Rain and More Rain

4/21

So we woke up at about 10:30 and it was raining so we just sat in bed for a while—I looked at pictures on my computer. Later on it was still raining so we played blisters. In the evening it was still raining, so we showered and had dinner.

When it rains in a place where the only real thing to do is be outside—its not so much fun. So you take little things, such as the preparation of your food, or bathing yourself—and make them activities. Perhaps toasted peanut butter and jelly would be more filling…If I wash my hair a second time with this cheap shampoo will it be any softer? How many souvenir postcards should I write each day to be finished with them by the time we leave this place? With the money I have left, what is my daily allowance?

At least in Lennox when we had our rainy week we had homework to do, and 30 other people to play games with or talk to. Here, not so much either of the two. Of those in the hostel, a lot of them are pretty odd. I should be doing my math, but the internet is too slow and costly for that to be a practical idea.

Rachael and Craig went into town to get money, but I stayed because I don’t like riding on that bike. I guess they talked to the girls and they are all having a miserable time and annoying each other to death.

Other activities of the day included: writing postcards, watching the second half of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” (but the sound isn’t great and the end of the DVD wouldn’t work…and ps...someone never fulfilled their promise) making souvenir lists, “packing” which was done for the purpose of rearranging our baggage and getting rid of clothes because both Rachael and I had baggage that was significantly overweight for travel within the US. Neither one of us really wanted to get rid of that much, so we put heavy books and things in our carry-ons and made a bag of “could but don’t-really-want-to throw away clothes.”

In going through and repacking everything neatly we showed each other our souvenirs and got really excited about being home and giving them to people.

Yesterday, while I was on the beach all day, I didn’t really wish I was home. But we have now heard a forecast that calls for heavy rain until Wednesday.

Please God, send sun. I’m trying to go to church tomorrow, so just take that into consideration.

Our Kitchen I Sat in Most of The Day

Sunny Day!

4/20

We woke up at about 11 and went to the beach. It was actually sunny so I was quite happy. However, after approximately 10 minutes it began to rain. I thought it was just a little drizzle…but it didn’t really stop so we went back to the hostel. Rachael and Craig went and found a coconut and we proceeded to do all of the work associated with being able to eat it. They are delicious though!

The sun came back out so I v-lined for the beach. This time it actually was sunny and hot for a couple hours. I just sat on the beach, listening to musical songs and singing them really loudly. I’m excited about possibly being in University Singers or getting to do a show this summer. I hope one works out; I want to be back up on the stage. I’ve missed singing these past few months.

While I was laying out 2 American couples came and talked to me for a bit, they were on a cruise of the islands and they were astounded at how beautiful it was. I agreed, but told them that they were pretty lucky in that they caught a good weather patch. Randomness for the day: the sand here is different from Australia—here it is more like crushed shells, whiter. I haven’t decided which I like more.

Rachael and Craig came back from town, having made a booking at the dive centre, Rachael had money wired to her, and they picked up some bread. Craig went back and signed me up for a dive…or two for Tuesday.

We started making a lovely dinner. Rachael cooked pasta, while I cooked some stir fry vegetables. We opted for no pasta sauce and just had butter and peppercorn seasoning on our veggie noodles. Then Craig cracked another coconut and we all helped peel it from the shell and chop it up into little pieces to make coconut chips. Well, I made the coconut chips and they didn’t turn out exactly like Darcy’s. We called ours Americanized candied coconut—because it was swimming in an excess of thick syrup rather that just little crunchy pieces. It was still delicious though.

Craig taught us a dice game called blisters, so we played that and exchanged pictures before going to bed.

Making Coconut Chips

Rachael Eating Them

Sugar toast?

4/19

We woke up around 10:30 and got ready to go to the beach. Craig took the bike over to the girls to ask them some questions about diving and hiking. Both Rachael and my beach towels were in the seat of the bike so we sat on a lovely little red blanket down at the beach.

We’re both pretty wiped out today. Then the rain came so we headed back to the hostel. I stole pictures from Rachael and defragmented my computer so hopefully it should be running pretty smoothly. We all sat around in the kitchen, listening to music and playing games about paying attention to the people around you. Like the one up one down, two up, two down game. Ever heard of it?

The sun came out so Rachael and I went back to the beach. We got about 15 minutes of sun and then it started raining again. So much for sun shiny paradise huh?! I showered and then we had dinner. Ramen noodles. I took a nap and got ready to go see this native dance show at a bar in town. We were planning on two of us riding the bike and then paying the advertised “hostel bus fee” of 6 bucks a person for the third. That was leaving at 8:30 so we all sat around and waited until they came out at 8:35 and said they weren’t taking people because there weren’t enough of us.

So Craig took Rachael in, and then was going to come back to get me. While I was waiting, I decided t have a piece of sugar toast. I was all excited... the toast came out golden and the butter melted perfectly. I put sugar on top of it and spread it all around and took a nice big bite—only to discover that it was not in fact sugar…but salt. Lovely, eh?

It’s a fair ride into town so it was about 9:20 by the time Craig got back. The show had started at 9 so we were running a bit late. We got there and the place was pretty crowded. The voice of the band was pretty funny and he explained about all of the different instruments and types of dance. They pulled people from the audience. One of the girls was the Indy girl we had met the night before. The dancers were pretty amazing. Both the men and women…boy they can move their hips quickly!

Craig wanted the take-away place that we went to the night before so he took Rachael back and I walked to the place and ordered. It was dark on the streets but I felt pretty comfortable walking alone. I’m surprised Craig let me do it though because it was about a 20 minute or so walk. I waited a couple minutes once I got to the place and then put in the order. The food came out about a minute before Craig pulled up and we went back. It rained a bit but not too bad…I was just worried that he’d be able to see. I did feel more comfortable than with Rachael or by myself—but its still not my favorite thing. I couldn’t help but thinking that one of the three of us is going to die on it before we leave this place.

