Aussie Takeaways.

If you know me at all you've probably picked up on my love for imitating accents. So, of course, one of my goals in coming here was to pick up a sweet aussie accent. Unfortunately, I have been unable to pick up their nasaly tone thus far. BUT, I have begun to use plenty of phrases both Aussie and British. 

Here are a few things you might catch me saying:

Bin--trash can

Rubbish--trash

Runners/Joggers--tennis shoes

How ya going?--How ya doing?

Well--really (ex. I look well tired, that was well funny etc.)

As if--I can't believe (ex. As if we're actually going to macca's for the second time today! <--this may or may not be based on actual events. Basically it's a British version of 'oh no she didn't')

Macca's--Mcdonalds

Ranga--redhead/ginger (ex. I used to be a ranga but then I went blonde) This comes from orangutan just in case you were wondering. So it rhymes with sang. 

Good on ya--good for you! Well done!

Things you won't catch me saying:

I'm watching THE cricket instead of im watching cricket. (let's be honest I won't be watching cricket at all so this really isn't all that big of an issue)

Capsicum--peppers are PEPPERS not capsicums. 

Other strange things:

1. Animals here are oversized.....kangaroos, pigeons, spiders, lizards it's crazy

2. Birds here are ABSURD. Seriously. You think you're listening to a cat screech for help and it's a bird outside your window. Yesterday, Shani and I heard a bird that seriously sounded like a futuristic machine. WEIRD.

3. I'm pretty sure people here just all feel like it's not Christmas. Granted we're feeling it more as backpackers. But, seriously with the warm weather--everyone was out and about today and it just was strange thinking it's christmas. 

4. Traffic lights are annoying and it takes like twice the amount of time to get places

5.  They don't have pumpkins like at home and therefore no one has ever had pumpkin pie or anything pumpkin related.

6. Halloween isn't a thing here.

7. They don't believe in hand soap here. Public toilets here RARELY have hand soap which drives me insane.

8. Aussies are super serious about Christmas being over. Seriously. Everything was taken down like the next day. Calm down people.

9. The only item i've found here that is cheaper than at home is the macca's ice cream cones which are 30 cents. BEAT THAT AMERICA. but actually, do. Because it's great.

Back to Basics

I haven't written in years it seems like. Sorry about that. Sort of. Okay I'll be honest. Doing a blog while travelling always seems like a great idea until I'm actually there and have to maintain it. Obnoxious. But, I have the world's worst memory so not keeping some sort of written recollection seems like a terrible idea, so here we are again.

WORK

Work is really wonderful. I'm currently working at a sales and marketing company that raises funds for charities across Australia. In many ways it is exactly what I was attempting to AVOID throughout my job search. I have always disliked sales jobs, and this one takes me door to door---basically my worst nightmare. But, as always, God is good and knew exactly where I needed to be. This will be 4th week coming up, and I am so happy to be with this company. The fact that we're helping out charities definitely helps me get over any dislike I have of sales jobs, as well as the fact that they hate pushy sales people here--aka, if a person says no, LEAVE. Do not just wait for the to say no 5 times after giving them a myriad of excuses.  

However, beyond the surface info of the job I'm able to see God's lovely sense of humor. Yes, I am in a sales job. No, that is not where I wanted to be at all. But, God made sure I realized why he put me here. Reasons such as 

1. Learning to take criticism.

     When you're going door to door you need to know why your pitch is or isn't working with people. I have to learn to be okay with people telling me I could do specific things better or differently without taking it personally. And let's be real that's never been something I've been great at.

2. The people are AWESOME.

     I could not have asked for a more fun and wonderful group of people to work with. We went on road trip this week and I definitely laughed harder and more frequently than I have since coming to Aussie-land.

3. The Lean Factor

     My job is hard. People slam doors in your faces, tell you that what you're fundraising for doesn't make sense, yell at you for no apparent reason and so on. But, at the end of the day that forces me to lean on God and others way more than I normally have to. Literally everyday I go out I have to do a nice quiet time with the J-man to get ready for the day. I try and think less about what i'm trying to do and more about being a blessing to every single person I meet. If I can make someone smile or laugh while chatting with them on their doorstep, regardless of whether or not they sign up, I feel as though I have accomplished something.

4. Workouts

   Well, also it's a good workout, which is a major plus since I can't afford a gym membership.

HOUSE

My apartment is awesome and I'm so thankful I ended up here. I live with 4 other girls from all over the place (British, German, Finnish and South Korean at the moment) and they are wonderful!=] We have gone to the movies, laughed about the most ridiculous things, had fantastic wine nights and just generally had an awesome time living together. 

                                

BIRTHDAY

Keeping on the my house is awesome thread...for my birthday we made an amazing Thanksgiving feast which was so wonderful. Turkey Day is my favorite holiday, and I hate missing it, so it was so wonderful to come hoe late from work and have the turkey ready and make some fun side dishes with my girls. Honestly, so wonderful. Could not have asked for a better birthday=]

 

CHURCH

 I started at church called c3 balmain, which was lovely, but didn't have many younger people so I've now headed to Hillsong in the city for church the past few weeks which has been really great. I've unfortunately yet to find a bible study but, am trying to keep that up on my own as much as possible, and will hopefully find something eventually!

CHRISTMAS

Okay, we all know I don't love Christmas, but Darling Harbour (which is right around the corner from where I live) is doing a santa fest. Check the photos. Real Life. Darling Harbour getting crazy. Keep it together people. I think we've gone overboard with this.

