May Days

Hey Everyone,

I've been hearing some complaining (cough cough) that I haven't updated my blog enough.  The reason I haven't updated my blog is because I wanted to spend some good quality time in Brisbane after traveling so much during April.  

The stuff I am going to talk about is more about how I'm feeling right now, and less about the cool stuff I've done (since I haven't really done much).  I have about a month and a half left in Brisbane, 7 days of school, and one more big trip planned. As my time disappears, as well as all the money in my bank account, I'm starting to dread the day I have to leave.  I'm not sure why I am (un)anticipating my departure so prematurely- it probably has something to do with the fact that all my other study abroad/college friends are going home now.  Or, it might be that I've had the last month to really think about leaving/get to know some amazing people.

So, to try and ease my anxieties about going home, I'm trying to focus on living life in the present.  Like really, really, really trying hard to do it.  At times it helps, and other times, I just feel like I'm fooling myself.  But at this moment, it's a comforting state of mind to be in.

Anyway, on a more Aussie note, I've done some cool stuff in the past month.  The first was going to see a Rugby League game.  I saw the Australia Kangaroos against the New Zealand All Blacks.  It was really awesome!  The New Zealand team did an intimidation dance at the beginning called a haka (Māori traditional dance).  It was so cool to watch!  

The weekend after, my friend Deyan came to visit.  We met on my tour of The Great Ocean Road.  It was a good weekend.  One of the days we spent on Stradbroke Island with Karen and her friend-it was beautiful!

Another random side note-this spider decided to have babies on my ceiling. I was definitely way too scared to kill them but finally vacuumed them up.  Alex's sister was nice enough to empty the vacuum dirt outside of my apartment because I didn't want to!

Lastly, this past week I did some pretty cool things.  I had an all-day field trip to the Australia Zoo on Thursday.  I got to see lots of animals-dingos, crocs, tazzie devils, camels, and I got to feed an elephant!  It was a long day, but pretty cool to see all the animals.  On Saturday, I went to the Sunshine Coast with Alex, his sister and Nicolas.  It was beautiful and so nice to just lay on the beach and hear the waves.  Although it was freezing(I was wearing my Northface jacket over my swimsuit) the water was very refreshing to jump into.  The only bad part about going to the Sunshine Coast was that it was a 5 hour return trip.  Yikes!  And finally, yesterday I went to the Brisbane Botanical Gardens with Mila.  We really wanted to go to Mt Coo-tha, but it was closed for some car race.  Of course! The day I want to go it's closed :(

Anyway, I only have this last week of class left (the beginning paragraph was a little older) and then finals in 2 weeks.  I'll try and make my life more interesting so these posts get better!

g'day

Moreton Island, Day 2

In case you were wondering, here is what our campsite looked like. It was pretty big, had an entire area of cooking, and the came with a bunch of supplies.

After we woke up in the morning, we spent the next couple of hours on the beach. I just laid out for most of the time, but I also tried boggie boarding. I had been surfing before, so I knew how to catch the wave, but I was struggling much more than Megan was!

After spending time on the beach, Brett took us to the shipwreck coast to snorkel. I had been looking forward to this all day, so I was pretty pumped. Because Brett knew we wanted to see fish, he decided to bring bread chunks into the water to feed the fish. Megan and I FREAKED out when he threw the bread in the water because all these fish came swimming at our faces. Once he saw our reaction, he wouldn't stop throwing the bread right at us. Here is a picture some-what capturing the amount of fish in our faces.

Fish surrounding our faces

The Shipwreck Coast

We were the only people on the beach-it was so nice!

One of our last stops of the day was to the local store to get some ice cream. There, I met Knox-one of the only dogs I've seen since I've been here(ps. his name isn't really Knox, I just called him that). I swatted down to pet him and he went nuts! He almost bit my hand off. Wanting revenge, I kept torturing him by secretly flicking his tail and making him go off again. hehe...

Knox the devil dog!

Lastly, these pics are from the ferry ride home. The sunset was absolutely breathtaking and a fabulous way to end our awesome weekend.

If you have read up until here, I am very impressed! I know I just practically wrote a book, but I hope you enjoyed it! I'll blog about anything interesting in the next month and I miss you!

xoxo

Lauren

Moreton Island, Day 1

After spending 2 short days going to school, Megan, Mila and I left for Moreton Island.  For about the 10th morning in a row, we had to be up at 6 in the morning. Our guide, Brett, picked us up in the 4WD car, heavily equipped to drive on difficult terrain.  

4wd

To get to Moreton Island, we had to take an hour and a half ferry ride.  The ferry was pretty nice and we got to just sit in the sun and relax. 

The three of us on the ferry

When we got to Moreton Island, we realized that the entire thing is made up entirely of sand (hence, the need for a heavy-duty vehicle).  The water was a beautiful tourquise color-I'm not sure if you can see it in this picture.  Also, the metal pieces sticking out of the water are sucken boats.  It's called The Shipwreck Coast, and the boats are there to break up the currents.