We came back and ate. I boiled some water to drink the next day. Hopefully it will be warm and sunny and I will need it on the beach. All of us are having money issues. I guess the girls across the island are having their cards declined and Rachael is having problems with hers, along with my stupid move about the BSU account, and everyone simply going broke.

We night go to steak night and pub crawling tomorrow evening with people from the hostel, but I don’t know. Money is tight!

Rachael and I stayed up talking until about 5am. I don’t even know how we did it, but we had both taken naps during the day. We talked about relationships—the good and the bad, about problems we had and just about a ton of stuff... She’s lived through some really hard things and it just amazes me how strong she is. It definitely made me thankful for the relatively easy life that I’ve lived thus far.

The Take-Away Place

Motorbike Crash

4/18

So today makes for a fairly interesting journal…where to start? We set the alarm for 7:30 because we were supposed to go on the cross island hike at 8. Well Rachael, Craig, nor I had the ambition to go…we were all pretty tired and jetlagged still. So Darcy (a guy from Africa staying here) came around to wake us up but we just stayed in bed.

Around 9:30 I got up and had some cereal for breakfast…which leads me another point. The food is quite pricey here. A regular half gallon of milk was like 14 bucks. The other girls that are staying across the island bought it. Luckily I had discovered my shelf milk which was only about 5 bucks. But my regular size box of cereal cost 10.

Anyway, I had my cereal and then went to lie in bed for a while. Spent a bit of time online—way too much money sending people messages and stuff…but maybe I won’t get back on for a while?

After that I came back to just relax in the room for a bit but Rachael couldn’t handle that. She needs to be doing something all the time. I am quite the contrary while I am on vacation. I like to do as I like, on my own time. There is no rush. No schedule. So why not just enjoy it and take it slow? Anyhow, we all three ended up walking to a car rental place. Rachael wanted a motorbike, Craig wanted a car, and I wanted a regular pedal bike. We ended up with a motorbike because I guess it was the best compromise.

Back to the walk though—we went to a cheap car rental place. However, we couldn’t make up our minds so we went to a dive shop to see about their prices. Then we went to Budget and were going to get a scooter there, but Craig and I couldn’t be on the insurance so we didn’t.

So we walked back to the first place we went to, but the guy was gone. (They often just leave their shops for periods of time in the middle of the day.) So Rachael and I put on our suits because the sun had started to come out.

We were laying there for a while then Craig came and said that they were going to take he and Rachael to the other shop. This was perfectly fine with me considering I wasn’t crazy about the idea to begin with, and I was being driven insane by having no time to myself. I went out on the beach for about 4 hours while they got the bike. Craig took the test for his license (for insurance), checked out dive shops, and went to the other BSU girls’ hostel. I sat and read Bill Bryson’s book. It was overcast most of the day but I could still feel the sun and I was getting some personal time.

They came back and I decided that I would try to drive the bike to see if I liked it and would like to get my license. Well, Rachael gave it to me in our gravel driveway and I could barely get it turned around because it was so big. Then I finally got it facing the road so Rachael gave me a 10 second rundown of how to use it. Well obviously this wasn’t good enough, because I got on the bike and had to almost immediately turn onto the road. Those bikes aren’t that easy to turn, and I really didn’t know what I was doing so I didn’t turn enough and went right through a neighbor’s “fence.” This consisted of some tall bushes and a barbwire fence. I went straight through them and was headed for a palm tree but got the bike to turn just in time. I turned it enough to get to their driveway and out onto the side street.

I had a heart attack but still hadn’t really figured out to hit the damn brake. Partly because I had forgotten how to do so after my “tutorial.” I went straight on the road until I had to turn around. There was this man working out in his vegetable patch or something and I could tell he thought I was going to fall off of the road while I turned. Luckily I got it turned back around and back to the hostel. Rachael was standing there laughing at me. She was one of about 4 people who had witnessed my fence massacre. I was scared to death and felt horrible for the woman whose lawn I had run into. It seemed I had knocked down a small bush, as well as busted the barbed wire fence. Rachael said she had come out and Rachael apologized but she said it was fine she was just worried about me. I couldn’t find her to say anything.

The bike was a bit scratched up and I think I busted the light cover. I’m pretty sure that was all from the barbed wire. I had also taken a good chunk of skin from the front of my big toe and it was bleeding pretty decently. I was flipping out, worrying about how much money they will charge us for the damage—basically all day.

We made dinner. I had a salad and pears and the other two had quesadillas again. Then we came back and sat in the room for a bit. I read a couple pages of the book, stressed out and decided to take a shower in preparation for the evening.

We went to the Banana Court for the evening. We paid 6 bucks and got transportation and 4 mixed drinks. Pretty sweet deal. Darcy asked me to dance. So I did…not thinking anything of it. I like to dance...but he creeped me out…tried to kiss me to be exact. So I ran away and the three of us went on a hike to get food. We all got hot chips and I got a hotdog…which is breaded sausage on a stick. Hot, cheap and good. Then we went back and hung out at the bar for a while before it was time to go. We met a group of American study abroad students and talked to them a bit. Even a girl from Indy that went to IU- Katie Townly

Eventually the bus came and we waited 30 minutes for Ireland, America and New Zealand to come out. The 11 of us from the hostel then rode back with the owner and went to bed.

Rachael and I on the bike

At the Banana Court

Yep. Living This Day Again.

4/17

I woke up around 1:30pm. So I got Rachael up and we showered at went to get Craig out of bed. We waited around for the owner again and eventually he drove up and took us into town. It’s about a 20 minute car ride.

We looked at some car rental places, little tourist shops, and ate. I had a tasty little chicken and asparagus toasted sandwich. The beach is beautiful here.

The three of us went in on groceries and then we found out the buses weren’t running any longer so we had to have the grocery store manager call us a taxi. Luckily there were two women that were headed in our direction as well, so after much confusion we split the taxi fare.

