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!

You Cairns dance if you want to..

YAY!

I had soo much fun last night..

We started off with dinner and drinks at a bar/restaurant until all of the boring people left.. then us party people headed off to the popular club here. LUCKILY.. we didn't have to pay cover to get in.. we had connections.. haha!

Oh my.. was this one of the coolest experiences I have had since being here (as a 23 year old in a new country of course..) I have never been into a club outside of the US but let me tell you.. I wish the US bars were more like European/Australian clubs!!

The music was playing and I got dragged onto the dance floor by one of my UK friends.. I didn't want to have an America's Pub experience where all of the guys try to hump you and touch you inappropriately but to my surprise it was NOTHING like that.. All of the guys are perfectly content with dancing by themselves.. It was much like a lake dance (for all my Blackwell Lake girls) with now a day music.. if ya know what I mean! We were doing our new SCUBA signal dances.. hahah... it was absolutely hilarious.. I'm pretty sure Jacquelyn will be the only one on here to know what I'm talking about.. so I'll explain..

Under the water you obviously can't hear each other so you have signals that you use.. Well we found that these signals make really great dance moves.. kind of like the shopping cart and lawn mower.. My favorite was the "going down" dance move in which you point your thumb down and then lift up your inflator and begin to deflate your BCD while going down with your body.. Basically its an upgraded version of the holding your nose while going down move.. Hilarious..

But yeah.. it was so much fun.. And I will be heading out with my party friends again tonight.. however, because it is sunday here, I don't think we will be partying much tonight, rather just hanging out in my last night in Cairns..

As far as today goes.. we went on the Kuranda Skyrail and Train ride. The Skyrail is basically a gondola that takes you over the Rainforest from Cairns to Kuranda. When we arrived in Kuranda we headed over to RainForeStation, where we got to feed some more kangaroos.. in the daylight this time! They had some baby kangaroos that I got to feed and pet that were SOO cute!

After that we headed for our duck tour.. A duck for those of you who are unaware, is an amphibious vehicle, which means it can drive on land and float like a boat on water.. These ducks were unique in the fact that they were the Army Ducks used by the US military in WWII.. so they were REALLY old! That took us through the rainforest.. it was pretty cool!

Next was the aboriginal dancing.. it was really funny cuz they shake their legs all weird.. I kept laughing.. but felt kind of rude..

After the aboriginals danced they showed us how to throw spears, play didgeridoos, and throw returning boomarangs.. I actually got a shot at throwing the boomarang and did so well that the aboriginal claimed me as his sister! It went up and out pretty far and landed about 10 feet away from me.. which is pretty good!

After that it was time to head back on the train that takes you through the rainforest back to Cairns.. It was very scenic and pretty!

Now I need to go shower and meet my friends for dinner!!

Tomorrow I leave for Melbourne, so I will probably update you when I get there!!

Peace and Monkeygrease!

SCUBA dooba doo!!

'Ello Mates.. I'm Back!!

Just got into the hotel again from my amazing dive trip! I survived.. but I'm still digging the water out of my ears!!

I'm going to start from the beginning...

So we were picked up on the first day bright and early.. Headed to the dive shop and then on to the boat..

When we got to the dive shop I noticed that everyone there was around my age.. I was kind of excited but it was really unexpected. I had forgotten that we had signed up for the German dive group (that just meant that they would have instructors available who spoke German), so I was kind of surprised when everyone was speaking in different languages..

We headed out the boat... got our briefing and then our room assignments. Brian and I's room was right next to the common space/dining room. I didn't mind it too much, but I think Brian would tell you otherwise!

After we unloaded.. it was time for our first dive!! We met our instructor, Nadine, and found out that we would be the only two students with her. I was pretty excited because I knew I might have problems with my ears and didn't want to hold a bunch of people up. (Later I found out that it was because everyone else had done the class and pool work with ProDive while we were the only ones with referrals).

Our first dive was kind of scary for me.. not really knowing what to expect considering the pain I endured during my pool dives. We put on our gear and jumped into the water.. We went down VERY slowly because my ears were acting up again. Once we were on the bottom we did a few skills but then spent the rest of the time looking around the reefs.