                                       

                             

                                                      

This one isn't Darling Harbour. This is Sydney's Town hall. It lights up differently every 15-20 minutes.

                                      

                                                        

OTHER THINGS:

1. I have officially had 2 people think I was Irish. WHAT?!

2. Went to the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who in theatres AMAZINGGG. and YES. I wore my awesome Doctor Who shirt that Hildawg bought me=]

3. Just got contact info for a woman who may be able to help me with job search stuff later this year. SO cool.

4. Finally got christmas and New Year's pegged down. Super pumped for both.

5. Miss you all a ton! Although 'i'm not normally a huge Christmas person, being away from home is definitely making it hard. Especially since all the Christmas songs are about snow and home. haha BUT, luckily, it's been super hot, so it's pretty easy to forget it's Christmas which means also forgetting how much it sucks not being home. (it'll be 100 tomorrow. GROSS)

Sydney Starters

At the beginning of the week it rained, and I thought to myself this is good. Rain is the start of an adventure. Always the start of an adventure.But, the week went on and the adventure didn't seem to come. Things happened. I met people. I went out. I had fun. But, in all of it there was an underlying loneliness. My adventure felt meaningless and boring because I had no one to really share it with. And, I reminded myself that was just rain. Rain doesn't start adventures, it takes storms for real change to happen. So, I prayed over and over that God would help my adventure to start, or at least make a bit more sense. 

Today, something changed:

1. I signed for an apartment

2. I got a call back for a job interview

3. I skyped my sister (who witnessed the second one happen)

4. I got to ride a vespa around the city with this kid
5. I went out to a concert with people and made plans for tomorrow

Tonight, it rained again. But this time, it stormed. And somehow I feel settled again. I haven't moved into my apartment yet, and I don't actually have a job, but tonight it stormed. And really that was all needed as a reminder. God's little push that he's watching and the adventure is still yet to come.

Psalms 25:16-17

Turn to me and be gracious to me,

for I am lonely and afflicted.

 Relieve the troubles of my heart

and free me from my anguish.

Matthew 8:24-26

Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

A Week of Summer: Cairns

Cairns, the city that lives an endless Summer. Cairns isn't a giant city, but a perfect backpacker's paradise. Wtih tons of hostels, clubs and weather that can't be beat it's not wonder so many of the people i met there ended up staying longer. I was there for a grand total of 5 days, but nothing all that exciting happened until about day 3 so we'll start there.

Day three took me to Kuranda to ride over a rainforest in a skyrail and see a lovely village fille dwith marketplaces and crafts galore. I honestly probably sould have bought more souvenirs there given the number of options I had, but i'm tryin to hold out until the end to get that stuff, so unfortunately I didnt pay too much attention. Kuranda was actually quite beautiful in terms of the forest as I watched it from above, but even more stunning was the ride back. I took the scenic train ride from Kuranda all the way back into Cairns. And while that hadn't been my original plan, missing my bus ended up being a blessing in disguise given the magnificent views from the train windows. Waterfalls, rainforests and a stunning backdrop of beach and city. It was amazing. Definitely got me back in the swing of things after a few days of laziness and just walking about the city.

                                                  

                                 

Day four was by far my favorite day of my week in Cairns. I went for a snorkeling trip on the Great Barrier Reef and ahhh it just couldn't have been better. I had gone for the cheapest option I could find and ended up on a boat filled with people that were all about twice my age--with the exception of course, of the crew. At first I was a bit annoyed that I wouldn't have anyone else to hang out and laugh with for the day, but God immediately took care of that one. Not long after stepping onto the boat a lovely German couplel sat down beside me. Somehow we got onto the topic of how I spoke German and for the remainder to the day we chatted auf Deutsch about where we'd been, where we were going, fears of snorkeling in the open ocean, their children, where I had studied abroad--they were from Munich and had actually heard of Dorfen! success! --the Middle East, and how valuable travel was. Unfortunately about halfway through the trip, one of the women on the boat got quite sick due to the waves and i got a bit of a shower. Luckily it wasn't too much or I don't know that I would've made it without throwing up either. 

     Anyways, by the tie we got there I had befriended one of the crew members who happened to be Italian and once in the water he was great about pointing out all the best spots to check out the reef. Having been so freaked out to go snorkeling in the open ocean I let a few people head out before me so that I could follow them in. I figured if they were fine I would be too. haha I guess  used them as my personal guinea pigs for my own sanity. Once in the water however---oh my gosh. It was INCREDIBLE. The coral was brilliant with color and the number of fish...it was insane. I even got to see a turtle and some reef sharks! I grabbed a pic of the turtle but wasn't able to get any of the sharks unforunately=( We stayed out for an hour or so and I probably couldd've stayed longer except that I was definitely ready for lunch. So we finally boarded the boat, had some lunch and then got the chance to head to Green Island for the afternoon. 

                                             

                              

                              

                           

     Green Island is a beautiful island off of Cairns that happens to be have a small zoo on it. Excpet this is no normal zoo. It houses the worlds largest croc in captivity, Cassius, who is 5.5 meters long. Oh, and all of the crocs in the exhibit, including Cassius aren't jsut random Crocs. Oh no, these are Crocs with a history. All of them have at some time or another been killers. There was an entire wall of papers about crocs that had killed people, or been caught, opened up and foudn to have arms and legs inside of them. GROSS. But also creepily fascinating. After enjoying that for a bit we all made it back to the boat to sail back to Cairns.