Moreton Island/The Shipwreck Coast

Once on the island, we drove to our first stop of the day, sandboarding.  The contrast in tophography was so cool.  There were huge sandhills right in front of me, but to the sides there were forests, and even further out, the ocean.  I felt like I was in a tropical desert, if that makes any sense. Anyway, after climbing the hill (omg sand is so hard to climb), Brett gave us a demonstration of how to wax our boards/the correct position to lay in.  For some reason, he chose me to go first!  I was a little nervous but couldn't scream because sand would fly in my mouth.  As he gave me my starting push, I realized that it's just like sledding in snow!  It was pretty fun but the climb back up the hill was hell!

Me and my board-look at all the sand!

And the top of the hill..eek!

That tiny little spec is me at the very bottom!

After sandboarding, we did a "scenic" drive of the island to some great beaches/lookouts. The drive was terrible.  It was the bumpiest ride ever and everyone felt carsick.  Meg had to put her head down to stop herself from throwing up and by the end of the hour ride, everyone in the car was griping.  We spent about an hour and a half at the beach, playing in the water and wating lunch.  My swim suit decided to break while I was on the beach, and Mila managed to snap a couple of accidental photos of it.  The one below is tilted because she was laughing so hard. 

Megan trying to help me get my top back on

Me balancing on a rock in the ocean

Mila and Meg walking around

We left the beach to go see the lighthouse/more beautiful places before taking the day-trippers back to the ferry.  Boy were we glad to have done with overnight trip.  The people who did the day trip only go about 4 hours on the island because the ferry only leaves once a day at 3pm.

Look closely at the reflection in her glasses

After dropping off the day-trippers, there were only 5 of us left spending the night.  We dropped our stuff off at camp and spent the evening together.  We cooked dinner, ran to the local store, walked along the beach and had an awesome time.  The highlight of the night was when Brett decided he wanted to go fishing.  When we turned the corner out of the campsite(in the 4wd), we saw that the tide was so high, that there was only room for one car to drive down the beach.  (the 4wd cannot go in the salt water or they will get ruined).  So, the ride was incredible!  We were dogging waves, driving basically on the sides of the sand hills and it was pitch black! It was like being on a back to the furture ride-it was awesome!  When we got to the beach and got out of the car, I saw the most spectacular sky.  It will be a moment I will always remember.  The lack of light made the hundreds of stars visible in the sky.  For the first time, I was able to see the Milky Way.  We sat under the stars for about an hour and a half before going back to camp and making a fire.  We roasted marshmellows, drank some beers and chilled.  It was such an awesome night.

You can get a general idea of what it was like sitting in the back of the car

Mila playing in the water

The sun starting to set

The three of us fighting in the back of the car-Megan didn't realize she was actually choking me here

Awww, the three of us together the next morning

Cape Tribulation

April 18, 2009: Cape Tribulation

Ahh, Cape Tribulation. Such a beautiful place-we were very surprised we didn't hear more about it.  Megan and I both LOVED it here. It was very remote and there were so many activities to do!  We decided to go horseback riding on the beach.  It was incredible-we spent 3 hours making our way through the rainforest and onto the beach.  We got to trott, canter and gallop! Although we were both quite sore afterwards, it was another highlight of the trip.  

Me and Zeus!

Meg and Elvis!

Making our way to the beach

Our guide

Open field-getting ready to canter!

He loved me!

We stopped for a short break at a waterhole

Pic on the beach :)

The Daintree Rainforest

April 17,2009: The Daintree Rainforest

Today we began our two day trip to the Daintree Rainforest.  We went with an organized tour group called Jungle Tours.  Ben picked us up aroun 7:00 in the morning and we began our drive.  We pass Kurunda National park along the way and drove along Captain Cook Highway.  It was a very scenic drive and an awesome experience! Here are some pictures:

View of Captain Cook Highway

And again 

Our first real stop of the day was at the Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary.  Here, Meg got to hold a koala and we both got to pet a snake and a baby crocodile.  We also got to feed the kangaroos and emus.  Our second stop was at Mossman Gorge where we got to swim in the Mossman River.  Megan didn't want to get in buy I did.  The water was freezing, but refreshing! 

This emu did NOT want his picture taken!

I swam to the rock in the middle of the river-it was quite a feat because the current was so strong!

The next stop on our agenda was a picnic lunch before our Daintree River Cruise.  On this cruise, we were supposed to see some crocodiles.  We did see one-Fat Albert.  He was huge! 5 metres long and just laying on the side waiting to kill. These crocs have actually killed humans before-a 5 year old boy died about 2 months ago, so I'm serious when I say they are waiting to kill.  They decided to let the croc responsible for his death live because they want to keep the area as natural as possible.

You think you're safe....

Until you see Fat Albert!

The croc tour was pretty fun-I was contemplating throwing something in the water so I could see the crocs attack it, but my instincts told that probably wasn't a good idea.  One of our last stops of the day was at Alexandra Lookout.  Once again, another beautiful view of the Daintree.

These pics do not do it justice!

Last stop of the day was at Cape Tribulation.  Because we were doing a night tour, we got to stay overnight in the Beach House.  It was situation in the middle of the rainforest, minutes away from Cape Tribulation Beach.  You could NOT ask for a better hostel.  That night, we took some pretty awesome pictures.  The beach, (like everything in Australia) was so beautiful.

The Beach House