I must say.. At least once in your life time you need to see these reefs.. It was sooo beautiful.. All of the colorful fish surrounding you..

Our instructor pointed something out on the bottom. I saw a pair of eyes in the sand and thought it was an octopus (I'm not sure why) I got kind of scared, but when she fanned some water on it, it swam away as a STING RAY! It was a smaller cute one!

I really just felt like I was swimming in a gigantic fish tank there were so many fish and other wild life.

Well the first dive didn't last long, and it was time for lunch so we swam back up to the surface and ate.

The second dive was right after lunch. During this dive we had to do more of the skills and less looking around. I didn't see anything other than some cool looking fish..

Then it was done diving for the day.. cake then dinner then bedtime because we had to get up early again to dive the next morning...

The first dive on the second day was going to be our deepest dive, and boy was I terrified. I was still having issues with my ears, so I didn't think I was going to make it down that far. Then to make matters worse.. we had to go down without using a rope that I liked to balance on while trying to clear my ears!

Well, I tried anyways.. and much to my surprise I think this was my easiest dive, where my ears were concerned! At the bottom we got to see two stingrays playing around, but that was about it because it took so long for us to get down that we didnt have a lot of time to look around.

After the dive it was breakfast then briefing for our last dive with our instructor before we were fully certified!

Our last dive was pretty easy, we had to go down without a rope again and finish up our last few skills. We had more time to look around the reefs this time. I saw a really cool angel fish looking thing. My favorite part of this dive was that we swam over this huge wall of coral and then got to go down the side of the wall to look at the stuff. There was a giant clam on this wall.. I couldn't believe how big it was!

By the time we made it down it was time to go back up for lunch.

After lunch we did our paperwork and were officially certified!! WOOHOO!! Then it was time for briefing for our first dive by ourselves.

I'm pretty sure the guy who was briefing tried to make the directions as difficult as possible considering there was a wager going on between the instructors to see whose divers would come up furthest way from the boat.

I didn't even worry about navigation.. I just wanted to see the reef so we set off by ourselves.

We started to follow a group of divers and ended up running into my first sea turtle.. I was so excited because I have never seen one before and they are my favorite sea animal. I ended up getting with 2 feet of it while it was eating.. It was really a cool experience.

It was at that point that we got kind of lost and decided to try to make our way back to the boat. During this process we ran into a SHARK!! I'm not even kidding you.. of course it was a reef shark which aren't at all dangerous.. but it was still really cool.. Anyway.. we finally decided to surface.. and unfortunately we were pretty far away from the boat.. so we had a lot of snorkling to do on our way back.

After dinner that night, we had the opportunity to do the Night Dive. We decided to take the chance, but luckily it was a guided tour so we didnt have to get lost in the dark! We honestly didn't see much.. we got to see a nemo and then I saw the tail end of a lobster before he went back into hiding. It was really hard to see, our flashlights didnt work very well.. and there were so many in our group that we kept running into each other. Definitely the highlight of the dive would be the gray reef shark we ran into right before going back up.. He was a LOT bigger than the previous reef shark we saw.. He just barely came into the light of the flashlight then disappeared..

Sleeptime happened.. only after I made friends with a few people.. I met two girls from the UK (Steph and Ellie) traveling for 2 months.. I'm so jealous.. Then there was a guy from Sweden (Jon) who is traveling for 6 months.. Freek (not sure where he's from some where in Europe but its his birthday today!).. George from the UK, and then Joao from Brazil. They all took their pool classes together so it was a little intimidating trying to get to know them considering they had all been together for 2 days before our dive trip.. but they welcomed me.. and I had a lot of fun with them!

Anyways.. on to our last day.. today! We woke up even earlier this morning to do our first dive. It was a little bit easier to navigate this one.. so I just made us go into like a square, and we eventually found our way back to the boat! During this dive I once again got to get really close to a sea turtle.. He was a really big one.. 3-4 feet wide I would say.. Other than that it was just seeing your typical fish.. and then we came back in!

