.

Macca's

2009-04-27T12:17:00.001+10:00

So yesterday we went to McDonald's (Macca's) and I asked the girl at the counter for a large fry and she just stared at me with a really confused face.... I said it again in case it was my accent and she still just stared at me. Then I said "a large order of french fries?" and then she understood..... sigh.

What a week!

2009-04-19T11:09:00.007+10:00

So last time I wrote it was my last night at the hostel in Brisbane (thank God). I finally had some work boots and we brought all our stuff to the zoo cuz our friend Diogo was picking us up after our shift. I got stuck with kangaroos again and I actually had to do some work! It was soo hott and I had to rake up leaves and bag roo poo. Then they sent me over to wombats but i took pictures with a koala, snake, and possum instead. It was late in the afternoon then and we were exhausted. So we left the zoo around 4 or so and drove to our hotel near Fraser Island.

Thursday we got up early and got to Fraser Island by barge. We rented a 4WD Toyota truck which was huge. The Island was just gorgeous. It's the largest all sand island in the world and it looks untouched. The only roads there are sands paths which go to all the lakes and each lake is just beautiful. We went to the best lake first because we didn't know if the weather was going to stay nice all weekend (but it did!). It took us 2 hours to get there but it was so worth it. The lake was a white sand bottom lake with the clearest bluest water I've ever seen. You could stand up to your shoulders in the water and see your feet. I haven't had a lazy day at the beach since my parents were here so it felt sooo nice to lay out and sleep in the sun. Pati, Taz, Diogo, and his mom came with us and we had a blast except Diogo doesn't listen to his mom at all. Lake Mackenzie is pretty big but it doesn't look like it from the other side so he decided to swim across it. Momma Dingo was NOT happy and was screaming at her 30 year old son like he was 10. Hilarious. Then we went back to the hotel at dark and played some card games.

Friday we went to Champagne pools and Indian head. We drove from the hotel right along the beach to get to Indian head which is the farthest place to the north of the island that you can drive your car. It is this cliff that comes to the end of the beach and its perfect for pictures of the beach. It took us a half hour to get up there but so beautiful. Then we walked to Champagne pools which are these pools (obvi) that are covered with shells and coral rocks and when the waves crash over them it bubbles and foams like champagne. There wasn't much to lay on except the rocks so we weren't there for too long.

Saturday was our last day :( We went to Lake Wabby which is towards the middle of the island and the only ways to get there are a 45 minute trek through the woods or a 40 minute trek through the sand dunes. We took the woods cuz it was waaayy too hott to be running on the sand for that long. When we got there of course it was gorgeous. The lake is on the bottom of a sand dune with the forest on the other side and the lake is green from the trees. There were a ton of huge catfish that were were feeding and a couple of turtles. There was an accident at the lake though. Everyone who visits usually rolls down the sand dunes into the lake for fun but some guy I think tried to dive in there and knocked himself out. So all of a sudden we see this helicopter land on the dunes and airlift him out of there. There was also a car accident on the beach that day with 11 Europeans and 2 of them died. People go really fast on the beach and they have no idea what they're doing. So yeah all of our friends were freaking out because we didn't have any signal on the island and they heard about the crash. After Lake Wabby we headed back and it took us 5 hours to get home to Gatton. Back to reality and lots of work. Booo

If you want to see pictures from the zoo:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2567506&id=1949055&l=001a825d64

If you want to see pictures from Fraser Island:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2567497&id=1949055&l=ff65bff403

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2567503&id=1949055&l=e7d3591ad6

Fail..

2009-04-14T20:51:00.002+10:00

So right after I wrote my blog last night I put my work boots in the dryer so that I wouldn't have wet shoes for today. When I went and got them an hour later they came out in 5 pieces. The soles of my boots were completely ripped off and the heel of one of my boots came off too. You seriously wouldn't believe it if I showed you. I couldn't believe it so I was basically screwed for today. Nothing here is open 24 hours or even until 10am so I just didn't go to the zoo today cuz I had to buy new work boots and by the time we would've gotten there it would've been 1pm and we'd have to leave at 4 so we just said forget it. Plus Pati had a headache from the rain and being wet and cold yesterday so we took it easy today. So we walked into downtown Brisbane and bought myself some new boots from Target... ugh. Only in Australia this would happen. I was supposed to work with the Lemurs and Reptiles today.. oh well. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day and a dry one too!

What a ripper!