                                     

    As we sailed  home I got the chacne to chat with the skipper and the 3 crew members (Italian, Kiwi and Aussie) about how they got on the boat and ended up doing what they were. All of them had at one point just fallen in love with scuba (the Aussie guy had gone for the 1st time just the year before) and then proceeded to travel around the world in pursuit of the best dive and sailing spots. They love what they do and get to take people out for long trip to get them certified, learn to sail and dive some of the most beautiful spots in the world. Amazing. Honestly, if I hadn't booked my flight already, I would've seriously considered staying and trying to get a sailing license. I love the water so much. Being there makes it so easy to see why people stay.

Anyways, my final day I headed up to Cape Tribulation and into the Daintree Rainforest. It was honestly a stunning, albeit bumpy drive up. We got to spend a while hanging out on the bech at Cape Trib and eventually headed home. We also hit Port Douglas for a bit, which was eh okay. Overall the best part of the trip was getting to chat with  the others. I met a lovely Parisian and was able to grab dinner with her, an Argentinian and thies great German girl who had also been on the tour. Dinner was delicious and we ended up following it up by a hilarious night of chatting with some Aussie Navy guys at a nearby bar before heading back to our hostels to get ready for the next day. Oh, did I mention it was ladies night? success. I have officially hit 3 ladies nights in a row--cheap drinks all day baby.

ACCENT UPDATE: Unfortunately, I still have not been hanging out with too many Aussies so my accent is still crap. On the bright side ich habe eine wette verloren mit eine Freund in meiner Hostel. Also, ich hatte fuer den Ganzen Woche nur auf Deutsch gesprochen wenn ich mit ihn waren. Also, mein Deutsch ist jezt ein bisschen besser als es war eben eine Woche vor. (I lost a bet with a friend in my hostel. So, I had to speak German whenever I was with him for the entire week. So, my German is now a llot better thn it was even a week ago! yay!)

Whitsunday Dreaming

Oh I have far too many wonderful things to say about the Whitsundays. However, after a long bus ride to get there....Airlie Beach was not immediately exciting. It's a super small town that, unfortunately (or fortunately) for me you can get to know in about a day. So, when I got in on Monday, that was the first thing I did. I wandered what came out to two major streets along the marina, hung out at the beautiful lagoon and did some shopping. Nothing all that exciting, but I needed a relaxation day after Fraser Island insanity=]

Airlie beach doesn't happen to have an actual beach, so they've made a rather large lagoon in the middle of the town where people can hang out and swim and just generally have a good time. And so went my whole first day there. Tuesday, some friends from Fraser got into town and so we all caught up  at the lagoon before heading out to dinner and drinks together. $13 for a steak, chips and a salad? yeah. that happened. backpacker's paradise.Anyways, I had booked my 2-day 1-night Whitsundays sailing trip for the next morning so around the other girl and I headed to bed.

And so began the adventure....

DAY 1: Sailing Out

We headed out to the first place that we were going to snorkel. It took about an hour and a half to get there or so? Maybe I made that up. It seems like forever ago now. But it was a beautiful trip out. Unfortunately we didn't actually get to SAIL out as we needed to make time, and there wasn't much wind, but getting there was unforgettable nonetheless. Once we got there, our crew gave us a quick overview of the snorkeling and diving situation. Me, an Aussie girl and a Spanish couple all had chosen to dive at our first snorkeling spot. So as everyone else got geared up with their stinger suits and snorkels we waited for the dive boat to let us know we could head on over. I have to admit that I was TERRIFIED. First, I am legitimately horrified at the thought of seeing a jellyfish or shark. Second, you're not supposed to snorkel if you have congestion and whatnot--you're underwater breathing in anyway possible is important. I wasn't dying of a cold but I had had a bit of congestion the day before which added to my already oncoming freak-out sesh. So, while I put on a brave face prior to getting in the water (hey! i've snorkeled before! I can do this! no big deal!) I was actually internally completely losing it. Our skipper took us over to the dive boat where we got a brief safety and guidelines instruction from an incredibly enthusiastic Aussie dive instructor. Afterwards they suited us up with our admittedly VERY heavy dive gear and hopped us in a boat to the beach so we could practice the skills we'd just discussed before going on our dive.

during the practicing of the skills, I couldn't quite get one of them right--so add that to the list of my things to freak out about while being underwater. But, after this quick session to determine that we understood generally what we were doing he took us under the water to see some coral and fish! Now Michelle and I (the Aussie girl) had assumed that we would go on a short dive--come up, determine everyone was okay, and then continue on the longer 45-minute or so dive we were to do. YEAH NO. What actually happened (p[robably for the best honestly) was that once we were in the water after the skills session, we were IN. There was no i'm done i'm getting out. Well, okay. You could do that if you wanted to but then your dive was over for good. But it ended up being so incredibly wonderful!

One of the first things he did once the instructor got us down there was clap two rocks together and called a fish over. I swear this fish was basically a puppy. It would come right up to you and let you pet it, and play with it and push it around...it was so funny. Also..it was GIGANTIC. I mean at least 3 -4 feet long and maybe 2 feet high (do you say high for fish? that seems strange). Anyways, as silly as it sounds, playing with Elvis, as he is known helped calm me down tremendously. Which, at this point was rather good because I had been pretty much hyperventilating up until then hahah=]

After our scuba adventure (everyone else had been snorkeling at the time) we headed back to the boat to move to our next location where we would be able to hop in with some more fish and coral. I've really loved getting so many chances to scuba and snorkel. Especially because it makes me so nervous, each time has been a bit of a boost and it's getting slowly easier. It's so silly to love the water and being on boats so much and yet be so scared of the animals in it hah. Ah well. I'm getting better!