When we got home we checked our email. There is a computer set up so you can feed a machine for internet access on the porch. Pretty steep prices and it runs pretty slow. 6 minutes for a dollar and that will barely give you enough time to open up your email.

We walked down to the beach and discovered it really is spectacular. The water is so much warmer than in Aussie and its Crystal clear. About a block away from the hostel there is a lagoon so it is very calm but you can see huge waves breaking out on the reef further in the water.

We met pretty much everyone else that lives in our hostel…about 7 other people. They all seem pretty nice. We played in the ocean with a girl from England-Claire and guy from Ireland-Colin. We threw sea slugs at each other.

We made turkey quesadillas for dinner and then sat around chatting. We are thinking about renting motorbikes but its just more money. I think we are going to wake up and do the cross island hike at 8am with people from our hostel.

Currently we are all sitting in the kitchen; I’m typing this and charging the camera battery because there are no outlets in our room. Which brings me to another point, this is definitely not the best hostel that we have lived in. Rachael and I are in a two bedroom room and the window is pretty much a wall wide and completely open. So it seems like you are sleeping outside.

The roosters crow like crazy here. We couldn’t really get to sleep yesterday. There are lots of random chickens walking around everywhere—lots of mosquitoes and other bugs. Rachael was flipping out last night because there were so many huge centipedes. This place reminds me a lot of Cozumel, MX.

The Island

Clear Water

Our Beach

Sleeping in Auckland International

4/17

I woke up several times during the night. The loudspeaker announcing the new changes in regulation about liquids in plastic bags haunted my dreams. Around noon we were all awaken for good by airport staff. We were told the airport was not a Backpackers and if we were looking for such a place we could surely find one close by. I explained to the man that airport staff had told us it would be no problem for us to stay there and sleep or shower during our layover. He responded that “It was midday and we could no longer sleep.” Who cares about time changes and living in the airport for a day?? Anyhow, we all angrily woke up.

We sat around for a while and made jokes about the man in his funny hat and then used the wireless that Craig had purchased. He was gone for the majority of the day with a friend from camp.

The day didn’t consist of much. Rachael and I watched “In Her Shoes” and walked around the airport looking in the stores and such.

Eventually we went and got our bags out of storage and checked in. We weaseled our way out of paying the 25$ departure fee which made us pretty happy. (You’re supposed to pay it if you’re there longer than 24 hrs) After all, we had already paid the airport 15 to hold our bags.

Customs presented no problems and after we went through security we sat in the same place in the terminal that we had on January 22 on our way in. Rachael and I took a little nap and then boarded the plane.

We got dinner—chicken, and watched “Music and Lyrics.” Oh no…what about the 1 movie a day quota!?

I wasn’t in the greatest mood simply because I had been around the same people all day—really without an escape. Not that I had a problem with anyone—that’s just me. I’ve got to have a little time on my own or I go insane.

When we got off the plane in Rarotonga the airport hosted a huge neon sign that said “Welcome to The Cook Islands.” It was about 4AM local time when we arrived and there was a native playing ukulele at the door. It was very easy to get through customs, but we waited a while for our hostel van that never came.

A nice woman who was working at the airport and getting off- offered to take us by so we hitched a ride with her. When we got to Backpackers International there was seemingly no one there, so we sat on the porch. I fell asleep until about 7am when the owner finally woke up and let us into our rooms. He apologized as he had “set his alarm wrong” or something.

Getting off the Airplane

I have to stay in the Auckland Airport How Long?!

4/16

I woke up at around 5 when Craig was leaving, but couldn’t get myself out of bed so I stayed there for a while. I had to take all of my letters and pictures down from my wall, and put a few last minute things away.

After I got everything packed I took one last trip down to the beach to just soak in The Point, and the Seven Mile beach—my home, Lennox Head. It really is an amazing place. All the lodgers got their stuff together and boarded the bus to go down to the cabins. Sitting there watching my friends wait to get on the bus was a bit sad…but I didn’t bawl like my roommates were.

We stopped at the famous...and apparently only… rest stop between Lennox and Brisbane one last time. At the airport we walked around looking at overpriced souvenirs for a while and then boarded the plane after much confusion about who needed new boarding passes and what not.

All of the Cook Islanders were seated together at the front of the plane. However, we got JD and Craig to switch spots so that I could sit by not only Rachael—but JD as well. That way Angie and Craig could sit together too. We all three watched “Freedom Writers” but sadly the entertainment was cut off before we got to see the end. I guess I will just have to remember it for 10 days when I will be back on the plane.

When we got off the plane it was weird. We had to claim our luggage since our layover was more than a day (27 fun hours) and so we had to break off from the rest of the group earlier than expected. I did get pretty sad, thinking about how Tracy won’t be with us at school, and sort of contemplating the idea that although we said we would hang out at school and over the summer—it possibly could happen that none of us did—as is usually the case when people say those kinds of things. Its weird. I wasn’t sad to be leaving them then, it was just thinking about the fact that we were never going to live with each other (across the field …it would never be as amazing (and complicated fun ;0) …) as these last three months in this amazing place. The past few days I’ve had a really good time with JD too. He even gave me his camera to use while I’m in the Cook Islands!! (since mine is apparently somewhere in Lennox to stay) I also stole his blanket and Colts shirt that he “didn’t have room for.”

We all picked up our luggage. Surprisingly I didn’t have my bags searched, despite all of the yeses that I checked- for food and such. It was pretty crazy being with 8 other people who all wanted to do different things about the ridiculously long layover. Eventually we decided that we would not waste money on a hotel and would just sleep in the airport. I, being the smart person I am, forgot to withdraw the rest of my money from my Ball state account (our BSFCU accounts wont work in New Zealand) so now I only have access to my Union Federal account for the Cook Islands. I’m hoping I will have enough money…I’m thinking I should. Just not room for a lot of extras.