2009-04-13T20:11:00.002+10:00

So today is rained alllll daayyyy lonnngg. It never let up once! My boots were soaked by 10am but I still had a lot of fun. We got to work with the Kangaroos... well mostly their poop and picking up the fallen branches in the enclosures. They are so friendly. Everytime I walked by they would hop over and sniff me for food. There's one with a huge Joey in her pouch and she's really friendly too. So then I helped with the first Croc show and Terri and Robert did the show again with Wes and I was like 10 feet from her when she did the platform feed! Wicked! Then I went over to Wombats and we got to pet and feed the Wombats. The keeper is from Ohio and she let us jump in the display area with the oldest wombat they have and feed her. They're pretty funny things. Then we cleaned out their feed bowls and went home cuz it was just too wet. Overall not an exciting day but still a fun one. It felt so good to get a warm shower when we got back. Tomorrow I'm working with the Lemurs and then the reptiles which will hopefully be indoors most of the time. Yay soo excited! AND only a couple more days until Fraiser Island. Woo

CROCS RULE

2009-04-12T21:19:00.002+10:00

So today started off a little weird but at the end it was awesome. I must've missed something in the morning cuz there really wasn't much to do when we got there until the first Croc show at 11:00 at the Crocoseum. I got to see the Irwin family feed the crocs! Terri, Bindi, and Bob were there and so was Wes. I got some awesome shots of Terri feeding Graham from the platform and Bindi feeding for the very second time! Then I got yelled at by security for taking pictures instead of guarding the exit stairs... oops. After that I wondered around with the main Croc manager Stewie and helped with backwashing the filters for the pools. Then I helped with the picture-taking. They had a 4-year old American Alligator that the kids could pet and take pictures with. It was def pissed off because when we were done and Jack picked him up Lez started swinging himself around trying to get free and smacked this guy on the back like 5 times with his tail. Jack looked like he was in pain. He was a pretty long one and had a fat tail and probably weighed about 8 kilos. So after that I ran back and helped with the second Croc show... well I was supossed to but I just watched. It wasn't as crowded because Stewie was doing the show and Terri was in the gift shop with the kids signing autographs. I actually saw Terri wandering around but she looked busy so I didn't bug her. After that I helped control the crowds when they fed Charlie in his enclosure. He's one of the nastiest ones and he's pretty protective of his girlfriend Annie. They got him to jump out of the water and you shoulda heard the snap of his jaws!! It sounds like 2 bones cracking together. Wow! They have the jaw pressure of 3,000 kilos which is like what they use to emergency stop jets. You can tell I was amazed. Then I watched some of the new croc boys being trained as they fed the freshies (freshwater crocodiles). They have an enclosure with 10 of them and then the other one is Old Mr. Freshie who is 130 years old! The freshies are a lot smaller than the salties and their mouths are so pointy like an arrow. Beautiful! Overall I had an awesome day even tho I really didn't get to do much for obvious reasons. It was raining on and off all day and since it was Easter I wore my bunny ears. The kids kept asking me where I hid all the Easter eggs (if they found them they got prizes) lol. Tomorrow Pati and I are both working in the Native Animals department so that hopefully means dingos, tazmanian devils, wombats and more! yay! Oh some other things I'm just remembering... Pati and I were walking thru Roo Heaven where everyone can feed and pet the Kangaroos and we saw this one that looked like it was dead in the middle of the sidewalk. So Pati stayed with it and I had someone radio help but I guess this one kangaroo gets soo comfortable with people that she just doses off and doesn't care what you do to her. As soon as one of the keepers came over with leaves she was up like nothing happened. Oh yeah and I also saw someone walking a wombat on a leash! Hilarious! Well I gotta go to bed cuz I gotta get up really early tomorrow to catch the train!

2009-04-11T20:03:00.003+10:00

So today was our first day volunteering and it was a blast. I got signed up for Exotic Mammals but somehow got stuck with Pony Rides lol. That's ok I got some good exercise lifting kids on and off the ponies. I did that for a couple of hours then Pati and I helped with the elephant feedings. They line the elephants up and the ppl line up and feed them fruit. We got to do it at the end and got some pictures. Pretty sweet. Then we just wandered around and took pictures with some Koalas. It's awesome being a volunteer because the zoo keepers are really nice and they know we want to get as much hands on as we can so they let us do things other zoo patrons can't do like take certain pictures and go behind enclosures and pet the huge Galapagos turtles whenever we want (they're so soft!!). I was pretty jealous of Pati tho. She got signed up for reptiles and got to help with the Croc show and Bindi fed her first croc! Bindi, Robert, Terri, and Wes were all in the show and I guess Wes (Steve's best mate) jumped in the water with the croc. AND they got it to do a death roll over a pig's leg. I would've died if I saw that. Maybe they'll be there tomorrow. Tomorrow Pati gets to work with the Koala department and I get to work in the croc department. SICK!!