Our second dive of the day was super easy to navigate so I made Brian do it.. even though he didn't really want to.. he was a trooper cuz I had the underwater camera. It was sooo hard taking pictures while SCUBA diving because you are sort of floating up and down but trying so hard to stay still! I got some pretty good ones of some fish and coral (no turtles : ( ) and some funny ones of Brian and I.. This dive seemed to end quicker than the others..

After this dive.. Brian was all tuckered out and decided he did not want to do the last dive (I don't blame him.. I was tired too but since I paid for 9 dives.. I wanted to do all 9!) Luckily Jon said that he was tired too so he allowed me to use his buddy Joao from Brazil.

This dive was definitely my most scary dive because I let Joao lead and he took us through all this small areas where we were surrounded by coral and reefs. To add to that it was extremely shallow so the current and waves from above kept making me go places I didn't want to be.. I was almost slammed into the reefs a few times..

On this dive towards the beginning we came to a smaller cave.. Joao had a peek inside and told me to come look.. I was having problems stabilizing myself to get a good look inside. I signaled to him to ask what I should be looking for and he made a signal that I took as a giant clam.. Well I didn't really want to waste anymore time to look at a clam so we moved on.. After the dive I asked him what he saw in the cave again, apparently there was a shark in there.. His "jaws" signal I mistook for a clam signal.. hahah..

I ran out of air pretty early on this dive considering I had to fight such a tough current.. so we had to end it.. I was kind of happy because I was SOOO tired after doing 9 dives in 3 days..

We got back on the boat and it was time to head home.. I'm really looking forward to going out with all of my new friends tonight! Should be good times.. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow!

Ok I think you have read enough for one day! Lucky you I will be able to update on a semi daily basis again! See you soon!!

One last post before I go!

So I get one more in before I go to sleep!

Today's zoo experience was SOOOOOOOOO awesome!

It started out with dinner and drinks (I got to taste an Australian Reisling and some beer). For dinner we had steak.. both Brian and I had to send ours back to be cooked longer.. it was still mooing! It was pretty good though..

Then I got to play a diggeridoo.. so much fun! I was actually pretty good..

After that it was off to the night at the zoo. We got to see some birds, some koalas, some snakes and lizards, and then some Crocs.. We got to watch him feed the croc and it was so cool!

Then it was kangaroo time!!! We were led into their pen and given food to feed them. They just came right up to you and you could touch them all you wanted... They were really gentle and very soft.. we got some awesome pictures!! Then it was time to go (well they had a dance that we didnt really attend.. we were there just didn't participate..

Then it was time to go....

long bus ride home.. gotta go to bed now!!

Good night!!

What Cairns you do about it?

Doncha love my creative titles these days??

It's so people remember that Cairns is pronounced "Cans" not "Carns".. so know ya know!

Ok so my blogs haven't been the greatest the past couple days.. sorry.. let me make it up to you!!

So I forgot to mention the whole reason we were out in Cairns last night. We wanted some F'in McDonalds.. haha.. we were so tired of the disgusting food out in the outback that we only wanted McDonalds when we got here. So after putting all of our things away we asked the concierge where the closest one was.

He got really upset with us for only coming to Cairns to eat Mackers!! We let him know that we were truly here to dive, and I think it made him feel better. So he showed us the way!

After our Mackers, trip to the dive shop and 24 hour medical center (for physicals.. not cuz we were hurt!!), we decided to take the "scenic" route home.. a little path that goes by the ocean. We were walking along enjoying the view until the path came to a stop. We started to look around and realized that we had no idea where we were. We thought this one place was our hotel.. but it wasn't. We were in a parking lot surrounded by 4 different hotels.. none of which had their name on it.. trying to decide which was ours.

We finally picked one and went in that direction only to realize that it wasn't ours. Then.. we saw the Mackers.. and knew exactly where we were.. we knew at that point that none of the 4 hotels we saw were actually ours... but now.. because of our taste for Mackers, we knew how to get home!

On the way home we had to walk over this gutter thing.. I made sure that Brian didn't step in it and get eaten by a deadly Croc... long story.. (in a nutshell.. there are lots of crocs in waterways here.. and there was a bit of water in the gutter.. it was you had to be there kind of thing..)