Finally, after our second snorkeling session we headed to the place we were going to anchor the boat to sleep for the night. On our way we got to watch a bird scoop a fish out of the water. SO EXCITING. hahah having written it out it sounds a bit dumb. But it was amazing!! hahah That evening, Joost, the Dutch guy who was one of the crew made nachos and we all sat out drinking whatever we had and enjoying the insanely beautiful stars. I seriously have never seen so many. It was surreal to be floating in the ocean (which seems endless) and looking up only to feel as if you are drowning in sky as well. I have never felt quite so small. It was incredible and I wish i could go back right now.

Eventually we all headed to bed. I'll admit I was on the earlier end. It had been a rather long day, and with no lights available...it seemed much later than it was. I feel the need to justify going to bed early on vacation. But, i love sleeping on boats and honestly going to bed early was just a nice treat.

                                                                                                                                          

   

sorry but can we just compare the size of my hand to the size of the fish?

                       

                                                                                                           

DAY 2: Whitehaven and Returning to Airlie

The second day on the boat started with a bang to say the least. My bunk was in the middle of the ship right next to the kitchen with these 3 Brits. So Joost started getting breakfast ready around 6:30ish whilel playing some music quietly. Okay, fair enough. A lot of times at camps and things (beach week? hahha) people will play music that gets slowly louder to wake everyone up. HAHAH NO. Joost went for the straight loud approach. At some random point he decided to just turn it up a lot (while smiling and laughing to himself) much to the dismay of me and the Brits. Nonetheless, we got up, grabbed some food and were just sitting and eating breakfast as the captain made his way to Whitehaven Beach for the morning. Unfortunately the water was a bit rough and there was a hatch above where we were sitting. So, in a wonderful moment of hilarity a HUGE wave came down through the hatch as one of the Brits yelled and jumped up from his seat with his breakfast. ahhahhah We all about died laughing. It was spectacular. And we were all nice and awake then. Nothing like having the ocean come down on your breakfast to get you up and going!

Anyways, we finally made our way to Whitehaven beach and oh my goodness. I can't even begin to say how incredible it was. We had about 2.5 hours to kill there and spent them VERY well. My pictures don't do the beach justice...so please google whitehaven beach to get the full experience. The water is insanely clear, and the sand is so white and powdery that you have to be careful not to get it in electronics as it will completely destroy them. We also weren't allowed to track it back on the boat cause it's so hard to get rid of. But it made for an incredible place to spend the morning. the water came in waves on one side of the beach so you could run into the ocean, while the other side was a large shallow pool of water that you could just sit or walk around in. Of course, with this type of setting, you can't let things go to waste. So, we naturally took a shameless number of jumping photos and pyramid shots, and just generally ridiculous pictures. (sidenote--I have none of these pictures because I didn't want to ruin my camera...so you'll have to wait for those pics to appear on facebook)

                                            

                                          

                                         

What we didn't get pictures of though---well at least I didn't--were the big sting rays and smaller sharks we saw swimming around. The boys had seen them and I immediately demanded to know where they were so i could also chase after them hahah. Thankfully one of them was willing to lead me to where they were so I could freak out about how close we were. Then, finally after a day of silliness, we headed back to the boat for lunch and the ride back to Airlie Beach. 

Since we had been unable to sail on the way to our snorkeling locations the day before due to lack of wind, we decided to do so on the way back. It was so beautiful. BOATS ARE THE BEST. I've actually always thought that, but being there pretty much solidified it. Anyways, the best (albeit the most intense) part of the ride home was when we hit a bit of a storm the last 10-15 minutes before shore. But, thankfully between Joost, the captain and the Brits, we did quite well. And, to top it off we were informed that every Whitsundays Trip gets free pitchers (and discounted ones after) of beer at the bar next to our hostel! SUCCESS. So around 7:30ish or so we all met up to have dinner and enjoy all of our drinks. OH and ALSO....there was a club like 3 doors down that was having its grand opening and you could get in free before 11pm. So due to my insatiable desire to dance...myself and a few of the others headed over to the club for the rest of the evening.

In all seriousness, my Whitsundays trip was probably the best trip I have ever taken. We had incredible views, a phenomenal crew of people, wonderful weather, and it ended with free drinks and a chance to dance. God knows me so well.

DAY 3: To Cairns!

Unfortunately the end of my time in Airlie Beach meant waking up VERY early the next morning and catching a greyhound to Cairns. curses. (it was worth it though...Cairns was great..i'll catch ya up next time)

I LIKE TO... MOVE IT!

Currently, I am sittin gin my hostel in Airlie Beach which is the place to be in order to get to the Whitsundays. The entire day has been a nice reprieve from the constant moving i had been doing the past few days. Here's a quick recap of my life:

Friday Left Brisbane to head out to Hervey Bay (whale watching capitol of the world)

Saturday Left Hervey Bay at 7 a.m. to head ot to Fraser Island, a World Heritage site, and the largest sand island in the world. Spend all day sightseeing, swimming and hanging out with the people i meet there. Fun fact: it is one of the primary reasons that the Great Barrier Reef has been able to survive--Fraser Island collects the sand that wold otherwise erode the reef.