Soo excited for this week

2009-04-10T19:27:00.002+10:00

So we're finally here in Brisbane and tomorrow Pati and I start volunteering at the zoo. It's gunna be soo much fun. I don't know what departments I'll be working in yet but I'll be writing here everyday for the next couple of days. We're staying at a hostel bc the hotel in Beerwah was all booked up for the holidays. It's my first time staying in a hostel and its def weird. I have three other girls in this room that I will prob never say a word to and the whole place just seems squishy. They have a nice outdoor patio with kitchen, TV room and pool table but its too chilly to sit outside right now (who'da thought I'd say it's cold in Australia). So the plans are for this week (since I'm on Easter Break) are to volunteer until Wednesday then get picked up and go to Fraser Island for 3 days. It's suuch a beautiful place from the looks of it... all sand beaches with a dozen beautiful lakes and creeks on it. Google it if you can but I'll have pictures up next week. And then I have ANOTHER week off for "no contact week". It's just our campus for the External students. They come in and do school for a week to get contact hours with the professors and take quizzes and stuff. So I technically have 2 weeks off... shibby. Anyways I'll keep you posted. Try not to get too jealous lol Love you all.

More UQ pictures

2009-04-01T11:12:00.010+10:00

Walking downt the dirt road at sunset

This one kept following me

Ozzy!

Itching his butt

YAY!!!!

2009-03-23T22:13:00.002+10:00

So yay I got the job at the zoo!!! I'm going to work there for 5 days over Easter break and then go to Moreton Island for the rest of my vaca. It's going to be sick!!! I get to work in a different department everyday so I'll really get to do a lot. I really want to work with the crocs but we'll see. She's going to send me my schedule in a couple of weeks.

Btw, if you haven't seen this video it's hilarious... this is what Kiwi's sound like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdVHZwI8pcA

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOWL0KMAIek&feature=related

I have to do hw?!?!?

2009-03-18T19:41:00.002+10:00

So I haven't written in a while for a reason... there's nothing to write about. I finally realized that I'm not on vacation anymore and need to actually start my school work so that's what I've been doing. This past weekend we went into Toowomba and went to a bar there. It was pretty cool. The front of the bar was like an Irish pub, the back of it was a more modern bar, and the top floor was a dance club. We stayed upstairs most of the time and it was a lot of fun. The next town over was 25 km away so it took a bit to get home but it was lots of fun. First time since I've been here that I've been out past midnight hahah. Other than that this week is busy busy busy. Yesterday I had a riding lesson with this program called Coach-Ed.. It's where people my age are learning to be coaches. I thought it would be good because I'd get extra riding time but it was AWFUL. These girls were getting corrected every sentence and telling me different things than what I was taught and just confused the shit outta me. I was on Vegie for 5 minutes, in the middle of the afternoon when it was 95 degrees out and poor Vegie was hott and tired. he had 3 more lessons after me.. I felt so bad for that old bugger. So yeah I walked away frusterated and I'm not going to do that again. I had a real riding lesson today and got to a rising trot around both sides of the arena! I was so proud of myself. Tonight I'm just chilling and doing some hw. I'm going to the zoo this saturday for my interview so wish me luck. I talked to another girl who volunteers there and she loves it. She just comes in whenever she wants and tells them where she wants to work and they just let her do what she wants. I really want to work with the tigers but she said the kid's zoo is the most hands on and the most fun. I don't really know what they have there but I don't want to play with pigs and goats while I'm at a friggin zoo when there's tigers and elephants to play with. Anyways I'll let you know how that goes.

Some pictures of campus

2009-03-14T18:34:00.005+10:00

Row of Palms in the Quad

"Quad"

My uni!!

Home sweet home

Vegemite!!

This Vegemite's view of the campus with the eucalyptus forest and mountains.

These are the stables practically in my backyard.

Vegemite

2009-03-05T07:41:00.002+10:00

So yesterday I got to ride a horse for the first time and it actually went okay. I learned how to gear him up, lead him to the arena, and get up and ride him. The university has horses that I can ride and they gave me one name Vegemite (they call him Vegie for short) It's like riding a broken bicycle. I was trying to figure out how tight to hold the reins and make him go places. Poor Vege was so patient with me. Jeez I was a mess but I didn't want my teacher to know how much I was freaking out. I'm supposed to be able to jump fences by the end of the year. WTF?!?! Then we gave him a bath. Horses are funny things. They're like really jumpy, big dogs. There is so much you have to be careful about with a horse so you don't scare the crap out of them but I'll get used to it. Every animal has their own mannerisms. Other than that, syllabus week has been pretty sweet. We got to watch an AI of a horse and actually looked at real ultrasound of a follicle... not just the picture from a book. Anyways I gotta go get breakfast and go feed Vege. Maybe I'll get to ride again since I don't have class til 3. CYA

First Day of Classes....

