melbourne and roadtrippingness

Majo and I flew into Melbourne, Australia after New Zealand. (Three of the girls headed to Fiji from NZ and another headed home!) In Melbourne we met up with our friend we met at Campus East, Ian. Melbourne is an amazing city with heaps of character. Our first day we went to the Melbourne markets and I got a cool purse and some jewelry. From there I met up with some of Majo’s friends that I had met earlier and we rented a car and drove to Phillip Island. At Phillip Island we watched the Penguin Parade. At dusk the fairy penguins (smallest species in the world) hop out of the ocean after a full day of fishing and go to their nests. They were so adorable to see waddle past us to their nests. The babies were so cute!
The next day Majo, Ian, and I decided “we needed to get us some of that there culture”. We headed to the National Art Gallery where we saw a Picasso, Monet, and other amazing art. After that we went shopping for a bit. (Melbourne’s also known for its shopping.)

We stayed in the St. Kilda area of Melbourne which is known for its beautiful cake shops. Look at the pictures of the amazing store windows. Of course we had to stop in for a bite. So yum! Talking about food…we ate on Lygon St. for lunch one day (known for great Italian food). I had the most amazing clam pasta! Five stars!

The next day we rented a car and headed off on the “Great Ocean Road”. (This is what I did on Thanksgiving, by the way. Didn’t taste like apple pie, but it was still good!) The drive is beautiful! We hiked to a waterfall and stopped for picture ops here and there. We finally made it to the goal “the apostles”. They are beautiful! It was a fun day!

From there we headed on our roadtrip up to Wollongong. Our first stop was Wagga Wagga to visit our bud LeAnne. Wagga Wagga is an inland “country” town with a population of about 50,000. LeAnne was an amazing host feeding us great food and sweets! (She makes great Lamingtons…these yummy little cakes with coconut. I tried to make ‘em here…did not taste the same!) We even had a pool party at her house! Too cool! That nite we went to a 21st birthday party. That was quite the experience. Australians really go all out for their 21st having a big party with family and speeches and stuff. It was quite fun actually!

From Wagga we headed to my roomie, Kate’s, house in Ulladulla. We stopped at Canberra, Australia’s capital, along the way. We drove through the city and drove by the embassies. That was interesting!

At Kate’s house we had an amazing feast! We had a fun slumber party and the next day woke up to check the surf. It was stormy and the surf wasn’t manageable for us so we just sunbaked. We got yummy fish ‘n chips for lunch and then drove around a bit going kangaroo spottin’. We found some! So exciting to chase ‘em around in the wild! Ulladulla is a great town known for its great surfing and fishing!

Next we headed to Jervis Bay to stay with a friend from Campus East, Kylie. We went to Murray Beach the next morning. It was beautiful. Bright blue waters with white beach. We played cricket on the beach which was such a blast! Then we went for a dip! After that we headed to the “Aussie Pipe” and watched bodyboarders take on massive waves! We had such a blast that day!

Roadtripping was a great way to the see the “real” Australia! I stayed in Wollongong my last week in Australia bumming around with my old roommate, Jessie. It was nice to just relax and soak up the hot sun before I headed back to cold Nebraska. I left Sydney at 3:00 pm Thursday, Dec. 8th and arrived in Omaha on Thursday, Dec. 8th at 5:50 pm. Crazy, hey?

Pictures under: "Australia - Melbourne and beyond"

the country with heaps and heaps of sheeps

Of the two weeks provided for final exams I participated in the first Wednesday morning…and was done! The exam went fine and at a later date I discovered I passed all my classes! Yipee!

So the last week and a half at Campus East was spent going to the beach, watching movies, going out, and reminiscing about the good ol’ days. On November 12th five other friends and I hopped on a plane to New Zealand to spend 9 days there. We arrived in Christchurch that night and the next morning we went and picked up our “campa vans”. These were amazing vans that had a CD player, TV that played DVD’s, stove, fridge, microwave, and a bed! We headed for Queenstown that day! That nite we pulled over by a gorgeous lake and “camped” out. It was quite comfortable!

The first thing we did in Queenstown was stop at the “Original Bungee Site”. All five of my friends ended up doing the 43 m jump and getting dunked into the ice cold river at the bottom. (I was the official photographer and videographer.) It looked like great fun…but I was holding out for something bigger and better.

So that afternoon Laura, Sarah, and I signed up to jump out of a perfectly good airplane for 14,000 ft! It was an amazing feeling! We freefalled for 55 seconds while having a beautiful view of mountains, lakes, rivers…beauty! So fun!!!