So we made it "home" safe and sound.. and headed for bed.

Today.. we woke up and got ready to go see the Koala named Harvey. We got to hold Harvey and get our picture taken with him. He was so soft! He is winking in my picture... can't wait to show you!!

After Harvey we went back to the dive shop to get fit into our things. Then we went around looking for some souviners (I know there is a g in that word but I can't ever remember where!) I tell you Renae.. I'm looking so hard at finding something French for you.. but I can't seem to find ANYTHING I can actually bring back with me. I am taking pictures of the french things.. so no worries!!

Then it was back to the hotel for a lazy afternoon as there seems to be nothing to do here in Cairns except dive.. which is TOMORROW!!!

Tonight though I am pretty excited. We are going to the Cairns Night Zoo, in which we will go around the zoo with a "torch" (or flashlight.. at first I thought we were going to have a real fire torch.. until I realized they call flashlights torches here.. it would be way cooler if I had a real torch..) But most of Australia's animals are nocturnal.. so its better to see them at night! Then after the torching around the zoo.. we will have some shrimp on the Barbie, or just some plain ol bbq while being surrounded by kangaroos that we can touch and feed!! Hopefully we wont feed them bbq...

After dinner its lots of drinking (I'm beginning to think Australians are alcoholics!) and dancing to a Bush Band.. I'll let you know how that turns out!

This will probably be my last post until I get back from my SCUBA trip on Saturday for me.. Friday for most of you.. But I am journaling every event in my handy journal Jacquelyn gave me for my birthday (shout out to you cuz its been a blessing!! I have everything in order thanks to the pouches!) and I will make sure to update you on EVERYTHING as soon as I can!!

Miss you mucho!

If I Cairns do it, you Cairns too!!

G'day from the beautiful city of Cairns!!

Last night's showing of the Olgas was beautiful.. but thats all to be said about it really!

Now we are in Cairns in Northern Australia where the Rainforest meets the ocean.. and it is a beaut! hahah...

We have just signed on to do a night tour of the Cairns zoo tomorrow and I'm so excited..

Tonight we just got all of our dive stuff done. Got OKed by the doctors here and the dive staff so that is one relief!! Brian and I were getting a little worried that the doctors would say no! But no worries (as they like to say here)..

Alright.. that is all I have time for tonight!

My last update for a while will be tomorrow, since we leave for our dive trip the day after tomorrow..

I do want to mention that my doctor here was a little creepy.. He started talking to me in German until I shyly said that I did not speak German. He laughed and said "With a German name like that you should!" He also stuck his hand down my shirt without asking.. but other than that he was a pretty nice guy..

Ok now my time is really running short.. see you tomorrow!!

More from Uluru

G'day to ya!!

So I have much more interesting things to post today... good news for all of you!

Yesterday after my relaxing day doing laundry and sitting reading New Moon by the poolside (getting a little sunburnt..), we went to a little thing called the Sounds of Silence. The coach picked us up from our hotel (after we ate some french fries fearing what dinner might be like for us picky eaters) and dropped us off in the middle of nowhere.

We walked up the sand dune and were handed a glass of champagne. We got to enjoy a beautiful sunset on Uluru, which turned a beautiful red, purple, and then blue. A guy was playing a diggeridoo(pathetic that still don't know how to spell that!) and we got to taste a little kangaroo jerky (which was oddly seasoned and really tough tasting..) and some crocodile (it tasted really lemony.. had a really odd texture).

After my second glass of champagne (and working on a third), we were escorted down to where we were to eat dinner. We got to sit at a table with a couple in their 30s from Adelaide here in Australia.. they had met here in Ayers Rock a year ago (the guy told me his is proposing this weekend..), some asian guy who laughed at everything we said, and an older couple from Texas who the man used to work for the Air Force. The table dynamics were great and the conversation flowed as much as the Australian wine, I had two glasses of..

Dinner was pretty good with Kangaroo that tasted like yummy steak and some roasted potatoes.. dessert was better, they had these brownies that were to die for!