2009-03-02T18:46:00.003+10:00

Man today was the first day of classes and I was sooo not ready to start studying again. But classes are going to be easy for a while so at least that's good. Last night was scribble party (graffiti night) which is everyone wears a white shirt and everyone writes stuff all over your shirt. I haven't looked at mine yet but I'm sure it says a lot about being American and Britney Spears (people call me Miss Spears). There were a lot more people out last night because of all the returning students. It was a mess full of drunks. Today was pretty nerve-racking because I didn't know where my classes were because all the buildings are numbered so I had to figure out where they were. It was funny because I signed up for this Horse Husbandry and Equitation class and I went in to class knowing nothing about horses. I figured that I'd be fine... no. I was surrounded by people who own their own horses and know how to ride... so I had to talk to my professor (who thank God is an academic adviser) and he said that another girl and I would have to take side lessons as beginners. I don't really care as long as I pass. So that starts tomorrow. I have to find some Equine majors and borrow their boots and helmet. I think this guy felt bad for me because I was an international student and came into class with nothing. He asked me if I was okay getting around campus... maybe I looked lost. Anyways tonight the RA's are gunna get balsted but I have class tomorrow at 8 (wooooo). Is there anyone reading this thing anyways?! e-mail me and tell me what's going on with you!

Market Day

2009-02-26T13:57:00.003+10:00

So last yesterday was fun. Everyone got moved in and we all got to know each other in our hall, got changed, and went and played Watermelon touch.... it's rugby played with a watermelon. I've never played rugby before so I ran around out there like an idiot and eventually got someone to sub in for me. We forgot all about the game because it was more fun to throw the pieces of watermelon at the other team. I got hit in the stomach and it left a mark... prob will bruise. After we showered we had "formal dinner" in which everyone dressed up in garbage bags. Everyone got 2 garbage bags and got to make an outfit out of it. Some of the guys had pants, ties, and hats. Alot of the girls just made dresses but it was fun to see everyone. And it was a formal, white table cloth dinner which made it better. Then we had a dance at the Res Club with the theme "tight, bright, and sparkly". Most made a poor effort and so did I. We got a heads up for what was going on that morning so we left early. And I'm still sick and the XXXX Gold's were not necessarily helping. So at 4am this morning the R.A.'s got on the loud speaker, made everyone get out of bed, and run around the campus to "show us around". Bloody hell if I was going to run... neither did half the people. I'm not that stupid. So it took us about an hour and then we passed out. Today is Market Day which is just like Quad Day except only 10 tents but lots of free stuff. I signed up for Net Ball (I've never played or ever seen a game so it should be interesting. Pa will have to teach me) and I signed up for SWAG which is a wildlife club. Tonight the theme is Twilight Races... so anything to do with racing like dog racing, boat racing, horse racing, etc. I just have a big, floppy sun hat. I didn't have time to go shopping and Gatton def won't have much. Oh yeah and my computer crashed. It won't turn on so I'm pretty screwed. I saved all the docs before I left but I had some online hw saved and my application for the Australia Zoo plus my pictures from my trip. Really really not pleased. Well gotta go. I pay by the gig here.

Day before O-week

2009-02-24T14:01:00.002+10:00

Ugh so I'm sick... I cant breathe cuz of the humidity and my throat kinda hurts. I don't want to do a damn thing today... not like there's anything to do right now anyways. We've been going out everynight but just not doing much. We went to the bar the other day and played pool and walked home aroun midnight and last night we went home early cuz I'm sick of playing Rockband and I'm not that good at it. I just can't wait for Orientation week to start. Every night there's a theme party and something to do during the day. I wish I brought all my costumes. Most people will be moved in by then too so at least there will be some life in this hallway. Other than that nothing new at all. Oh yeah except there is this mouse that keeps coming into my room. It's so cute tho but they say that where there is mice there is snakes so I'm going to try to catch it today and find it a new home. I'll have some more to talk about later this week! Cheers!

There are more cows here than people

2009-02-22T00:53:00.002+10:00

Now I don't want to be that city girl who complains about living in the country but I think I'm going to do that for just a little bit. It's 1am here and I've already been on the internet for an hour bored. The campus here is really really remote. Patricia, Heidi and I (two girls that I met the first one from Brazil and Heidi is from Norway) went into town today and nothing was open (cuz it's Saturday except for the dollar store (something like it but it's called Crazy Clark's), the liquor store which woulda been sweet if we had a car cuz it was a drive-through and a pub. We visited all three that were open, got hit on my drunk old men in the pub, and listened to this girl's life story about getting pregnant and she's 16. Crikey mate (yeah they really do say that). So that was our excitement. I tried to go for a run but nearly passed out from the heat so I just walked it. Then I drank half my bottle of wine and chilled with the R.A.'s cuz they're the only living beings besides us on the campus. Tomorrow is Sunday and I don't know what the hell I'm going to do. Skype me for God's sake and tell me some gossip from home britt7567.

Oh and one last thing. Drinking games are illegal on campus and no one gets drunk here (or pissed as they call it). And everyone else abroad... you thought it'd be easy because they speak English here. Well it's not English at all. It's like another language. Their slang is so awful I don't understand a damn thing. And everyone knows I'm from the States as soon as I open my mouth. Anyways... the girls and I are planning on going horseback riding tomorrow so hopefully the stables are open otherwise I don't know what I'm gunna do.

P.S. The gym here is only open from 3pm-6pm on the weekdays and Sunday. WTF! I think I'm going to get fat.