PS- we heard that its supposed to rain the entire time we’re on the Island. Please pray that isn’t true—because we’ve heard that all there is to do is lay on the beach!

In the airport we ate dinner and then found a place away from most commotion on the second floor. I watched “Step Up,” typed journals, played with pictures, and talked to Rachael and Leslie. Around 2am or so… I decided I might try to fall asleep.

Alex, Leslie and Rachael chillin in the Auckland Airport

Final Farewell

4/15

We woke up at 6am and watched the sun rise. Rachael and Angie went in to go to sleep in the cabin but I decided to stay on the beach. I just watched the waves crash in and then decided that I’d better pack and clean so I could spend the middle of the day in the sun.

I packed up most of my stuff, did laundry and talked to my parents on SKYPE. Angie was supposed to meet me at the lodge about 9:30…so around then I headed down to the cabin and woke her up by banging on their bedroom window.

We went to Ocean View Café and had the scrumptious white chocolate chip, ice cream pancakes. We went and to lay out afterwards and all took a lot of fun ocean/beach pictures. We all laughed a lot, making pyramids and launching each other into the waves.

I came back and did my lodge duty—the dishes. Everyone had decided that they would leave all of their dinner dishes from the previous night out so that didn’t make me a very happy camper. Anyway, I did the dishes and then showered to get ready for our farewell dinner. I wasn’t really pleased with my 22 dollar steak but it was nice for everyone to get dressed up and take pictures and spend some time in the same place. Lyn gave us our Life and Culture grades…lets just say I wasn’t exactly thrilled. Not horrible—but not at all what I was expecting. I was in a bad mood about that, and just leaving overall, but I snapped out of it while Rachael, JD, Mike and I walked back and stopped in town to get snacks and stuff for the evening.

We all just hung out in the cabin for the night. Mary, Angie and Courtney came down in addition to the regular crew and random people stopped by throughout the night. We looked at the stars and talked about what we’d taken away from the trip. After that, I cut JD’s hair. It was the first cut I’ve done alone and I think I did an alright job. Could have been better if he were more patient though… We all had a good nights sleep.

Before the Farewell Dinner

My Aussie Family: Craig, Angie, Tracy, Mike, Awal, JD, and Rachael

Appreciation

4/14

Saturday was a pretty perfect day. I didn’t start out in the best mood. I had a dream that I came home and no one was really that excited to see me. :0( I checked my email and got ready and went down to the beach.

We took some pictures, including the infamous beach bum pictures. Tracy was all upset and stayed by herself the entire day because she was tired of hearing us fight.

Rachael and I decided we would go to The Point. We ended up picking up Angie, and Ashley and while I stopped by the lodge to get shoes and money we discovered that Mary, Tristan Angie G and Courtney were all going. So we made it a group effort.

It was a gorgeous day and everything was just awesome. The view, the company, the experience. Looking out at Lennox from the top of The Point- it just hit me how lucky I am. I mean, of course, I’ve known that I’m very lucky for being able to study abroad at this point in my life—but this place, is just spectacular.

I keep talking about how grades aren’t the most important thing here, and you adults probably don’t want to hear that…but hear me out. I’ve come so far on this trip—little things and big things. I used to be such a tomboy. I loved to be outside, to play with bugs, to climb mountains, and make a million friends. Then I started to get older, and not like the bugs biting me outside, to be afraid of heights and to build a little wall between people. The career counselor told me that I didn’t trust anyone and I hated him for saying it, but I think it was probably pretty accurate.

Here...I’ve climbed a mountain in the freezing wind, I’ve jumped out of a plane, I’ve found a new group with people that I never knew before. I saw an opera at the Sydney Opera House, went SCUBA diving at the Great Barrier Reef, swam in a waterfall for class, and sang the traditional Australian “True Blue” on the bus to the airport. To make a very long winded speech short—I’ve had the pleasure of living in Australia for over three months.

After our hike to the point we stopped and ate at Fishy, Fishy… well I sat with Rachael, Angie and Awal while they ate it. We went for a swim in the lake and the pool on the way back. And also decided that we no longer wanted to go on the Mt. Warning hike.

Instead everyone hung out in the cabins…basically laughing at Mike… and then went to the beach. Angie, Tracy, Rachael, JD and I all went high up on the beach and put comforters and sheets down and dressed in our warmest attire for a beach slumber. The sky was incredible—we saw lots of shooting stars—of course I made wishes. Mike didn’t want to shut up, but lying there all cuddled up, listening to the ocean under that huge blanket of stars—everything seemed good.

The Group that walked to the point:

Tristan, Courtney, Angie K, Mary, Angie G, Me, Rachael

Julian Rocks SCUBA Sayonara

4/13

I woke up and headed back to the lodge. The gas was out so we had no stove or hot water, so I made some toast and got on the computer. We headed to the bus stop and went to Byron for SCUBA. I had my free dive left from getting certified through SunDive so I decided to use it today. Tracy, Angie, Kelsey (Jones’ daughter) and I all went together.

The dive was pretty good, decent visibility—not great though. We got to swim through this little cave which was pretty cool. There were lots of wobbegong sharks, big fish and leopard sharks. Angie even pet the entire body of the leopard shark. I was jealous. Not gunna lie. It was our last dive in Byron—I really do enjoy SCUBA but I’m always glad to get out of the gear and be done with it.

We went shopping around Byron—trying to get a few last minute gifts. We ate pizza and pasta at the Great Northern out of tradition and Angie and I had some delicious peanut butter and chocolate ice cream. (Catching a trend here?)

I came back and took a nap in preparation of going on the Mt. Warning hike at 2am. Then I made my homemade Mac and Cheese which I was pretty pumped about again.

We watched “Life As A House” in the classroom with a pretty big crowd (Angie, Craig, JD, Ashley, Tracy, Rachael, Mary, Mike, Courtney and Tristan.) It was good.