A star talker came and talked about the stars. The couple from Adelaide already pointed out the Southern Cross to me, but the stars down here are absolutely amazing! The Milky Way is 10x brighter down here, and so is Orion. Plus they have a bunch and bunch of other constellations.. it was really awesome. We got to see Saturn and its rings, and then a Anangu man talked to Brian and I about some other stars that have meaning to the Aboriginals. It was so awesome.

After stargazing it was time to head back where I proceded to pass out..

It was a really great night followed by a very lazy morning. I am getting ready to read by the pool again (with tons of sunscreen on!!) and then tonight we will be heading to see the sunset over the Olgas.

I probably won't be back on until we get to Cairns tomorrow.. so I hope you all have a good day or 2!!

Adios!

The day of Uluru

Hola everybody!

So just another quick update..

Still out in the middle of nowhere (literally)..

Got to see the sunrise this morning on a rock called Uluru.. was actually far more interesting than it sounds.. the colors were amazing..

And then tonight we will be watching the sun set on the same rock! haha...

Also tonight I will be trying kangaroo, emu, and crocodile meat.. I'm kind of really excited.

For all of those who are wondering what Uluru is... it is an aboriginal spot that has a few sacred sites on it. We got to hear all of the stories today and it was really neat.. I bought some aboriginal goods that I will show you when I get home!!

Sorry for yet another boring update.. I'm a little sad today cuz I'm starting to miss Everett.. bad excuse I know.. but I haven't gotten to talk to him in a week (including email) and that is definitely the longest weve been..

gotta go!

In the Great Outback!

Hello again!

So I found internet! Not cheap though.. so my posts will be smaller (I have 5 minutes..) So it was an interesting trip out here.. The airport only had one runway, and all you can see for miles upon miles is red dirt! We just hung out today walking through the resort we are staying in. We are doing 2 tours tomorrow and 1 on the next day before we move on to Cairns.

Really that is about it.. a very non exciting day!! Sorry to disappoint!

I did see 2 bunnies on the resort grounds..

haha.. alright I'm signing off now!

Last day in Sydney...

Hello all!

So today was my last day in Sydney.. Sadness! But before I go on about that I have some important business to attend to.

First, there were a few things I forgot to mention in my previous blog. First was that there was a pro surfer surfing at the same time as I was! Her name was Jessie (don't know the last name.. never could understand him..) And she was surfing about 20 yards away from me! So cool!!

I also forgot to mention that my instructor had to borrow my board while I was out in the middle to save these two girls swimming in the rip.. leaving me all on my own out in the middle! I survived! haha..

I think that was about it.. now on to Jerry Springer the Opera.....

Oh WOW is all that can describe that.. If it ever tours the states.. I'm going again! haha..

When we got to the Opera House, we made our way to our seats.. a little higher up than we expected to be considering we had the middle priced tickets (still $100!) We watched as the entire Hall filled up.. it was definitely sold out! As the lights dimmed.. the crowd began to chant "Jerry! Jerry!" It was so awesome.. have I ever mentioned how much I love Aussies?? The show began.. it was so vulgar yet so hilarious all at the same time.. from the crack whores, to a song about "shitting in my fucking diaper" (long story..) to tap dancing KKK members... Never did I ever expect a combination so amazing!

Once the show was sadly over.. we made our way back to the hotel and passed out!

Now on to today's events!!

So today was spent up in the Blue Mountains.. and I must say how GORGEOUS they are!! We did a couple walks through the "bushes" and got to ride the steepest rail in the whole world. We also rode down a very steep gondola.. Saw the Three Sisters and Wentworth falls (actually got to walk over the falls..) Then we saw some aboriginal rock carvings, tried to hunt some 'roos in the national park (to no success unfortunately), then took a ferry ride back home to complete all of the ways of transportation in Sydney (not an easy feat considering the vast variety of transporation available here!) And that really leads me back to where I am now.. sitting in the internet cafe!

I did have one fun moment for the day. For the first time since I have been here.. I got to hear someone say "crickey" in a sentence for real! I was really excited.. haha!