First Day of Uni

2009-02-20T23:38:00.002+10:00

Today was a pretty fun day but also very nerve-racking. My parents dropped me off at Riddell Hall around 3pm and thank God I met a girl from across the hall and we went to dinner together. Her name is Patricia and she's from Brazil. Right now there's like 0 people here except for 3 of us girls and all the R.A.'s who are actually really cool. They invited us back to their flat which is attached to my hall and we drank some beers, played rock band and just chilled out after dinner. They're all really nice and really fun but they all think I talk funny and ask me to repeat things and laugh (acutally just this one girl named Legs but oh well). Today was so much better than I expected but seriously no one is going to be here until Wednesday so I don't know what I'm going to be doing. It's really remote out here. It's about the size of U of I's quad including the buildings, halls, and offices. There's not much in town and not many bars so they said that the university hosts a lot of parties (the residential staff does a lot of fun stuff not lame mixers). It's no Illini atmosphere but I'm not at U of I anymore. Looks like for the next couple days I'll be running a lot. Well gnite.

02/16/09 Always a day ahead

2009-02-16T20:51:00.002+10:00

So today we didn't do too much. We got up late and walked along the 4-mile beach but we prob made it about 1 mile down cuz it was soo hott. It's so humid with no breeze.. just unbearable now. Then we walked around the town. Then we went on this riverboat called the Lady Douglas (after Port Douglas the town we're in). You basically drink and look for crocs and we saw 2! OMG. There was one right underneath the sign with its mouth open just staring at us. We thought it was fake but then we saw it crawl into the water. I got a video of it. Once I get to school I'll be able to put all these pictures and videos up. The internet at the hotels haven't been strong enough and for some reason my computer is crapping out on me. Jeez. Anyways tomorrow we leave for Brisbane (where my school is). We'll spend 5 days there and then my parents leave me here! Love you all.

02/15/09

2009-02-16T20:48:00.000+10:00

Well last night was fun. We went out to dinner with the older couple from Danville, IL. I felt really sick cuz we sat out there for like 3 hours in the humidity. Ugh. Today we went on another dive and it was soooo much better. We got to go to 3 different reef spots and I dove at the first and third stop and snorkeled the first and second spot. Each spot was so different. The first spot had really colorful coral and it was really shallow. It was a lot better than diving a couple of days ago because that coral was brown and dead. There were hardly any fish but it was soo pretty. And I finally came up without getting a headache. I asked the instructor how to try and prevent them and she said to drink more water and to not come up so fast. The second dive had a lot of really big fish. I snorkeled out there and all of a sudden I was surrounded with these parrot fish and all these big black fish and they were eating the coral. You could heat the crunching under the water. As long as I didn’t swim too fast I was able to take a bunch of video and pictures. They were soo pretty. At the third spot we got to hold a sea cucumber and we saw a turtle!! The place was called playground because of all the baby fish that live in the coral. You would look at a piece of coral and there’d be 100 baby fish hiding in there and they were all sorts of colors. The water was different temperatures too when you swam around. I also saw a bunch of nemo fish. This site seriously looked like the Discovery Channel. I was in awe. It was the best out of the three but my camera died 5 minutes into the dive so I was pissed I couldn’t get pictures of it. We were down there for about a half hour. I am def going to get certified when I get to school. Some of the reef reaches out to Brisbane so I can dive out there. This would’ve been the best place to dive if you were certified. You seriously couldn’t get enough time down there. So tonight just me and my dad went to the bar and got some dinner and tomorrow we’re going to the 4-mile beach for some tanning. It’s our last night at the reef L and then we head to Brisbane! Yay school. OMG Spongebob is on. G2g

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T11:50:00.000+10:00

Okay so the 11th we went and saw Ayers Rock which was really pretty. We did another sunrise tour and again my mom didn’t get up. We looked at cave paintings and walked around the rock. Apparently you can climb it but it was too windy and we didn’t have it booked and the Aboriginals don’t want you to. After that we flew in to Cairns. It is such a different climate here. There’s a rainforest covering the mountains and it’s so humid. And instead of birds they have bats!! They were covering the sky when we drove in and they were the size of seagulls! But I guess they are so nice that you can make a pet out of them. They eat all the fruit in the trees and I actually saw one fly by with a piece of fruit in its mouth. Today we went on a dive in the reef. My parents chickened out and didn’t make it down but it was soo cool. I guess the reef is bleached out from all of the sugar cane fields which sux but at least all the fish were colorful. They swim right next to you as if you’re not even there. I saw an eel, huge fish, a baby shark, and we got to touch some of the reef plants. We were down there for about a half hour but I got to snorkel and see more. It was lots of fun. Omg my dad just set the toaster on fire by putting a cracker in there. I gotta go.