There was a big long thing and we ended up not hiking Mt. Warning because of poor preparation, among other things...its scheduled for tomorrow night but we already made plans for tomorrow night..including a beach sleepover...so I probably won't go.

I came home and talked to people in the lodge for a bit.

Leopard Shark

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Pancakes

4/12

I woke up and got to talk to my parents and KR on SKYPE. Our house sold. Mom told me and it did set me back for a second- but I didnt freak out like dad thought I would. I still get to go home to my house, because we don’t close until June 3 or something.

I made chocolate chip pancakes and put peanut butter on top of them. (Extra healthy is how we do things here...) I fed some people- which made them excited. I like to make people happy...and if its via food that I get to eat too…what better way?! Haha. I cleaned the kitchen because it looked like a pig sty, and then JD and I watched “Con Air.” Afterwards, we headed back to the cabin and hung out for a while...probably played cards.

We went to Mexican for dinner and had previously decided to watch “Forest Gump” but somehow everyone went from being really excited about it—to not wanting to watch it at all. It ended up being Angie, AWAL, and I watching it on my computer in the cabin. I was too tired so I just slept in the girls’ room.

The New House... with Abby, Maggie..and the lovely Cozumel

Done with class for the semester!!!

4/11

I set my alarm to get up at 7am. I wanted to go through the Power Point slides for life and culture, and make chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. To your surprise, I didn’t actually wake up until about 9. Our test was at 10, so I went over the slides and with 5 minutes until test time, made some sugar toast. I was the last one to walk in, getting a few laughs from JD and Craig about my tardiness but it was all okay.

The test went pretty well, I know I missed some of the multiple choice questions, but I think the essays went well.

After the test I made checked my mail and then got ready to go lay out. The sun was finally out, and my classes are done, so I along with half of the BSU crew- went down to lie on the beach. We’re all feeling pretty pale since we’ve been cooped up indoors because of the rain or homework for the past several days.

The wind was pretty intense so we were getting sandblasted, and the sun was off and on, but no one retreated because we’ve missed it and are leaving oh too soon. We played in the ocean for a bit. I made lots of dunks during this time…

I went and took a shower because it looked like it was going to storm and then got to chat on SKYPE for a while. The computers are being stupid so everyone else could hear my conversation, but it was still nice. After that I went down to the cabins to discover that they were starting to pack and clean.

I was bored sitting around so I came back to the lodge and tried to do the same, unfortunately my roommates were all asleep (as they are often found in the middle of the day.) So, I couldn’t do too much because I was trying to be quiet. However I did get stuff started and for that you should be proud.

Later on Craig, Angie, Rachael, Tracy, Mike and I went to the Thai restaurant. I had chicken fried noodles... they were pretty good. Then we got ice cream and went back to the cabins. Craig, Angie, Awal, JD, Angie G and I watched “The Wedding Planner” in the classroom. The love story is very cute, too bad Hollywood sets us up with the idea that stories like this actually happen—and then people get disappointed when they find out it doesnt really.

I tried to get JD to stay and watch this guy Marshall, that was putting on an informal concert in the classroom, but he didnt want to so I walked him back, like a nice girl.

On my way back I ran into Hab, and thusly Cara. We walked to the classroom together and watched Marshall play. He was pretty good, but I don’t really think that he’s cute as Mary does- who hes been hanging out with. I’m glad he’s paying attention to her though, its keeping her happy. Just hopefully he doesn’t screw it up like so often happens.

Pretty good day. Yes for being done with the semester! (minus that math class)

Hab showing Angie G and I some love!

Done with Sports Administration!

4/10

I set my alarm for 6am so I could finish up my corrections of the PowerPoint I had put the guys in charge of for Sports Administration. I also had to make a few additions to our proposal, shower and study for the final. I hit snooze once and the second time I actually woke myself up so I turned it off.

At 8:45 I my internal alarm shot me out of bed. I was supposed to meet with the guys at 8:30 to go over the details of our sponsorship pitch, and I hadn’t showered or done any of the work I was supposed to. So much for "being awake" the second time I woke up.

I jumped into the shower, threw on some clothes and tried to pull all of my work together. I got up to the classroom, finished up the additions to the proposal and edited the PowerPoint. I finished a rough copy of my note cards before the first presentation began. I continued to work on my note cards throughout the other presentations. I know its rude, but I messed up getting up in the morning and wasn’t about to get a poor grade on the assignment because of it. We were the last group to present and did a better job than I was expecting so that was good. As soon as we finished I got ready to lay out (because the sun was actually shining for the first time in a week) and study for the final.

I studied for the afternoon and then at 3 went to take the Sports final. It did not go as well as I was hoping, but hopefully it went alright.

The 7 minus Mike (who had taken a trip to Surfers Paradise for the night—alone) went to Subway for dinner and bought some groceries.

We went back to the cabin and “studied” for Life and Culture. Then we were going to watch a movie but that didnt really work out for one reason or another. Some stuff started to bother me so I tried to talk it out before I headed back to the lodge...it didnt really work but I decided sleep might.

Last Two for Tueday Night at Subway... :0(

More Rain and Sponsorship Proposal

4/9

I worked on my project for the majority of the day. I did allow for some cabin distraction time with a couple games of you guessed it… euchre. In the evening we had our last Monday night “cookout.” We decided that we are going to go SCUBA diving on Friday, are hiking up Mt. Warning at 2am on Saturday, have a farewell dinner on Sunday and leave early Monday morning.

I’m missing my camera again…hopefully it turns up as we pack up. I need little beepers on all of my important things. I can’t believe its almost time to go.

At night I was working up in the classroom with Jordan and Grant on our project. I had requested a distraction for later in the evening, so JD, Angie, Tracy and Rachael all came into the classroom with huge grins on their faces. The girls had made bananas with melted peanut butter and chocolate with turquoise sprinkles on top. Pretty much the best dessert anyone could ever make me. And JD had brought a cup of ice. What better friends could you ask for?