The next day Laura, Amy, and I did one of the tallest bungee jumps in the world – “The Nevis”, 134 m. Now that was a scream! You felt the ground rushing up at you for about 5 seconds before being flung away from the hard ground! I loved it! After your second bounce you had to pull a cord that pulled you upright to finish the rest of your bounces. (Otherwise the blood rushes to your head and you could possibly die. ;)

From there we headed to Milford Sound…beautiful, gorgeous, amazing drive on these curvy roads literally through mountains. Once you get there you see even more beautiful mountains in water surrounded in a haze. Breathtaking.

From there we saw Fox Glacier…not really what I expected. I was thinking iceberg and this was more like dirty snow. Ah well…I have seen a glacier now.

Then we went to Greymouth and went on a Monteith’s Brewery tour. We drove about an hour to the Pancake rocks. Really neat rocks that look like they are made of layers of limestone.

Then we headed back to Christchurch and spent a few days there going to the markets and just happened upon a “Santa Parade”. That was fun! So all in all…New Zealand is simply a “gotta experience it for yourself” country. No picture can capture it! Oh, and I can’t forget the heaps of sheeps we saw! So adorable! Ya never get sick of ‘em!

Pics under "New Zealand"

Study Recess? Nah, I'll take a holiday instead thanks!

Imagine a big sand bar in the Platte River that is a million times bigger with rainforests, wild dingos, beautiful lakes, creeks, champagne pools, cliffs, and a resort here and there… and you have Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world!

Three of my friends and I took a trip to a three day trip to Fraser Island. We went on a guided tour led by Graham (he baked us cookies and muffins everyday…so we kinda liked him). The first day we hiked through the rainforest, visited a beautiful emerald green lake, and then went for a swim at McKenzie Lake. When you look at McKenzie Lake you see light, light blue, then medium blue, and then dark blue. (Okay, a picture would display that a lot better, but trust me, it was beautiful.) Then we saw a couple dingos roaming around the beach! But don’t worry – all babies were well out of dingo eating range. ;)

The next day we visited an old ship wreck that is on the beach, hiked up to a beautiful lookout point and saw some sea turtles in the ocean, then we relaxed in the Champagne pools. They are these shallow pools that are right next the ocean – so warm and relaxing. They didn’t really bubble though. But they were awesome nonetheless! My favorite part of the trip was Eli Creek! It was like a natural “lazy river”. We floated on our backs down this gorgeous creek and watched the clouds and cool trees! It was amazing!

On our last day we walked along the sand dunes to another lake. The sand dunes basically led down to the lake so my friends and I dropped our stuff and rolled down the dune into the lake! So fun! Then we walked along the dunes aka the Sahara Desert. (It kinda felt like that for a bit!) Later that day we went to another fun lake and swam around. I had such an amazing time and the girls I went with were such a blast! I’d highly recommend a visit to Fraser Island if you’re ever in the neighborhood! ;)

So after the Fraser Trip my friend, Bree, and I hopped on an overnite bus (14 hours) to the Whitsundays where we jumped on a sailboat! The Whitsundays are a bunch of gorgeous islands that are around the Great Barrier Reef. Our first day sailing was quite the experience – relaxing in the sun while cruising across the ocean! That afternoon we anchored at Whitehaven beach (one of the whitest sand beaches in the world). We went for a swim, hung out on the beach, stole some sand… it was a great day!

The next day we got straight to work sailing – I even got to help pull up the sails a couple of times! That afternoon we went snorkeling – the colors were fantastic! I saw lots of amazing fish and gorgeous coral! I love it and was the last one out! Then a Norwegian girl and I jumped off the sailboat into the water a couple of times! Super fun!

That night we watched the stars – we could see SO many! Absolutely gorgeous! We saw nine shooting stars!!! I love it!

We headed back the next morning – the sailing trip was such an experience: sleeping in little bunks, hopping to the high side after every tack, helping sail, meeting people from Ireland, Germany, England, and Norway. It was so good! Well, now I have to study for my final exam tomorrow! Then I’m done with classes! Crazy!

Check out pics at my website under: Australia - Fraser Island AND Australia - Whitsundays Sailing Adventure

g'day mom and dad!

Mom and Dad arrived in Sydney on October 3. It was so weird to see them here…in Australia! But it was great to talk to them and to get filled in on everything I’ve been missing. They stayed in Wollongong a couple nights and I showed them around uni, the botanical gardens, Woolworths (the “Wal-mart of Australia”), and “my” beach.

