Kansas girl in the land of Oz..

I thought it was really ironic that some call Australia Oz.. being from Kansas and all..

Anyways my last post here is going to be about everything I learned here.. sort of a reflection back..

*When crossing the streets.. ALWAYS look both ways.. you will never remember which direction the cars are supposed to be coming from..

*You know what they say about the flies in the Outback.. well its true.. there is such thing as the Great Australian Wave.. and I got a lot of practice at it!

*You will get "cheers"ed here even if you aren't at a bar..

*The crosswalks here make sound for the blind.. but its kind of a crappy system considering there are noises coming from everywhich direction!

*If you are in a club and the people start singing, "Your Spaceships on FIRE!" they are actually singing, "Your Sex is on FIRE!".. it can get a little confusing..

*I find myself using words such as toilets, lifts, walkabout, bush, trek, lookabout, where abouts, and G'day on too normal of a basis for an American..

*Australians are the most friendly people you will meet.. even the rich ones.. they are always willing to help you out!

*Never under any circumstance go into a random puddle, stream, crevice, or anything that can hold water.. there may be a croc in there..

*When in doubt.. go to the left..

*For the first time in my life.. I was told that Amber was a very unique name.. No one has really heard of it here..

*If its 1 use a half flush.. if its 2 use a whole flush!

*3 minute showers are incredibly refreshing when you've been in salt water all day!

*If what you are trying to plug in doesn't turn on when you plug it in.. its probably because you haven't flipped the switch yet (they have switches for absolutely everything here.. its a little ridiculous!)

*Always write everything down.. when you are doing as much stuff as we did then you tend to forget things very quickly like.. Sydney.. what was that?

*Always always always try new things.. even if it may not be neccessarily beneficial for you.. at least you can say, "vegemite.. yeah.. I don't know what Australians were thinking.."

*Make sure you steal lots of vegemite so when you get home and people ask "How is the vegemite?" you can hand them their very own packet to try!

*You can buy boomerangs EVERYWHERE here.. yet none of them work.. which is why I didn't buy any of you them! hahah..

*PVC pipes work as didgeridoos.. so I've been told.. I plan on testing this theory as soon as I get home.. but considering all didgeridoos are are a piece of wood hollowed out by termites.. I would imagine it would have somewhat of the same effect...

*If the PVC pipe theory does work.. everyone should expect their own personal didgeridoo made by me!

*Always make an effort to meet new people.. I have so many memories that would not have been made if I stayed to myself.. Never be afraid to put yourself out there!

*Reading the Twilight series will induce vampire dreams..

*For all of you who were wondering.. vegemite tastes just as they say.. DISGUSTING!

Alright.. thats all I can think of right now.. but be expecting more!

See you in 2 days!!!!!

Wasting away...

I'm so bored.. I know I shouldn't say that while I'm here in the great Australia.. but I have to waste an hour and a half on the internet because I paid for it back in Sydney and have gotten free internet since then.. Long story..

Anyways.. Soo.. I went to the zoo today.. and let me tell you.. I wish I was back in Sydney!!! The public transportation here in Melbourne is extremely confusing and not every new user friendly..

I asked the concierge how to get to the zoo.. thinking it would be an easy walk here and get on a train.. well to a Melbournian it may have been that easy.. but to me it was a 20 minute walk to the pick up.. get on the train you want.. but head in the wrong direction because Australians love to do everything backwards and I was apparently on the wrong platform.. I thought I could just ride the tram until it started going the way I wanted it to go.. well I did.. but it took about 30 minutes.. So I got to enjoy Melbourne from the tram for a while..

Well I finally made it to the zoo after about an hour and a half.. it was sort of sprinkling, but most of the animals were out and about.. The whole reason I wanted to go to the zoo was to see the platypus.. the only Australian animal I hadn't gotten the chance to see yet.. Well I got to see one and it was pretty dang cool!

I also toured the rest of the zoo.. It was a pretty good zoo if I do say so.. the monkey/ape exhibits were really great as was the elephants.. The elephants have like 5 exhibits in which you can watch them walk to through these gate things.. hard to explain but it was pretty cool..

Their penguin exhibit, on the other hand, was horrible.. I didn't even see a penguin in it.. I had a way better penguin experience last night!