Anyhow, their distraction made me not want to be in the classroom with the boys anymore so I went back down to the cabins with them. I was frustrated working on the proposal but I was working despite the 5 distractions.

They all ended up in bed asleep while I sat in the living room and worked on my project till about 2am when I decided I'd leave their cabin.

I tried to work on it some more when I got back to the lodge, but I was too tired so I decided to set my alarm to work on it in the morning…

I like bananas.. and PB

Happy Rainy Easter!

4/8

I woke up at 8:30 to get ready for church. I talked to Mike on the internet because I knew Angie and JD had talked about going to Easter service. JD ended up going to The Point Church with me (where I sang.) It wasn’t the Easter service that I am used to...it was more about pushing us to improve ourselves rather than celebrating life after death. I don’t know. I cant explain exactly how it was different, it just wasn’t as happy and upbeat as our service at home. That could have been a reflection of me not being at my church, with my family I suppose though.

We stopped at the bakery on the way home and got hot cross buns for our cabin 2 family. It rained pretty hard (as it has the past few days) on our journey home, but it was the day market day so we still made a few pit stops.

I worked on my sponsorship proposal after that and then played some Euchre for distraction.

Movie Day

4/7

I woke up and tried to do some work. I put in laundry and then took a shower and worked some more. I went and talked to Jordan about our project and then JD and I decided to watch “Braveheart.” We all had planned to get together for pizza and a movie but it didn’t work as well as we were hoping. We went through 3 different locations, VHS and DVD, various assortments of people and different movies.

Eventually it ended up as Rachael, Tracy, JD, Angie and I in the classroom watching “Cruel Intentions.” We had to wait 2 hrs for Dominos to deliver our 4 large pizzas (which are about the size of smalls at home). After we ate, we watched “Donny Darko.” It was definitely weird, but kinda cool at the same time.

Random Moment of Craig being Lucky

Jones Family Haircuts

4/6

We went to Oceanview Café for brekky and we had the- oh so delicious white chocolate chip raspberry pancakes. I tried to work again in the afternoon but I’m not sure that really sure that much got accomplished. I took about a two hour nap. Angie and I then went to the Jones house to give haircuts. They were supposed to cook us steak for payment but I guess all of the shops closed at noon that day so they couldn’t get any groceries. We ended up ordering Indian takeaway. We cut all of their hair, just trimming Kelsey and Mrs. Jones’s.

We got back and JD had made chocolate chip cookies so we had warm cookies and cold milk. DE-Licious!

I ended up just hanging out in the cabin rather than going to the “slumber party” in the classroom.

JD, Awal and I

To Be or Not to Be?

4/5

Angie and I layed out with Mary and Kristin in the morning, despite the fact that we all should have been working. A morning request turned out to be quite the adventure. But it turned out pretty well...

We went to the Chinese restaurant for dinner, and then walked along the beach, followed by a viewing of "Armageddon." Afterwards, the ever-popular, Euchre.

Mon petit ami ;0)

Pizza Twice A Day

4/4

JD, Ashley and I got up and went to Byron in the morning with her parents.

They picked up their super cool gift and then they took us to lunch. Yummy pizza. We shopped for a bit after that, I tried to finish up my souvenir shopping, and did a decent job, although I’m still not done.

We drove up to the lighthouse after that, (after we found the road up finally) gosh the view up there is amazing.

In the evening they took us all (The 7 minus Craig) out to dinner. Some people got Mexican, others Chinese and we got Italian. We got the El Rancho pizza and spaghetti bolognaise. Haha. A typical meal for some... We brought all of our food up to their apartment and had a nice dinner on the balcony.

They drove us back and I went back to the lodge to “work” I ended up falling asleep at like 8pm. Later, JD and Awal walked into my room and they told me I'd better wake up and work.. I did a bit of work after they left and then went back to bed.

The Lighthouse in Byron

Tues Night Partay

4/3

We had class pretty early because D. Arthur wasn’t feeling well. We mostly finished up the last of our topics for study and talked about our projects. JD, Mike, Angie and I went into town for Subway night afterwards. We were pretty lucky in that we got a ride on the way there from Julie.

We grabbed some groceries then went and visited AWAl’s parents after dinner. They are staying at the nice apartments by the pub.

When we got back it was about time for the party. Mike cut his hair into a Mohawk. That was quite interesting.

There was a little bit of drama at the end of the night. But we wouldn't be our group without it I guess..

I talked to Angie, Angie G, Mary and Courtney when I got into the room. Girls are fun. Most of the time. Haha

A group of kids down at the cabins

Another group pic! Top: JD, me, Cara

Bottom: Angie, Tristan, Rachael

Mike's new-do.. It's since been cut off..

But I spiked the front.. while JD did the back... who's looks better?

Out of The Way Trip

4/2

I woke up this morning feeling a lot better than the previous mornings. I took a shower, made some toast and headed to class. We finished up the group presentations and Lyn gave everyone an award from the Tenterfield trip. It was pretty funny because I got the “Special Interest in Tenterfield History” award. I’m pretty sure some of us he was unsure of names, so mine must have been one of those because…if you know me. I’m not that much into history, which you could tell from my side comments during the history tours or perhaps my doodling during the presentations.

After class I looked at my bank account, and had a bit of a heartattack before realizing that we still got one more 200$ food deposit in our BSU accounts.

The 7 (minus Mike) went into town for lunch and groceries. I kind of bought a lot, but we actually have two weeks in Lennox that we aren’t traveling! I know, its pretty unbelievable after the past several weeks.

I tried to stop by Steve’s by his house to print some stupid tax forms, in the middle of the hot day, with a backback and bags full of groceries and they weren’t home. So I started flipping out about my job. I went back an emailed my boss saying I wasn’t going to be able to send in my forms on time.. should I start looking for another job?

Our Class Printer...its in the shop.