Then we went to Sydney for a few days. We strolled around Darling Harbor and Circular Quay. We went to a few art museums and did some shopping at the markets. We also went to Bondi beach and got a bus tour of Sydney.

One of my favorite parts was eating at the “Pancakes on the Rocks”. It was so good we went back again the next day! They have all kinds of fun and crazy pancake combinations.

It was fun showing Mom and Dad around “my towns”. They really enjoyed Sydney and I’m sure they will have a blast on the rest of their 2 ½ week tour of Australia!

spring break 2005 (yes...i mean SPRING!)

Finding “Nemo”, sea kayaking, sailing, hiking through the rainforest, and relaxing on the beach were among the things accomplished on my spring break in Cairns, Australia!

For 12 days eight of my friends and I adventured in the tropical lands of Cairns. One day we went on a program called “rainforestation” and we got to pet kangaroos and hold a koala! We also learned how to throw a boomerang and watched an Aboriginal dance performance.

On Saturday we took a sailboat to the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef and went snorkeling and then I went SCUBA diving with another friend. It was amazing! I saw “Nemo” and his Dad, the “rainbow” fish, a sea turtle (I petted it!!!), a reef shark that was probably 5-6 ft. long, giant clams, and all sorts of other brightly colored fish and coral. It was one of my favorite things we did on the trip.

We also went to Fitzroy Island for a couple of days. It was like our own little island and it had great hiking trails, rainforests, and “Nudey Beach”. (No nudes though…a ‘lil ironic ;) We went sea kayaking around the island and then did some more snorkeling.

Then we took a bus to Cape Tribulation which is a gorgeous area where the “rainforest meets the beach”. We stayed at a hostel that felt like it was literally in the rainforest. The beach was amazing too!

It was a great trip with gorgeous weather and lots of relaxing!

all aboard!

My dorm had our formal on September 18, 2005. At first glance it might appear that we were all going to any typical formal with the girls in nice dress, our “hair did”, and guys in kinda nice shirts. (You know guys…) However, our formal was located on a three-story yacht that went around the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge on Circular Quay. It was absolutely gorgeous!

*An exciting note about while we were waiting for our ship. My friend, Amy, and I decided to go for a potty run in the Opera Houses. (FYI: nicest bathrooms in Australia that I know of ;) Anywho…the House was dead quiet and Amy and I were curious about the actual Opera theaters (the show I went to last week was just in the studio, not the actual theater). The velvet ropes couldn’t hold us back as we decided to make our “potty run” into a full-blown adventure. We wandered around the theater, but couldn’t get in…unfortunately. But it was awesome to see the inside of the big “pointy” things…the architecture is “crazy cool”. (Feel free to use the term “crazy cool”…I’m trying to make it the new “phrase”.) So…that was fun.*

But back to the cruise – it was so beautiful and such a blast! We had the most elegant supper as well – piles upon piles of pizza! ;) Yum-O! They hit the spot though. On the first floor they had dancing…so that’s where my friends and I hung out for most of the night besides our few runs to the top deck to go… “ooo…Ahhhh…eEEeee”. I think a few of my friends ended up doing the “Jack and Rose Titanic moment” where they’re at the front of the ship – “I’m flying, Jack” (or something like that…ya all know what I’m talking about)…although I didn’t witness it. (It was one of the poses required for a photo scavenger hunt…but who wouldn’t do that anyways???) Anyways, it was a great night that I won’t soon forget!

Pictures soon coming under: Australia - Nightlife

sunday in sydney

Let’s see…what haven’t I done for a while? SHOPPING! Sunday morning Majo and I went to the “Rocks Market”. It’s a market of all sorts of cool, arty vendors just off of Circular Quay. I found a couple awesome necklaces and got some cheap postcards. The market has a great atmosphere!

Later we met up with Helena and her boyfriend, Jorge, to go to the Powerhouse Museum. It was a “free day” because of a new exhibition of water conservation. Majo, Helena, and Jorge are all biomedical engineer majors and are really interested in how things work – so they were in heaven there. I enjoyed it as well! I did all the fun hands on stuff like “make a firework” (I thought of you, Mel!) and played with fun magnets.

That nite Majo and I went to a show at the Opera House! It wasn’t a full-blown opera (those cost a pretty penny). It was a show in the “the studio”… i.e. it was cheap. (is that proper usage of i.e.??? Ah well.) Anyways, it was called “Skin Quartet”. The quartet played 7 different movements that coincided with the 7 continents. While they were playing different pictures of skin appeared on a big screen along with the names of the different nationalities. It was very technological and the musicians’ music was displayed on a laptop. It was crazy! As you can tell, the show was pretty “arty”, but interesting! It was so cool just to be in the opera house watching a show! What a weekend!

yes, i went to the blue mountains on purpose this time!