It's sooo humid in Cairns. Imagine the middle of summer in Chicago without air conditioning. Barely any of the restaurants or shops have air con (as they call it) because they keep the doors open. The rainforest comes right up to the beach and it covers the mountains here. It's beautiful. None of the pictures I've been taking of this place do it justice. All the places we've been are so much more beautiful than my pictures will try to show so we'll have to come back lol. Today we got up and out by 4:30 am and had a personal driver from Port Douglas to the air balloon place which was about an hour and a half. The roads are so windy I get car sick every time we drive down the main road but I just look out the window at the beach. We got there and just hopped in the air balloon. It held about 12 people and we got to go twice. Taking off was easy (for us... I guess it takes 10 years to get licensed to ride a balloon) but landing was tough. The first time we landed in a puddle and got soaked. The second time we landed in a cow field in all the mud (we hope). We helped take down the balloon and roll it up and stuff. It was really cool and we got up into the clouds a couple of times. So I can say I actually touched a cloud. Then we had breakfast at this hotel and got back here around 10:30. I'm gunna take a nap and hope the sun comes out so I can lay by the pool and tan. It's the wet season here (they renamed it the green season so that the tourists would be fooled to come here at this time) so it's been raining all morning except during our ride.

Reasons why I'll never travel with my parents this long again

2009-02-11T13:33:00.002+10:00

I feel like a 13 year old kid embarassed of my parents but seriously sometimes they are pretty unbearable.

1) Mom can't open any door to save her life because she can't figure out what a handle does

2) They tell everyone 3 things: we're from chicago, we love the hott weather (also explain how tough chicago is with -15 degree weather), I'm going to school in a town they can't pronounce. It gets annoying hearing the same speil when they tell every person we meet including the cabbies, strangers on the bus.... freaking everyone!!

3) Mom's bag that goes on every tour: all makeup, mirror, 5 lbs of pills, jacket for 100 degree weather, no sunscreen, 2 hats, my sunglasses, a 500 page book, 2 liter water bottle, basically her life when we're only going to be gone for 3 hours.... and guess who carries half of her crap

4) Call everyone shiela's and blokes and think it's funny (but no one laughs or even calls ppl that)

5) Explain to everyone how things are done in the U.S. even tho most ppl already know or don't care

6) My dad stares at people like they're not even speaking English. I have to translate English to him.

They are those kind of tourists.... the ones with 6 huge luggage bags, who hold up the bus, who hit everyone in the aisle with more bags on the bus, they are those guys....

Leaving the Bush

2009-02-11T13:31:00.001+10:00

I'm at the airport right now waiting to get to the Reef. My parents made friends with this couple from England and they invited us to their cottage in France if we ever make it out to Europe. Today we got up really early and walked around the Uluru rock. It was really pretty but it was tiring being there to watch the sunrise when we did the sunrise tour at Kings Canyon and the sunset stargazing dinner in Uluru. But we did it except my mom again (she hasn't done any of the sunrise tours... what a punk). So it was nice to see it but I'll never do this tour again. It's nice for a one time deal but that's about it. Last night at the sunset tour we sat at a table with 3 locals. They were from the Melbourne area and they are living together for a couple of months working in Alice Springs. They were about 24/25 and it was SOO nice to talk to someone under 50 years old. They were a lot of fun too and we learned a lot from them. I can't remember their names but they said they would facebook me and I gave them my phone number. They stayed at the bar too for a while at our hotel and my dad and one of the girls played pool and won both rounds. One of the girls said she'd be in the Brisbane area in a month or so and would call me. Hopefully they will all come. So that was really nice to do that. Tonight when we get to the reef we don't have anything planned but finding a restaurant. Tomorrow I don't think we have anything planned either. The only things we have booked is the air balloon ride and the scuba dive. I don't mind laying on the beach for the next 6 days and finally get a good tan. I've been looking forward to this part of the trip the whole time. I swear I'll get my pictures up this week. They're mostly of scenery and animals.

02/10/09

2009-02-10T15:46:00.000+10:00

Ok so I lost track of a couple of days. I think the last thing I left off on was Tuesday when I went to Bondi beach for surfing.

So Wednesday morning we climbed the Sydney Bridge which was scarier than I thought. You’re up two and a half football fields from the water in Sydney Harbor at the top. It was a big excursion too. You had to put on a jumpsuit, belt harness, radio head set, hat clipped to your suit, sunglasses clipped to your jumpsuit, and then your life support which is a piece that attaches your belt to a wire that goes all up the whole walk. It wasn’t sunny out or too hott so we got really lucky wearing those ridiculous jumpsuits. It took about 2 and ½ hours to do it but it wasn’t too bad. We stopped along the way to look out and have the guide explain sites to us. We climbed over 1,000 steps and I surprisingly wasn’t sore. It was lots of fun.
We stopped at a pub for lunch and then did a tour through the Opera House. Not so much fun but you see the building from everywhere in the city so you have to go for a tour. After that we took a cab over to the Aquarium at Darling Harbor. They had all sorts of things, crocs and stuff. Then we had dinner on DH.