Other than that it was pretty ordinary.. but I liked roaming around..

I do have a funny story.. I guess.. although it definitely was not funny at the time..

So I was getting prepared to eat my hotdog at the zoo, but it needed tomato sauce (or ketchup to you Americans..) so I got my packet it out.. but you see Australians like to do things very difficult.. Their packets are hard plastic with this bump on the top.. I looked at it trying to figure out how to get my ketchup out.. so I started messing with it.. squeezing it, trying to tear it, until all of a sudden.. it squirts all over my face.. I'm sure it was extremely amusing to watch.. but I still have tomato sauce in my hair... and my hoodie.. and who else knows where..

Well being the smart person I am.. I didn't have any napkins on hand.. so I just decided to try as best I could to wipe myself up and pretend that it didn't happen...

Good thing I had another tomato sauce packet.. And this time I knew how it worked.. I really wish I could make a diagram for you to explain the process you have to go through to get your ketchup to squeeze you.. silly Australians..

Anyways.. the zoo was a great time.. I had a much easier transport home after having my bad experience..

As soon as I got back to the hotel it was time to go to the Old Melbourne Gaol (pronounced Jail since that is what it is.. see what I mean.. Australians are so silly..)

We got to sit in the grounds for a bit waiting for our tour to begin.. Once we entered the building we were treated like inmates.. Sgt. Blank was not very nice to us.. he locked us up in a holding cell and turned the lights off.. let me tell you.. not a great experience! Then I got to take a LiLo mug shot.. and we made our way to the older section of the jail.. I swear it was straight from Ghost Hunters.. a few people scared me.. more I think I just scared myself.. It was pretty cool.. We got to see the place where they hung the prisoners..

The creepiest part to me was the fact that apparently after they hung each of the inmates.. they made a cast of the heads and kept them.. calling them their death masks.. Well they had these death masks in a lot of the cells.. I dunno.. but it was just strange.. please don't make a death mask of me when I die!

Anyways.. after that we had completed all of the things we wanted to do while in Melbourne, so now its just time to goof off and try not to fall asleep so we can sleep on the plane tomorrow!

I think I will end this post here.. and begin another..

Up Up and AWAY!!!

Just got back from my balloon trip, thanks to all of your prayers the weather was just fine for hot air ballooning!

And WOW was it amazing.. We started off by once again getting picked up and taken to a location to sign our lives away.. then we hopped back on the bus to head out to the launch site..

We had to help the people set up the balloon and it was HARD work.. Brian and I were asked to hold the balloon open in order for the air to get inside.. then he began shooting fire into the balloon.. it was really scary considering our close proximity to the fire! Finally.. the balloon started to lift and we literally had to jump into the basket before it lifted completely off the ground!

Then.. very smoothly.. we were flying!! We went up and right over downtown.. next to the Eureka Skydeck 88 building.. It was truly an incredible experience watching Melbourne "wake up"..

Our flight lasted about 1 hour and then we made our slow.. but once again smooth descent. I thought we were going to hit some trees on the way down but we barely missed them!

Finally we hit ground and it was once again a scramble to get out of the basket.. Everyone got out but me.. I was stranded! No.. I just had to stay in to balance the basket while they lifted it up and into the trailer.. It was pretty cool!

Then.. the balloon started its slow deflate and we had to help put all of the balloon back into its small pouch.. it was kind of like putting a huge over inflated air mattress back into its original packaging!!

We were finally done.. got a few last pictures in.. then it was back to the hotel so I could eat breakfast.. I have been up since 4:45am.. I'm so exhausted but I still have a few more things left to do today.. like the ZOO!! Which reminds me.. I gotta go cuz I have a time limit!!

Talk to you again soon!!

I say Penguin, you say Potato..

Wow.. what a day! I really wish you all could have been here for this one!

Today was Penguin Parade day.. We started our day off pretty early to get some Melbourne sightseeing done.. We went to Federation Square and Flinders St. Station. Thought it was going to take a lot longer than it did, so I went back to the hotel for a little nap before the minibus came to pick us up.

Our day tour was with the same company as yesterdays.. but today's guide was the one we didn't want.. he was a little too Type A for us.. He actually wasn't so bad as the day progressed..