Ok now on to the sad part. We are flying out of Sydney in the morning to the Great Outback. I don't know if there will be any internet available there.. so I may be gone for a few days. I do promise to give you lots of updates as soon as I get to Cairns!!

Also.. a shout out to my daddy... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I miss you and I love you!!

No worries.. until we meet again!!

Sydney Day 4?? It's going by too fast!!

G'day all!

What a day I have had!! I guess I will start off where I left off last night..

Once we were done at the internet cafe, we went through an unplanned trip to Chinatown at night (my directional skills weren't at their best haha!) It was good to see, but we got out quickly and got back to where we were supposed to be heading.

Went to the Rocks for some dinner.. very very good!! Then headed back to the hotel for the evening.

Went to bed after reading some of Twilight (you will all be happy to know that I am officially hooked and am in LOVE with Edward.. I hate myself for even writing that! haha).

Woke up this morning super excited because of SURFING!!

We made our way out to Bondi Beach, got into our wet suits and put on enough sunscreen to last 5 days. We got to use that zinc stuff you see lifeguards wearing but it was flesh colored so it looked more like stage makeup than sunscreen!

After meeting our instructor Lawrence (another cute Aussie of course!), we grabbed our surf boards and headed to the beach!!

We practiced a few times on the shore then headed for the ocean. The first few times I just "rode the wave" on my stomach just so I could know what it felt like. Then we practiced getting up on shore.. I was a little nervous cuz I was already falling over, and I wasn't even in water yet!!

We headed out for the ocean and I made sure to stay by the instructor. He would hold the board for you while you got on and push you into the wave so all you really had to do was stand! I got a little spoiled and only paddled into a wave maybe five times.

So I'm sure you all are interested in how I did.. you'll have to wait! First I will tell you about my near death experiences. The first occurred when another surfer ran into me with their board (not sure who's fault it was haha!) Then I almost ran into the same surfer, so trying to stop myself I did a nose dive, got thrown off my board, did a somersault in the water, hold onto my heaed making sure the board didn't hit it, until I finally came up.. What an experience! Then my last near death experience happened when Lawrence, the instructor, decided to push my board straight for another surfer.. who I ran into..

And now for the results!! I got up numerous times, however, I only rode 2 waves all the way in. But it was SOOOO much fun! I'm officially hooked!!

After surfing we headed back to the mainland and I showered up and headed to go souvigner (sp??) shopping. I was unsuccessful but I have so many more opportunities.

After I get off here we will be headed to Jerry Springer: The Opera.. I will give you the details on that tomorrow!!

Alright.. gotta sign off now! My minutes are running out as we speak!

Until tomorrow!!

Day 3 continued....

Geez.. I feel like I'm only on the internet!! haha..

So today went a little differently than planned.. I knew I should not have talked about how beautiful the weather was outside because the moment I stepped outside it began to pour down.. so no surfing : (

We started our day with a hop on hop off bus tour of Sydney. We went to the one that goes to Bondi Beach first.. by the time we made it out there it was beautiful weather. Too bad we left the swimsuits at home! Good news is that we have booked a surf lesson for 10:30am tomorrow!!! I'm so very excited to be getting to surf at the World's Famous Bondi Beach.. haha!

The tour was nice.. I fell asleep a couple times haha!

We made a stop at Darling Harbour, I looked for the Real World house, but couldn't find it. So instead we had some ice cream waffles at the Lindt Chocolatier. SOOOO YUMMY!! From there we ended our bus tour and headed back to the hotel. Knowing that I would fall asleep if I did not do anything, we decided to go on a search for a cheaper internet cafe. The hotel was charging us $5 for only 30 minutes of internet. So we boarded a CityRail to the Central station and began our search. I am now using the internet for $3 an hour.. MUCH better!

So our day wasn't too exciting. I little more relaxing than our previous days but we needed it!

On for tomorrow is surfing, touring the Olympic park, and then Jerry Springer: The Opera!

I'm starting to feel like a Sydneysider... I find myself speaking in accent every once in a while haha! Also I have grown accustom (that is so spelled wrong but I can't figure out how to spell it at the moment!) to walking on the "wrong side of the sidewalk". I really like it here.. I'm thinking about making Everett get a transfer to the Australian Air Force!! The people here are really nice, kind of funky in the fashion department, but nice!