Thursday we got up pretty early and did a whole tour up to the Blue Mountains. First we had breakfast with the Koalas at Featherdale Wildlife Park. They brought around Kobe the Koala while we ate and we were allowed to pet it. Then we went around the park and saw all the really cool stuff. They had a bunch of really pretty birds, bats, lots of wombats and the usual kangaroos, wallaby’s, Tasmanian devils, dingoes and stuff. Then we were able to feed the wallaby’s with ice cream cones filled with wallaby food. They are soo funny. They also have peacocks and birds just flying around without cages. We were only there for an hour and a half and we went on the bus to the top of the Blue Mountains. It was gorgeous up there. It’s called Blue Mountains because the eucaliptis trees give off a blue gas and the whole mountain range is covered with them so the range looks blue from a distance. Then we stopped at this old 1800 Hotel for lunch. Then we got to the other side of the mountains and stopped to see wild kangaroos in the field. They were really far away so I hope the pictures come out ok. But they said they haven’t seen them out much because it’s been so bloody hot. So after that we stopped at the National Park and took wired carts over the Jamison Valley then walked around the bottom of it and looked at the old coal mines and trees and whatnot. Then we took a train back up which is the steepest train lift in the world (it’s on a 50 degree angle like a rollercoaster). It was surprisingly cool and not terribly hot even tho the Aussies think it’s dreadful. After that the coach dropped us off at the hotel at the top of the mountain in a town called Leura. Nothing was open except for one restaurant that we walked 2 miles to, Silke’s. It was the best meal I’ve had though so it was definitely worth it. I think the waitress was glad to see us go cuz me and my mom split a bottle of wine and she was getting a little rowdy (just loud). And I guess you can’t be drunk in the pubs here. If you are the bar will get charged a $5000 fine so the bar will kick you out. If you don’t leave the bar will call the cops and its an automatic $500 fine on the spot and could be thousands of dollars in court. I also learned that it’s mandatory to vote in Australia and if you don’t then you will be fined (and more each year if you don’t). Every offense is so heavily fined that no one breaks the rules here and we hardly see police here because everything is monitored on a video camera. The rules are so strict that the driver told us that a girl got 3 months in jail for graffiti. Pretty steep. Anyways the town was nice and we got picked up around 3pm the next day.

Friday night we went to China town which was only a couple blocks from our hotel and it was awesome there. I haven’t been to China town in Chicago but this one was probably better. They had vendors all over the streets selling jewelry and clothes and the food was really good. We went to this restaurant that had fish tanks full of fish, crabs, and mussels as the front part of their restaurant. That was really good and we went to bed early so we could get up for the beach.

Saturday we went to Manley beach which was a lot nicer than Bondi beach cuz all we had to do was take a ferry. To get to Bondi we had to take a train and a bus and Manley had more things like restaurants and shops right by the beach. Before that on Pitt St. we stopped at an opal museum cuz it’s Australia’s national gem. We didn’t get anything I’m sure it was overpriced. So after Manley we got some pizza and went back and packed up everything to leave the next day.

Sunday we flew to Alice Springs and toured the whole area. We stopped at some Aboriginal campsites to eat and look at some artwork. We toured the town, the MacDonald ranges, the old telegraph station (which is why Alice Springs is a town), the actual spring which isn’t a spring at all, The Royal Flying Doctor service, and stopped at an art museum and then they dropped us off at our hotel. We went to eat at a place called Oscar’s where my dad had a camel steak. Weird but I guess there are wild camels and horses running around Australia because the settlers brought them over and when they didn’t need them anymore they just let them go. We could’ve ridden a camel the next day but I really didn’t want to smell like one all day.

Monday we did a Kings Canyon tour which was nice. They kept joking that our lodge was tents and they weren’t joking. It was a room the size of the basement in 506 with 2 beds, 2 chairs, and a couple of lamps. They were canvas walls and a roof with windows that had to be zipped up. Then across the little hall was the bathroom separate from the room. It was half the size of our room but not air conditioned. And if you went outside at all, you were attacked by flies. We had to buy fly nets to put over our hats because they were soo annoying. Even the locals wore them and I was so pissed off. We had a nice dinner with a bunch of English people and went to bed really really early.

Today we had to be in the lobby area by 4:30 am for the Kings Canyon walk. We had a quick breakfast and left by 5am. It gets so hott that you don’t want to be out there later than 9am. So when we got to the Canyon it was dark and we had to use flashlights to walk up the steps to the top. Dad was def out of shape and lagged behind the whole time. It was a 3 hour walk around the top of the canyon which was beautiful. There wasn’t any flat pathway to walk so we walked over all the natural rocks and paths which was a little tough. I twisted my ankle a couple of times but it was a good workout. We saw the Garden of Eden, the valleys, and different lookout points. So we finished at around 8:30 am and had to get our stuff together by 9:30 to get to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and now I’m here at the hotel. Tonight we go for a sunset tour at Uluru with a dinner full of weird Aussi meats which my dad is looking forward to this entire trip. So that was my past couple days or so. No photos yet cuz I have to pay for every hour of internet. Miss you all!!!