Anyway.. so our first stop for the day was the Botanical Royal Garden.. Just a bunch of native Australian plants to see.. wasn't too exciting for me..

Then it was off to Panny's Chocolate Factory.. it was pretty cool.. we got to go through the chocolate making process.. and actually got to do a lot of the steps such as crushing the beans and getting out the cocoa butter and such.. Then we got the chance to "shape" our own chocolate piece.. it was really yummy!

Next we were off to the Koala Conservation park where I got to see at least 10 wild koalas.. and a wallaby! Most of the koalas were so high up in the trees that we could barely see them..

After the Koalas it was a stop at the Nobbies where seals usually are.. except for this time of year, so it was pretty uninteresting..

Then it was off to our last stop of the day.. The Penguin Parade!! Luckily Brian signed us up for the personal penguin experience, in which we were in a group of 7 with our own park ranger guiding our experience...

He took us around to show us a few exhibits, and then we were out to the beach.. We got front row seats.. and by front row I mean everyone else had to stay behind the cones.. but we were allowed to stay in front of the cones sitting on sand..

We waited a while waiting for little penguin heads to begin popping up and finally we saw them! They are the funniest little things every.. The penguins in this colony were formally known as Fairy Penguins.. but now they are called "Little Penguins".. and little they are!

They always come out of the water in the same place.. and hop onto the land at a specific track.. well I guess the land was moved about a week ago.. so some of the penguins were a little confused as to how to get to their track..

I'm getting ahead of myself now though.. first.. how they actually make it onto the beach.. once they pop their heads up and find their specific place to exit the water.. they come out in small groups.. one penguin will go first to make sure the coast is clear.. if he feels that it is not then he will run back to the water and all of the penguins will follow him (which is pretty humourous..); however, if he/she feels it is safe they slowly start walking towards their track.. very slow at first and then all of a sudden.. they RUN FOR IT! It was soooo funny to watch! Then once they find their track they hop up on the land and go off..

OK now that that is explained.. I will go back to talking about how they were confused.. Well a group of penguins got REALLY confused as to where their track was.. so they began wondering into the crowd, until they were slowly ushered back under the ropes by the rangers.. well as I said before.. we got to sit on the other side of the cones right under the rope.. so the penguins went RIGHT past us.. and by RIGHT past us I mean within 6inches to a foot away from me! They were so close I could reach out and touch them.. It was illegal to do that so of course I did not.. but I wanted to! The ranger said that only once in a blue moon do you get an experience like that! It was soo cool.. they went past us twice.. so awesome!

I didn't tell you this before, but we were not able to take any photographs during our experience because the flash is dangerous for the penguins eyes.. However after our experience we did get a professional picture looking at the penguins..

After we left the beach.. we watched the penguins find their home up on the land.. it was fake mating season.. so some of the penguins were mating.. which was interesting I guess..

It was just so cool watching the wild penguins in their natural environment.. and with them being so close to you!

Rita.. as a penguin lover.. you need to do this sometime in your life!!

Anyways.. once we were done watching the penguins.. it was back to the bus to head back to Melbourne..

OK.. here is where I ask a favor from all of you.. tomorrow we are to go on a hot air balloon ride.. but I'm asking you to pray that it doesn't rain here so we can actually go this time!!

Tomorrow is our last day here in Australia.. I'm so sad! But it should be a pretty good day.. hot air balloon ride, Melbourne Zoo, and the Old Melbourne Gaol..

Alright.. gotta hit the sack.. I have to be up at 4:30am!!

Cruisin' on the Great Ocean Road

Hello everybody!

Today was a very very very looooong day! It started by getting picked up at 7:30 this morning to drive along the Great Ocean Road allll day long!

Our first stop today was at Bells Beach.. home of the RipCurl International Surfing tournament. The waves were just right this morning so the beach was absolutely packed. It was fun to see all of the good surfers.

Then we began our journey along the road, which is a windy, curvy road that goes right along the Ocean line on the Southern coast of Australia. It was really gorgeous seeing all of the cliffs and the ocean. We stopped at one point because a huge group of dolphins were feeding off the coast.. and by huge I mean about 40 dolphins.. not even exaggerating.. it was incredible..