Alright I believe I have rambled on enough.. but I still have 45 more internet minutes!!

Oh I guess I can update you on the hot air balloon experience. They will not be having any more flights go out while we are here in Sydney so we are going to try to do it some other time on our trip..

And I'm off!!

Day 3 in Sydney

G'day mates!

I figured that was a phrase that was just used in the U.S. a lot to portray Aussies.. little did I know they really use it... A LOT!

So we are just starting out our 3rd day here in Sydney. A little disappointed this morning.. due to the wonderful weather we have been having here, our hot air balloon ride was cancelled. We will be calling them shortly to see if we can reschedule for tomorrow.. our only open day left. I just peeked outside and the skies are relatively clear (or partly fine as they like to say here). Should be a pretty good day.. for SURFING!!

I guess maybe I should start from the beginning of our trip for those of you who did not receive my email.

The flight here from LA was not near as bad as I thought. I got to watch the first ten-15 minutes of Benjamin Button and Rachel Getting Married before I fell asleep. Then after I got a good 8 hours of sleep I watched Doubt and all but the last ten minutes of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Then it was time to land in Sydney!!

We made it through customs, so easy! And we boarded our train to take us to our hotel. Once we stepped off the train we were greeted by both the Sydney Opera House AND the Harbor Bridge.

We made it to our hotel.. the plush Marriott right in the middle of everything. We can see the Opera House from our window in our room.. very cool!



Once we unloaded we were off to Circular Quay (pronounced KEY) and got our tickets for that afternoon's ferry ride.

Since we had a couple of hours to kill and we weren't tired due to our sleep on the plane, we decided to head over to Sydney Tower to do the SkyWalk experience, where you are literally strapped to the building walking over glass platforms. We got to see the city from VERY high up! It was awesome! I never realized how HUGE Sydney was.. they say that if you start driving from the middle of Sydney in any direction, you can drive for 2 hours and you will still be in Sydney.. just to give you some perspective.

After the Tower we went on our harbor cruise, it was informative but kind of cheesy.. Then we (or I) decided to end the day at 5pm. After numerous attempts to wake me up.. Brian gave up and let me sleep for a full 12 hours.. the jet lag finally kicked in!

We had an early start the next morning with a backstage tour of the Sydney Opera House. It was awe-inspiring! We got to see the insides and backstage's of each of the 5 venues. Then we ate breakfast in the green room amongst staff and performers. We were so impressed, we decided to book tickets for Thursday's showing of Jerry Springer: The Opera.. yeah you read that right! How could we miss a show like that!!

Then, after an afternoon of naps and exploring the city by monorail, we went on the famous Bridge Climb.. SO AWESOME!!

We were lead by a very nice looking Aussie named Dylan.. a little too short for me.. sad I know! All was great as we ascended the bridge.. until we reached the top.. when a huge rainstorm came through. We decided to wait it out.. at the top of the bridge (not the best place to wait out a rainstorm in my opinion) so that we could still get good pictures. Although we were pretty wet.. it made for a better adventure right?? It finally cleared and the pictures were taken, and we began our descent. It was definitely a very cool experience everyone should get the opportunity to try!

We were so exhausted by our two climbing trips for the day, and since we had to be up at 4am to go ballooning, we went to bed early again.. at least I did : )

We woke up at 4am only to be disappointed with the news that our trip had been canceled.. so we replanned our day. First we are going to be doing a hop on hop off bus tour of the city. And once we stop at Bondi (pronounced Bond-eye) Beach.. we are going to go SURFING!!!! I thought it would take some work convincing Brian to surf, but he is all about it!!

Alright.. that leads me to right now.. waiting for our bus tour to start (its only 8:46am here).

Hopefully I will update you again tomorrow!

Also, I plan on posting pictures to go along with corresponding posts when I get back from my trip. It is an easy way to show everyone my pictures!!

Until a later time!

Amber

Hello!

Here is my blog! I will try and update soon but I am running out of minutes right now!!

Amber