G'Day Sydney

4/1

I wanted to get up really early so I could walk around the city. However, my alarm went off and I did not have the energy to get out of bed. Tracy suggested that it might have been because we all actually slept in nice beds and were warm through the night.

Anyway, at 9am Tracy and I headed down to Circular Quay so I could return the shirt I bought for myself at the Opera House and she went to see The Rocks. Then we met Tracy, Angie and Craig for breakfast. We sat on a bench and looked out at the harbor…strategically situating ourselves so we could see the bridge, Opera House and the kids dance studio that was performing. Sitting there with a doughnut and iced coffee, life couldn’t get much sweeter.

We walked back towards the hostel, stopping at a few opal shops along the way. Australia is famous for opal—and that becomes very obvious in Sydney. We took a shuttle to the airport and I tried to rest away the sickness waiting on our plane.

The plane ride was short and we all took a shuttle from Ballina to camp. (There were a total of 18 of us that had been in Sydney that weekend) I loved Sydney. Even if I did feel crappy the entire time it was an amazing weekend!!!!!

There are two weeks left, and lots of work to be done before we leave Lennox Head. How has it gone by so quickly?!

Town Hall

See Sydney Pass

3/31

We woke up early and had to pack our stuff up to move to XBase from Homebase. We split up and took taxis there…yes, I was able to hail one this time. They didn’t have our room ready so we left our stuff in a DJ booth inside and went for our first stop with our See Sydney Passes- the Sydney Aquarium. It wasn’t overly impressive except for the part where you could walk in a little tunnel beneath a huge tank so the sharks, stingrays, turtles and fish were swimming all around and over you.

The aquarium was in Darling Harbor and then we had to head to Circular Quay. (Previously referred to as the harbor... where the Opera House and such are) We went on our Jet boat tour of the harbor. It was so amazing. It was a perfect day, not a cloud in the sky and warm but not hot. Looking at the city, bridge, Opera House and surrounding suburbs from the water was just breathtaking. Then we turned around and went for a thrill ride, getting wet along the way back to the wharf. It was a lot of fun.

From that we went to our free tour of the Opera House. I wont lie, even though I’d fallen in love with the place—an hour history tour wasn’t on top of my to do list ... but we went and it was really cool. Our guide was awesome and it just made me appreciate the place even more. We got to go into the concert hall and take pictures an then go in to the opera theatre (where the stage was completely bare and they hadn’t begun to build for the opera that was starting in 6 hours.) And they do that every day. Each day there is a new opera and they take down the set and put up a new massively beautiful one. I spent too much money in the gift shop after the tour and then we sat for lunch. A cough had settled in so I proceeded to hack up my lungs while the kids ate.

At the last minute we caught a ferry to Olympic Park. The ferry took about an hour to get there and we were fighting time to catch the last free tour of Telstra stadium (where the opening ceremonies were held). We got off shortly after the tour would have started…unfortunately we didn’t realize that we had to catch a bus from the wharf to Olympic Park. The next bus was 30 minutes away so we just started to walk. This proved to be a fist clenching experience as we had missed the tour, and didn’t know where we were going or how to get back to the city.

When we finally got to the park there didn’t seem to be much to do, as there was a rugby game that evening and Telstra had been shut off to non-ticket holders. We pretty much immediately caught a train back to Town Hall in Darling Harbor, by our hostel, so we could make our plans for Earth Day that evening.

I don’t know if this happened at home—you tell me… but Sydney had advertised that from 7:30-8:30 all lights should be shut off to conserve energy…and force people to be more environmentally conscious. (Even though they are 20 times more so than at home-- here) We had seen a poster for The Earth Bar, advertising an acoustic, candlelit performance in Kings Cross.

We got ready for the evening…I talked to this guy that was in our hostel room from England about living here and such. Its great to meet people from all over the world and just be able to share experiences and information.

Anyway, we took a taxi to Kings Cross to the World Bar. It turned out to be a dud. At 7:30 some lights, but certainly not all-- did go off, including those of the restaurant across the street from the bar. They had candles all over and we were immediately attracted to it. The girls got their free drink from The World and then we all went to dinner.

It was a very cozy little restaurant with good food and a nice waitress. I had a really good time.

We walked around Kings Cross for a bit (which turned out to be filled with hookers lined on the sidewalk, adult stores, and strip bars.) Once we figured out that there wasn’t much more to Kings Cross, we headed towards the Sky Tower near Circular Quay.

It was a nice walk through the city and Hyde Park. We ran into a group from the lodge when we were on our way up. The view was spectacular at the top, and after much peer pressure I was able to look straight down. We went back to the hostel afterwards which was fitted with a mattress you couldn’t feel the bars through, and a comforter!

Darling Harbor

Walking toward the Aquarium

Shark Attack!

The city

The Opera House!

The Concert Hall

Testra Stadium

Me and the Bridge

OPERA!!!!

3/30

We woke up early and walked down to the harbor to the Opera House to see about tickets. None of “the 7” were really interested in going to an opera but it turned out my roommates were. We talked to the guy at the box office and he told us that if we came back at 6:30 for a 7:30 show we could get “student rush tickets” which were for seats that hadn’t been sold yet.

We got a muffin from a pierside restaurant and met up with Ashley and her mom. We all went to the botanical gardens and then split our separate ways. We went souvenir shopping some more and then walked back to the hostel to get ready for the night.

The girls had heard that the new rooms they had been moved to were inhabited with bed bugs, and we still hadn’t all been put in a room together so they were pretty upset. We decided to cancel our reservation for Saturday night and find somewhere else to stay.

Tracy, Angie and I got pretty and went down the Opera House. They were trying to get tickets for the sold out “Macbeth” and I met up with the roomies. We ended up in the 4^th row splitting the center. They were $220 tickets for the Italian opera “Alcina” and we got them for $50!!

The Opera was SO amazing. First of all, if you didn’t know… there are three theatres inside the opera house, the largest is the concert hall and then the opera theatre is one of the smaller ones.