My friends, Majo and Helena, and I went to the Blue Mountains on Saturday the 10th. We found out that the Blue Mts are not part of any ol’ park, they are a “World Heritage Park”. That’s right…world! ;) And I must declare – they deserve it. The park was amazing! There were waterfalls, amazing hikes, and of course, beautiful mountains with a blue haze. (The blueness is from the oil of the eucalyptus trees evaporating into the air…or something like that.)

My favorite part was just hiking through the beautiful trees. It felt like a rainforest! And the weather was awesome! I expected it to be cold in the mountains, but it was sunny and we were hot in our t-shirts! The waterfalls were another favorite! I’ll let ya know when I can get pics up…I’ve actually been busy with schoolwork lately!

The hiking was pretty intense and we were pooped by the afternoon. We walked around the town of Katoomba for a while. It brought back “great” memories! ;) We stopped by the bakery that I visited the first time I went there. I bought a loaf of bread and a “finger roll”. They were delicious.

We headed back to Sydney and stayed there at Helena’s apartment. (She’s Majo’s friend from home and goes to a uni in Sydney.) Her apartment is awesome – it’s on the 28th floor, is right in the heart of Sydney, and has an amazing view! That night we relaxed in the Jacuzzi and went swimming! So nice!

gaZuntite!

I’ve been fighting a cold this past week so I don’t have any “really exciting” stories to share this time. I am starting to feel like I’m getting over my cold, though…so that’s exciting!

Let’s see… well, the first day of spring on September 1st was welcomed in by lots of rain. That was fun. ;) This week my buds and I watched way too many movies! It was nice. It was crazy to watch Finding Nemo again. I totally picked up on A LOT more Australian phrases and stuff. Plus I couldn’t get over the fact that I’m going to be “finding nemo” in 2 ½ weeks when I go to the Great Barrier Reef for spring break!!!

On Friday two friends and I scraped up some surfboards and wetsuits from roomies, friends, etc. and went surfing! It was a blast! I can’t get enough of the ocean! It doesn’t even compare to the wave pool at Island Oasis! ;)

Classes are going well! We’re over halfway done with the semester so it’s starting to get busy with assignments right now. I have a paper, presentation, and project I could be working on that are due in the next few weeks. I think I’ve told you that I love my “Contemporary Writing in Australia” class. Well, we have to do a creative project about Australia’s “national identity” or what Australia means to you. I’m making a “scrapbook” of all the little things that make Australia, Australia. I’m excited to get to work on that! It should be fun, and it will be a good keepsake as well.

Another interesting tidbit…Father’s Day was yesterday, September 4th. Isn’t that odd? I figured stuff like that was universal. Mother’s day is apparently the same, though. Well, regardless, happy father’s day, dads!!!

untitled...(tricky, hey?)

I get home Saturday evening around 8:30 for a quiet night at the dorms…or so I thought. I watch a movie with my friend, MJ, and then decide to head to bed ‘cause I’m so pooped from walking around Sydney all day. I’m in my bathroom, washing my hands…when all of the sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of the hugest, hairiest, scariest spider I have ever seen just hanging out on my bathroom wall!!! None of my roomies are around and I am FLIPPIN’ out! After a minute I kinda regain my composure, go get my camera and snap a pic, and then call MJ. The call went a ‘lil like this:
MJ: “Hola?”
Me: “I need you. There’s a spider in my bathroom.”
MJ: “I’ll be right up.” (She’s thinking: “girly girl”)
MJ confidently walks in with a flip flop in one hand and says “Where’s the spider?” I lead her down the hallway of spidertown, timidly peek in the room, and point at the spider. MJ’s confidence melts as she begins screaming and trying to run away. After our girly panic attack MJ takes charge and finds some boys in the hallway. They come, freak out as well (very unashamedly I must mention), and tell us to call the office.

Finally our knight in shining armour comes armed with a t-shirt. He throws it on top of the spider and then walks out. I say thank you…but I don’t think he speaks/understands English. Ah, well. The excitement is over. But I still have pictures to freak myself out again any time I want!

Check ‘em out under: Australia - Creatures

oh, there's nemo!

Shopping, shopping, shopping – it was the name of the game Saturday morning at the Sydney Paddy’s market. I got a lot of cool stuff…maybe some of it is even for you!