Sunday Wake up early on Fraser Island to do some more touring, swimming and 4WDriving! Get back to the hostel around 9:30 p.m. then proceed to catch up on emails until Midnight

Monday Hang out at the hostel all day until my bus arrives at 8:50 p.m. then we are making our way to Airlie Beach!

Tuesday Arrive at Airlie Beach about 9:30 in the morning and hang around the giant lagoon and the harbour that this lovely town sits around.

Basically, I have been sleeping in a different place ever night for the past week. While that was thrilling, it's nice to be somewhere and hang out. There seems to be a bit of rain coming in until Saturday, so i may have to postpone my sailing until then. Unfortunately, there's only so much to do at Airlie Beach, so i'd like to get up to Cairns sooner than later, but egal (that means doesn't matter auf Deutsch..I just think it is a simpler term and Americans should adopt it). 

Fraser Island

I headed to Fraser Island with a friend I had met at the hostel the night before. She was a wonderful French girl who could seriously make friends with anyone. Another girl happened to be going from our hostel, so we allstrted chatting while waiting for the bus. Once on the bus we ran into a wonderful woman from the UK. She was British but living in Aberdeen (SHOUT OUT TO AMANDA!) which was great as that's somewhere i've actually been in Scotland so we had a good time talking about that. So that was sort of our core group of people on the trip. The entire tour group consisted of about 20 backpackers, and we eventually got to know everyone pretty well (spending two full days with people will do that), but it was nice to have a core group of people to talk to and hang out with.

On Fraser, we got to see some great stuff. It is an entirely sand island, so you can only get around by 4WD, and since it hadn't rained in a while the "road" was not only really bumpy, but also quite easy to get bogged (stuck) in. Luckily, our tour leader was incredible and we never had an issue. In fact, more often than not, we were rescuing other people! But more on that later. 

Some thing we got to see:

Shipwreck  This was actually a really cool shipwreck left on the beach. The ship had helped out in multiple wars as it was one of the fastest ships at one time. But it got shipwrecked as it was on its way to a Japanese ship dumping ground. So unfortunately there is no epic wreck story to go with it.

Lookout Point Not much to say about this other than it was really beautiful.

 

Rainbow Pinnacles: which beautiful sand pillars of orange and white. There is a beutiful aboriginal dream story about them, but unfortunately you cannot tell dream stories outside of the land they belong to, so i can never tell you about it=( Just get to Fraser Island and see them yourself! Following the rainbow pinnacles we headed out to a 

Freshwater Lake that sits atop the island. It is basiclaly a collection of rainwater that you can swim in being held up by tree debri which keeps the water from sinking into the sand.

Champagne pools which is an area of beach that is surrounded by rocks wherre the ocean water comes in creating a champagne looking effect. It was a bit rainy when we hit these so not too exciting unfrotunately

Rainforest This was cool. There is literally a small patch of rainforest area in the middle of this island. If you know anything about where Fraser Island is, and where the tropics start you'll realize this little rainforest section doesnn't belong there. But for whatever reason God decided to throw us for a loop and throw some rainforest growth up there!

River I will remember the names of these at some point, but until then this was definitely one of the highlights.  We got to run up to the top of this spring water river and take tubes down until the bottom. The water was very cold, but the sun was out and we all had great times. I know one of the girls brought her GoPro, so hopefully that video will make it to facebook in the future.

A Bogged Bus Now, I should explain that we are driving around the island in tour buses that happen to have 4WD. That is to say, not little cars with 4WD but giant tour buses. Keep that in mind. Now, like I said previously, with the lack of rain the sand wasn't stcking too well. So, this other driver (Steve) who had already broken a window on our bus, got his bus bogged. And well, his passengers were a lot of generally older folks or families with young kids. So, who gets recruited to fix the problem? WE DO! hahh but it was honestly a lot of fun. By this point we had all gotten to know each other and were cracking up about having to get under this bus and dig out sand, so i'm actually quite glad it happened.=] The only obnoxious thing was that the sand is so fine, that it literally would run back down like water when you pulled it out. So you ended up having to have teams of 2 people one person to throw ouut the sand and the other to push it further away from the bus. Things got crazy.

Anyways, that's the story of my Fraser Island trip. I'll hopefully be headed on a sailing trip later this week and then up to Cairns to do some real Great Barrier Reef diving/snorkeling. I'll try and update as I can!

ACCENT UPDATE: Unfortunately, due to the large number of Brits I hung out with on Fraser, my accent kept returning to British instead of Aussie. But, the Aussie is coming back.

IN OTHER NEWS: I either lost or had stolen all of my iPod and iPad cords. So, I am unfortunately not sure when I will gain use of my ipad again for texting/skyping/emailing etc. I am waiting to hear back from the previous hostel to see if they have found anything, but i'm pretty positive someone probably took them. =( So, I may end up having to wait a week or two before I get replacements. This also means pictures will have to be placed on this blog post at a later date. sorry!

Goodbye Brizzie!

Today has been a spectacular day.