Our next stop was a Koala look out spot.. I only got to see 3 Koalas in the wild.. but our guide Stewart (another good looking Aussie) gave us birdseed and all of the parrots and cockatoos and such just attacked us.. at one point I had at least 5 birds on me..

Then we had lunch in a little seaside town.. and it was off to the rainforest.. We did a little walk through.. I got to stand in the middle of a tree... and then we moved on to the coolest part of all.. the 12 Apostles..

Just off the coast of farmland in Southern Australia are a bunch of rock formations named the 12 Apostles. The best way to see these is by going up in a helicopter.. which is what we did.. It was my first helicopter ride and it was amazing! I got to sit shotgun and the views were spectacular! The weather was cooperating with everything.. and we got some good pictures. Then after our ride we got to see them from ground level.

Next was Lord Ard Gorge the site of a shipwreck. On this site we actually got to take some stairs down the side of the cliff onto a beach in the middle of the gorge. Here is where I got to touch the Indian Ocean for the first time! When I went down to touch it.. I noticed the water was coming at me quicker than I thought, and since I had jeans and tennis shoes on, I didn't want to get all wet so I started running.. Well, the sand was sinking beneath my feet and I fell down and the water kind of hit me anyway.. it was kind of embarrassing because there were about 50 people down there.. I'm sure they weren't all watching me.. but still.. its embarrassing..

Then it was off to our last spot for the day.. the London Bridge.. there have been a few modifications to the London Bridge.. part of it collapsed a few years back so now its just half of a London Bridge.. but it was still cool nonetheless.

Then it was a very long car ride home where I got to watch March of the Penguins on a PSP.. I was getting myself prepared for the Penguin Parade I will get to watch tomorrow!

Alright.. be expecting an update tomorrow!! Until then.. Cheers!!

Jetsetting to Melbourne

G'day from Melbourne!

Left Cairns this morning and headed to the CHILLY town of Melbourne. We arrived late this afternoon but headed straight away to the Eureka Skydeck 88. (Well after I did a load of laundry.. I was wearing my last pair of underwear!) It was night time by the time we arrived.. So we got to see all of the lights of Melbourne.. It is a very beautiful city. Smaller than Sydney, but also more old school and traditional than Syd as well.

They had an option to do what is called the EDGE while we were on the Skydeck Observation floor, which is where you get into a glass box and they send you out so that you are suspended above the city. It was pretty cool.. they tried to scare us by making glass breaking sounds, but we already were expecting it so we didnt get scared. I got a photo of us in the box with the city lights surrounding us.

After that it was a walk and tram ride home.. and here we are.. A relatively uneventful day today.. but tomorrow will be the Great Ocean Road tour where I will be able to dip my toes into the Indian Ocean for the first time! We will also be taking a helicopter ride over the ocean as well, which I'm really excited for since I have never been on a helicopter!

I believe that is all for now.. Until we meet again!

Cairns you Belize it?? (sorry.. i couldn't help it..)

Alright.. last post from Cairns..

Just got home from a girls night here.. We just hung out at the bar we were at last night.. it was just a tad more mellow tonight! They had free vouchers for a meal there from their hostel. They had one from yesterday too, so they changed the date on it and gave it to me so I got my first taste of a hostel meal.. oh yum let me tell you! Haha it wasn't that bad.. sketti with meat sauce..

We sat and talked for a while about randomness.. I guess they went to Catholic schools growing up too.. then we went to the casino here in town cuz Ellie has never been to a casino before.. We just walked around.. she commented on how tacky it was (haha) and then we just had to play one slot so she could say she gambled.. so I put a dollar in, we pressed some buttons and ended up doubling up!! This was the first time I have ever walked out of a casino a winner! I proceeded to spend my winnings on a snickers bar at the convenience store we stopped at. She wanted a SlushPuppy(apparently very popular in the UK).. but the Snickers here taste not as good as they do in the States sadly!

Then, because we were already at my hotel.. they dropped me off! We said our sad goodbyes, exchanged names for facebook (gotta love it!) and I told them I wanted to visit them sometime in London.. haha.. maybe next summer?? Gotta do something with those 2.5 months I get off a year!

Now I'm back the Hilton.. getting ready to hit the hay!

Goodnight and Good luck!