It seats 1,050…so it is much smaller and more intimate than I had expected. The stage was smaller than my high school stage, both in depth and width. It was so cozy and we could see the conductor and orchestra in the pit and everything in full detail on the stage. The sets were amazing and of course the singing was spectacular. It made me miss Ball State School of Music. I just wanted to be up on stage. They were spectacular performers. We didn’t look at the subtitles or “surtitles” much because the story line was so evident. Their gestures and facial expressions were phenomenal, and there was more dancing than previous operas I attended.

It was over four hours in length, but that included two 20-minute intermissions. Because it was so amazing—it didn’t seem long at all. I absolutely adored it.

None of us had eaten dinner so we stopped at McDonalds and tried to catch a taxi home. Some how four young prettied-up women can’t get a taxi to stop at midnight in downtown Sydney on a Friday night, that right is reserved for grungy looking men. Go figure. We walked home.

Tracy was waiting to let me in the hostel because she thought I didn’t have a key. She had fallen asleep reading a book on the stairs, I felt bad because she wanted to go to bed early and I did have a key. That night Craig got in, so there were 5 in our small bunk bed room.

My New Found Love

Looking at the city from the Opera House at night

Mary and Angie waiting to go in!

Mary and I with our Mango Daquiris

Me with Sydney behind me! I was SO excited!!!

The Opera House Again

Souvenir Shopping...Camera Issues

3/29

I woke up in the morning and didn’t feel great. My head and throat hurt and I had no energy. But I was in Sydney and was not going to let that get in the way. So JD and I went out shopping for the day. We met Awal and her parents and decided we’d meet back for “appetizers” later in the day.

I spent way too much money on souvenirs and gifts but hopefully people will be happy. We walked around The Rocks and The Harbor. It was then that I discovered my camera. I took a picture of the Sydney hospital for ma mere, put the camera back in my purse and continued to walk. Five minutes later (after not putting my purse down, or hitting anything with it) we stopped to take a picture of some aboriginals playing didgeridoo. I saw the display on my camera screen was covered in lines—all grey and white. There is no viewfinder, other than the screen, but in the bottom right hand corner you could still make out shapes, so I used my camera “blindly” all weekend—hoping that the pictures would turn out when I put them on my computer. I hope its still under warranty.

I took a bit of a nap and then we walked back to the hostel (40 min walk) to meet Tracy and Angie. As soon as we got back they were ready to go back into town and eat dinner at the Hard Rock Café.

After that we walked back down to the harbor to look at the ever-amazing Opera House and Harbor Bridge. We ran into Ashley and her parents and they tried to take us for a drink but that didn’t work out so we ended up just going back to the hostel. I was dead tired and we were ready for bed, but it turned out that Angie and Tracy had to walk across a plank on the roof to get to their room…which creepy Asian guys were already in, so we just all stayed in one 2 bed room.

The Sydney Hospital

Why Doesn't Methodist Have a Pig Statue?

Aboriginals Playing Didgeridoo

$$ Dinner, Sickness Begins

3/28

I woke up and got on the computer. Tracy and Angie came in and said that they were going to go lay out by the pool so I went with them. The sun was pretty intense and we couldn’t get into the pool so after a while I went back to the lodge to clean up my room, finish my laundry and start packing for Sydney. I decided to bring the big suitcase so I could roll it instead of dragging it annoyingly across the ground like I usually do.

I showered and then waited for a bit for JD and Ashley to come to the lodge. But I didn’t know if we were meeting or not so I just started walking to the bus stop...I was also kind of in a bad mood and my throat still hurt. I thought I was going to have to go all the way into town, but after a bit of apprehension, we stayed at the campground and the bus took us to the Ballina airport. A VERY small Ballina airport it was. We checked our bags and sat around for a bit, catching up on the latest celebrity gossip—as per AWal’s obsession.

The flight to Sydney was very short—about an hour and our flight wasn’t full so I got to grab a row and lie down because I wasn’t feeling fantastic.

When we got to Syndey we caught an airport shuttle to Ashley’s parents’ hotel. It was really nice. They were right on the harbor with a view of the Opera House. We hung out in their room for a while and then they took us to dinner. They had asked for a casual dining spot and we were sent to the Sydney Café. We had quite the adventure finding this “café” to begin with, and then when we did…we quickly discovered it wasn’t casual. The men were in suits and women in cocktail dresses while JD and I were both wearing jeans and t-shirts. The menu was not exactly what I was hoping dinner would be, with seafood or fancy duck or something of that nature... and everything was really expensive. I had just met her parents that night and didn’t want them to buy me a $30+ meal so I ordered a side salad and garlic nan. They also gave me a glass of their wine. I didn’t care for the wine that much, but I didn’t want to be rude and wasteful, so I drank it.

While we were waiting for dinner I started to feel worse. I got hot and dizzy and just… weird feeling. But I just tried to act normal because… I wanted to be fine and didn't want to be thought of as some whiney kid. The food came and I didn’t love my vinegar dressed salad …so I ate as much as I could and shoved the rest around to look like I had eaten more. Yeah, I still can use the little kid tactics. The bread was good though and I ate that. I know, you’re all stunned.

We went back to their hotel and got our bags to head to the hostel. During the taxi ride I started breathing kind of shallowly and quickly and freak out. I tried to just talk myself out of it because I thought maybe it was just a mental thing. Who knows what it was. We ran into Angie G when we were getting into the building. and she took us up to their room to put our stuff down. JD took care of getting the room we were in while I laid down for a minute.

When we got to our room we pretty much went straight to bed. I got pretty cold and I guess I was shivering- thus shaking the dirty, cheap metal bunk bed. Luckily someone gave me their sheet even though they froze to death. (Yeah, all they gave us was one sheet and it was not hot.) I guess the fever broke sometime in the night because I started burning up later on.

Welcome to Sydney!!