After shopping Amy, Emma, Kristin, and I went for a walk on Darling Harbor. We stopped into a tourist shop and were able to catch a little didgeridoo show. It was really cool! The didgeridoo player told us all about its history and how to play it. He plays it along to a contemporary beat – it was very good! Afterwards I tried playing one…I got a ‘lil noise out of it!!!

Then we went to go Find Nemo in Sydney, Australia! We ended up finding him at the Sydney Aquarium. It was a really cool. My favourite animal was probably the platypus. I don’t know if it was a youngin’ or what, but it was about the size of a 3 month old cat (what, does that make any sense…I couldn’t say kitten ‘cause there’s quite a variety of sizes so on and so forth) anyways, the point is that it was smaller and cuter than I expected. Another favourite were the cool seahorses! They even had potbelly ones! And they also had this creepy, gigantic crab…like the size of 15 three-month-old cats all stacked together. Seriously – it was huge! They also had a whole tank devoted to Nemo and his friends. It was pretty spectacular. ;)

Just another beautiful day in Sydney! See pictures at the end of the “Australia – Sydney” album!

weekending it up in narooma

My roommate, Jessie, took me home this weekend to meet the family. (She actually went for her mom’s birthday, which was on Saturday!) Jessie lives 3 ½ hours south along the coast in a town called Narooma (pop. About 8,000). Jessie’s parents are named Sue and Graham. Sue is a kindergarten teacher, and Graham is a high school counsellor. Her sister, Elisa, is in year 11 and is really sweet! She’s into music and is a very good artist.

Jessie has an awesome house, and her room has the most beautiful view of the ocean! On Saturday we went into the cute little town that had lots of cool, quirky shops. We looked at clothes, art, gifts, and my favourite – the old fashioned candy shop! Yum-o! After that we all took a nice walk along the beach – it’s beautiful! Then Jessie and I headed to the Australian movie Oyster Farmer, which her parents had seen last week and had highly recommended it to us! The movie was excellent – kinda arty and apparently “very Australian”.

Once we got back we had the best “tea” ever! We had fresh prawns, then garlic prawns with rice, and then fish! Plus, yummy chocolate birthday cake! It was so good!

We had a sunny Sunday and I was anxious to go surfing! (Saturday had been kinda dreary.) Sue has been surfing for about 18 months now, but she’s really into it and very good. Sue let me use her board and she was basically my surf coach – pushing me onto waves and giving me tips. It was great and I really improved! I stood up quite a bit! It was SO fun! Jessie and Elisa caught a few waves while I was learning. They make it look so easy! We went out again later that day. Apparently the surf hasn’t been that good, but it was okay for me to learn on and stuff. It was such a great time! It really wears ya out though! That evening we watched Hitch and then headed to bed early because we woke up at 6:30 Monday morning to head for Wollongong.

I can’t wait to go surfing again! Jessie doesn’t like surfing here as much as she does back home, but hopefully we can go out here sometime soon!!!

Pictures under: Australia – Narooma

robin hood...my hero!

Our mission: to find cute, clever, and creative costumes for our movie characters themed campus party of Friday. The dilemma: not wanting to pay very much for a costume we will never wear again. The plan: Amy and I rode our bikes to the local “salvo” aka Salvation Army or thrift store to look for some cheap costumes. We didn’t really have any characters in mind and were going to see what we could find. First off, the salvo wasn’t that cheap. Example: used shirts were like A$10! So we were a little dismayed at first, but we kept hunting. Soon we found a rack of reject shirts from “Valleygirl” and we find our costume! The tank tops were a hideous metallic green…but on the other hand they were only $1! I had been thinking about the movie Robin Hood earlier and with the sight of the green shirts my friend and I determined we would be the “men in tights” from Robin Hood, Men in Tights!

Four of us girls all sported the ugly shirts with shorts and of course – tights! We also made super cool bows and arrows from some sticks we found. And we made newspaper piratey hats with purple feathers that totally could have passed for the real caps! ;)

Three of my roomies went as the Harry Potter gang – Harry, Hermonie, and Ron. My other roommate, Sarah, and her boyfriend went as Danny and Sandy from Grease. Other cute costumes were Napoleon Dynamite (he pulled off his personality too!), Robin from Batman, Pippy Longstocking, and the Peter Pan gang with a lot of tinker bells (the “men in tights” and the Peter Pan gang totally had a dance off! It wasn’t official, but I think we won!). It was a great nite!

See the pictures for yourself under Australia – Nightlife.