After waking up this morning I ran to do a bunch of errands: meeting at the bank, getting travel plans sorted and itineraries printed at the State Library, packing for the next day, and generally plling my life together for departure tomorrow. At about 3:30pm I was to meet a girl who goes to the University of Queensland, who happens to be a friend of a friend. Honestly, I walked into this meeting not quite knowing what to expect. What was I supposed to talk about? I had pretty much done my time in Brisbane at this point so any suggestions she might have of things to do would be not all that helpful... I was pretty concerned over this little social interaction. HAH. As I would discover, these worries were completely unfounded. Claire was a wonderful person who helps out recruiting at her university for Semester at Sea. We had a great chat about where to go in Australia, what uni in Oz was like, how to get more Aussie students to study abroad in the US and Semester of Sea of course! It was so nice to talk to someone who completely understood where I was comng from in terms of how to travel and the best ways to experience life in other counries. Oh, and did I mention that when I stepped off the bus at the University, I was immediately handed about 6 packs of Haribo gummi bears? (mein lieblings Gummibaerchen!) It seriously could not have been better.

OH WAIT. It could. Because oddly enough, a bit before that meeting took place, a gent named Marc, who again, is a friend of a friend, texted me about wanting to possibly meet up later that night. So, right after getting back from hanging with Claire, I ran up to the hostel, threw down some of my stuff and headed out to meet up with Marc. Again, this was such a blessing. Marc was incredibly nice and quite easy to chat with--much like my lovely friend Huw who put us in contact=] (not that this is a competition or anything). Marc had gone to UVA for a semester and it was surreal to be hanging out on the other side of the world chatting with someone about Charlottesville, UVA basketball, and eating at Christians. To top it off, we ended up going to the lookout, which I didn't realize was on top of Mt. Coot-tha, the one place i'd been meaning to go all week and hadn't gotten a chance (hahah oh how sneaky God can be sometimes). Anyways, all that to say that I couldn't have asked for a better day....so thank you to Claire and Marc for showing me around, as well as Annie and Huw for putting us in contact. You all are wonderful, and it has made all the difference in my time here so far!

Before I close off here, I feel I should point out is that one of the first things I did this morning was hve a quick chat to God about how much I really just wanted someone to talk to today. Now, I've met lots of lovely people in the past week, and had a few fun conversations, but I cannot begin to tell you what a difference today made. Not only did I met up with both the connections I had through friends from home, but upon returning to the hostel chatted for about an hour with two of my roommates about life and travel and the insanity of doing a working holiday. I cannot call today anything but a huge blessing from God. Once again, when I needed it most, He came to the rescue. And, once again I am reminded that I have nothing to fear this coming year as long as I continue to lean on Him when things are hardest. I am so excited to see what other surprises He has in store this year=]

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." 

--Matthew 7:7

Paid to People Watch

This is the story of observations, gross generalizations and thoughts from this Tuesday's day of work wih a fundraising company in Australia. Let me preface this list by saying that I am not proud that I worked for this company, as they were an honestly terrible business that gave somewhere around 10% of what we made to the charities we were fundraising for, while the collectors (as we were called) got 40%. On the brightside, I met some really interesting people, got a chance to really people watch, and well, I did make a bunch of money. So, while I won't be back again, I guess the experience was a worthwhile one.

Observations, Gross Generalizations and Thoughts:

1. Everyone in Australia has tattoos.

honestly, I was at this store fundraising form 9 am to 7pm, and I saw ZERO people between the ages of 18 and 45 without at least one tattoo. Now, don't get me wrong, I love tattoos. But, it was honestly crazy to see so few people WITHOUT them.

2. Is marriage a thing? Or do people just not wear their wedding bands?

I actually will probably end up googling this not long after I post this, having forgotten to do it beforehand. But, I saw an incredible amount of pregnant women and couples with oung children and very rarely did I see wedding rings. The wedding rings I did notice were primarily on older men and women. So perhaps this is a generation gap thing? Either that people don't get married, or simply choose not to do the rings.  

3. Young men in this country are unbelievably attractive.

But seriously. The number of attractive men this country produces is astounding. They should get an award.

4. Young women are just sort of average.

This sounds mean, but I also see myself as average, and I have more to say about Australian women later on, I promise. ALSO, they're really incredibly nice people. 

5. The previous statistics flip significantly starting around age 60

This was a strange phenomenon I noticed. Generally, the younger men were REALL attractive and the women were just okay, then you get to the 60-70s and this reverses! Women looked wonderful and had aged super well while men just really let go of themselves. 

6. Surprising number of obese people. 

Okay, I realized as I wrote that, that there's not really a nice way of putting it. But, perhaps it's due to my stereotypical Australian image is of an exremely fit cattle rancher in the outback, or Steve Irwin wrestling a crocodile. I was really quite surprised at the number of people who were pretty overweight.

7. Walking on the left is far more difficult than i previously assumed

This doesn't need more detail other than to say that while people have a right to do as they wish, right handed is more prevalent and therefore I deem RIGHT of way should be on the right at all times. That is all. Struggle city up in here.

8. Country music DOES get played! SUCCESS!

I was really hoping this was the case, since Keith Urban (mentally said that in an Aussie accent) is from here, and it is!

9. Children with accents actually are the best.

Yup.

10. People here do actually seem to like animals more than people sometimes.

The amount of sypathy i got for animals due to the wildfires was crazy. Several times I brought up that I was glad more people weren't hurt, and almost invariably people responded with, yes, well, they can at least leave. AKA if they died it's on them, animals don't have a choice. To be fair, animals also have the ability to move, and normally a better sense of impending destruction, so....really it's on them too.