Sydney Day 3

2009-02-03T16:07:00.002+10:00

So today was day 3 in Sydney and I'm taking a liking to it. It's a quaint Chicago with better weather and better traffic. It's busy but not tooo busy and there's a lot of cute shops and cafes everywhere. The only weird part is that everything closes after 5pm so when we were walking down the street last night at like 8 pm it was dead. This city goes to sleep early. Last night we went to Darling Harbor and ate at Jordan's restaurant. It was really good food and we talked to some old Aussie dude from Ipswitch (in Queensland) for a while about stuff. It was soo nice out and right by the water it's just priceless at the harbor. They have the world's largest I-Max there and nothing else but restaurants and food fish.

Anyways today was a lot of fun. We went to Bondi beach and I learned how to surf!! I got up on my second try I'm such a pro lol. So I got up a couple more times after that and then our lesson was over. We asked the guy if we could keep the board for another hour just to try it ourselves but I couldn't get up without the instructor cuz he would push us into the wave and I just couldn't figure out how to do it without the push. And we stopped because my dad got creamed by a wave and thought he dislocated his shoulder lol. I felt bad cuz he was trying to take pictures in the water. Good thing the camera is water proof. We were such tourists today trying to figure out how to get to Bondi on the train and buses and stuff. But now we know so it'll be easy next time.

Anyways. Tonight we are going to this Irish pub that serves food only every other day lol. I guess my dad talked to him and he's straight off the boar from Ireland. Tomorrow we climb the Syndey bridge for like 3 hours in the morning and then we have the rest of the day to ourselves. I kinda want to tour the opera house but we might be beat after the climb. We'll see. Maybe I'll put my pictures up tomorrow.

Sydney Day 2

2009-02-02T09:29:00.003+10:00

Well we got into Sydney last night around 11am with our flight being delayed about an hour and a half. I could hardly sleep on the plane for more than a half an hour at a time. The plane was really f-ing small. When we got in we walked around to find a bite to eat which was impossible. Everything is closed on Sundays (It's a day ahead here) so we found a pub to get some bar food and walked around some more. We got back to the hotel around 5 or so and passed out until the morning. Not much of a day. Too bad too because yesterday was the Chinese New Year and they had a parade around 6pm down George Street. George street has everything on it and is the main street for shopping and stuff. It's a lot more busy today.

Today we're going on a grand tour of Sydney. We're going on a boat tour first to see the harbors, eat lunch, and then go on a bus tour through Sydney. I hope it's the double decker buses I've been seeing. It reminds me of Spicegirls lol. Anyways I finally got a phone all together and I can receive incoming texts and calls for free. If you can figure out how to call internationally e-mail me and I'll give you my phone number (I don't just want to post it for everyone online to call me lol). I'm excited to get some seafood today hopefully. Be jealous because it's 28 degrees here (Cesius hahah which means its 87!!). It's a little humid but I hardly notice because it's not 100% humidity like it always is in Chicago. No pictures yet but I'll try to post some later this week. Anyways I gotta go be a tourist.

AHHHHHH

2009-01-20T16:25:00.004+10:00

So I'm sitting here totally freaking out about Australia. I can't believe I'm actually doing it. It's like bungee jumping you always say you're going to do it but when you're actually going to jump you're like what the hell was I thinking?!?! I'm sad I'm leaving all my roomies at school and I really regret not hanging out with all them as much as I wanted to (and I hope you guys don't forget about me when I come back!). And of course I'm sad I'm leaving Gabe for that long. I think we'll be in touch better than we are now because we'll be using every form of communication we can think of: cell phone, facebook, skype, and probably some secret chip he'll put in my purse to track me down (haha jk I hope). Not to mention I'm going to be with my parents the first 3 weeks I'm traveling around! It could be a lot of fun or a nightmare if they can't keep up. I just can't believe I've been talking about it for a whole semester and I'm actually going to be in Brisbane for 5 months!!! (Well hopefully I'll get there with all this visa b.s. but that's another story) Ug I should go to bed. Gnite!

Still at Home

2008-12-29T12:21:00.000+10:00

Hey family and friends!!

This blog site is so everyone can read up on my trip and look at pictures and videos that I'll be posting while I'm gone (Jan30-Jun28) since it's going to be hard to talk to everyone with the distance. My parents and I plan on traveling for three weeks to Alice Spring, Ayers Rock, Sydney, Cairns, and finally to Brisbane where my new school will be. Brisbane is 14 hours ahead just so you know if you call. My e-mail and phone are the same. Anyways I'm going to miss you all! Please let me know your e-mail address so you can get an e-mail every time I write a journal entry or put up pictures. Also please comment on anything you want! Love you. Britt