11. I'm pretty positive Australians secretly breed models somewhere.

Okay, I promised I would talk about women more. Here it is. So, if you haven't noticed, the famous Australians most people know happen to be incredibly attractive male actors, or insanely beuatiful female models. GUYS. I saw SO MANY girls that were over 5'11'' it was CRAZY. And all of them were stunning. Sidenote--this was in a outer suburb of Brisbane, so who KNOWS what Sydney will be like. All of this to say that i'm pretty positive they must pair all the beautiful women with really tall (invariably attractive) men in order to breed a race of models so stunning the world can do nothing but accept their superiority. Just a theory,

12. I got asked out by a 60 year old man in wheelchair. 

Real life.

13. The older the man, the shorter the shorts

 This just seems to be some strange rule that people go by here. I assume the shorter shorts stems from rugby shorts being short, but....some people jst don't need shorts that small. Just saying.

Well, those are my thoughts during a day of fundraising at a grocery store in a suburb. Let's hope the entertainment keeps on rolling in=]

One Direction to Koalas and Kangaroos.

Saturday:

Well, today was interesting. Instead of getting up at 9am as planned (in order to get my body on the right schedule and catch up on sleep missed on the plane ride over) my body decided that 6:30 am was a good time. Honestly, this wasn't too bad. I got up, skyped my parents, packed up, grabbed breakfast and wandered over to my hostel by about 9:45ish. So productive! Then after checking in and getting settled, I decided I had two goals for the day: 1. visit the Doctor Who pop-up shop and 2. Hold a koala. So here's the run down of what happened.

1. Head towards Queen Street to find the bus station to take me to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

2. Can't find it to save my life and decide to keep walking til I find the pop-up shop. It happens to be in Fortitude Valley which is about 30 minutes from where the bus stop should have been.

3. Get to where the pop-up shop should be and initially can't find it. Which wouldn't be the worst thing ever, as these close up when they sell out, and ith the 50th anniversary coming up I had figured that was a possibility.

4. Turn the corner....BAM. DOCTOR WHO WONDERFULNESS! But actually, I couldn't stop smiling. I felt like a little kid. I wanted to buy everything, but (be impressed...) held back considering I had other things like, oh, travel to pay for. But, I did get pictures with the tardis. Real Life. Today already couldn't have gotten better.

                         

                      

5. Leave the Doctor Who shop and walk the mile or so back, determined to find the correct bus station.

6. Miraculously find the bus station. SIDE-NOTE: everyone was crowded around the entrance to the bus station and I couldn't figure out why until a girl right next to me jumps out of her place and in front of a guy while someone snaps her picture. He is not amused. In fact he just looked frustrated at everyone, poor guy. Not an angry frustration, just an exasperated, I just want to shop frustrated. OH. You're probably wondering who it is. It happened to be one of the gents from One Direction--Harry Styles specifically. I unfortunately didn'get his picture because I don't really care about 1D (in retrospect this wasa terrible   decision) and had to google the band in order to find out who it was. BUT, it did make me think of all the lovely Ohana girls who loved them. So, for you all, I apologize for not getting the pic=]

7. Anyways, I got onto the bus and headed to the sanctuary where I held an adorable koala (well except that part where he fondled me. Gotta watch out for inappropriate Koalas.) AND I got to pet baby kangaroos, and feed them. Honestly I think the second part was a bit more exciting. The kangaroos were so cute and happy and it was lovely.

                                                 

                         

                               

8. Headed back to the South Bank where I took a free ferry up the river then walked the rest of the way to my hostel. I then proceeded to chat with one of my roommates (Germans! ja Deutsch!), grab dinner and pass out for a few hours before deciding bed sounded best.

                                      

                                          Strolling the South Bank

                         

And so that is the story of the day in which I fulfilled my Doctor Who desires, held a koala, fed a kangaroo, took a ferry and saw a One Direction boy bander. Oh Australia, what else do you have in store?

Fun Fact: Angelina Jolie is currently shooting a movie in Brisbane, so while she has mostly avoided he media, it is inevitble that I will meet her too (I assume) hhaha.

Well, tomorrow I get to go to church in Brissie! So excited! 

Sunday--

 This was a pretty chill day. I headed to church just down the road this morning, after a quick breakfast at a local brunch place (i'm still in jet lag mode and getting up at like 6am every morning. curses). Church was WONDERFUL. I chatted the entire time with a young woman named Josie who I had seen doing a bible study at the barracks shopping center earlier in the morning. I also met an American woman worked at the church who could tell that I was American based on the dress I was wearing! haha She had gotten the same one from GAP last time she was in the states and immediately recognized it. The sermon was a good reminder of why i'm here and just generally trying to love those around me. So good job church people of Brisbane. Okay, well, good job God.

After church I grabbed some lunch at the hostel then headed out to the Queensland Museum, Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art. All of them were fun and interesting in their own ways but nothing overly exciting to report. The best part of the evening was when I eventually headed back to the hostel to make dinner and started chatting with a German girl at the hostel. We chatted all throughout the dinner making process, and for the next few hours =, both in German and English which was great! I should mention that about 90% of the backpackers at my current hostel are German. So, while only like 5 of them realize I speak German, only like 3 realize i can understand most of what theyré saying, which is kind of a fun "fly-on-the-wall" experience sometimes. 

Anyways, I digress, I really enjoyed talking to Julia and it was honestly such a blessing to find someone to really talk with for a while. Sunday was the first day I felt sort of lonely. To be fair, I have only been here 4 days. So, thhe longer I stay the more friends I will make, so i'm nowhere near freaking out. No worries. And, honestly, the fact that i'm NOT freaking out is a huge blessing. I generally do not deal well with feeling like no one around is interested in or cares about me, and don't like to be on my own that often. However, while, throughout the day I was VERY aware of how alone I was in this city, I also wasn't exactly lonely either. I can only say that God definitely was watching out for me, and has been giving me really great intereactions with people JUST when I need them to keep me from getting lonely. Well, until I make actual friends of course haha=]

Monday--

Today has been pretty much entirely dedicated to the Australia Zoo. I woke up around 8, got ready, grabbed some food, and headed to the train station to catch the train to Beerwah, where you can get a shuttle to the Zoo. I had such a good day! To be totally honest the zoo itself was rather small compared to our lovely (FREE) National Zoo, but it was set up in such a beautiful way, and i have never seen happier zookeepers. Granted, this is the Crocodile Hunter's Zoo, so perrhaps he just rubbed off on everyone, but everyone was so happy to talk to guests, and i spoke with a woman who was taking care of some rhinos, and then ran into several women walking different animals (a cheetah, wombat, and parrot..separately of course haha). The people who work at this zoo are truly dedicated to the prservation of the habitat s of these animals and it was just really fun to be in an environment with people so enthusiastic about what theyré doing. Plus, it was awsome to watch the Wildlife Warriors show in the famous Crocoseum, which is where Steve Irwin would often present his crocs. Now i'm just getting my ipad charged up and then heading back to the Hostel to make dinner. 

               

                                             

                                

                             Statue of the Irwin family who own the zoo. In memory of Steve=(

                                 

                                 

                                      can we just talk about how cute this baby rhino is?!

                           

                                                   

                                                Emus are pretty emotionally fragile birds.

Sidenote: The Australian accent is getting better. I'm starting to pick up more of the differences in the way they say things. Still slipping into a British accent ore often than not when I try it out, but progress people, PROGRESS.

Love you all!

 

To the Land of Oz.

Well, my lovely friends, i've made it to the other side of the world! And, i'll be honest, I've only been here a day and I could totally see myself staying. I love this country so much. But let me backtrack so ya'll get a sense of what i've been up to until now.

                        

                                                   Ready to head out!

The travel portion of my trip was surprisingly not too terrible considering I was in the air for a total of 19 hours. I left home for the airport about 3pm on wednesday, and after a few hours of waiting headed to LA, where I had a short layover before heading to Brisbane! LAX was what I am considering the start of this journey, because it is where I first began to meet people. In LA I had a great chat with an Aussie guy who'd just gotten back from being in Colombia for a few months. It was great to talk with someone who had done a lot of backpacking and understood the insanity and excitement of travel. We chatted for the hour or so until our plane boarded, and perhaps i'll run into him again as I head south in later months. 

                                

                                        Mandatory "sunset-out-the-airplane-window" shot

Once on the plane I was lucky enough to sit next to a woman who had grown up in Brisbane and had lots of suggestions about things to do and see when I got there. While the flight was long, I did enjoy catching up on all my movies, (Em and Hil! I watched The Way, Way Back--SO GOOD.) and chatting with my seatmate. Oh, and beyond seatmates, I lucked out by being the absolute last row in the plane, which meant I had a little extra legroom, could put my chair back without annoying anyone, was on an aisle seat, and yet had no one to my right to block the window! Such a success.

Literally from the moment I landed, I have had the most wonderful interctions with people. The weather today was a bit dreary with clouds everywhere, and drizzling rain here and there. But, the excitement of being in a new country coupled with awesome people has made today beyond wonderful. I caught the train to my hotel (which is SUPER nice) and then showered and pulled my life together before heading out for a meeting at the bank to get my accounts in order. I walked around the city for a bit, saw the Queen Street Mall, which was really fun and just had a general enthusiasm surrounding it that you couldn't get past. The second I met my banker Rose we were laughing and chatting about travel and mango smoothies, and birthdays. She was unbelievably helpful and I now have all my accounts here ready to go and can actually start spending money! YAY! Just kidding, that's the last thing I want to be doing right now.

                                                

                                               A far away view of Queen Street Mall

After the bank, I just wandered the banks of the Brisbane River that runs through the city. I explored the Botanical gardens, ran into a couple of Kiwi gents who loved the Packers (Shout out to EMHAZE!) and the Ravens, weaved my way by the Maritime Museum and through Queensland University of Technology. I was planning on heading back to the hotel and napping for an hour and heading out again, unfortunately my body had other plans. I woke up 4 hours later and have just been hanging out and pulling stuff together for tomorrow since then.

                           

                                   The two lovely New Zealanders I met on my walk

                            

                                           The South Bank of the Brisbane River

                           

                                  Walking along the South Bank----Bogenvilla galore!

Tomorrow is supposed to be a bit cloudy and rainy again so i'm thinking i'll try and hit up some museums after I get settled into a hostel, but we'll see what happens!=] Today has been truly wonderful, and I cannot wait to get up and start walking this city again tomorrow. I cannot even express how blessed I feel to be here and have this chance to live out this crazy adventure.

Anyways, Sorry that was extrememly wordy for not that much exciting info, but I love you all and will hopefully have more exciting stories over the next few days!=]