SKYPE-ing

3/27

So I woke up early on my own and put clothes in the wash. I talked to the entire family on SKYPE which is always good. I also got to talk to KR. So that was a good morning. Then I started working on re-doing my schedule. Now I’m set up like a French major with a voice minor. I left a space open hopefully for University Singers, which I had forgotten about auditioning for. Unfortunately auditions are the 2 days after I get back, so I probably wont be on top of the game and it will be another "we regret to inform you"…but if that’s what the plans entail for me…then I figure someone has an idea of what should go on in my life.

Then I started working on Sport Administration which is just a big old mess. The boys and I never met and so I just decided I would make the decision on what our project was myself and start researching it. I also had to present my project on International Marketing and I think I came up short on time. I also talked like a nervous person. I really don’t mind talking like that in front of people, so when I feel like I didn’t sound confident I sort of get on myself about it. But it’s just a grade right?

Anyway, I presented the proposal for our sponsorship project. Our professor understood what I was talking about but apparently my partners didn’t because they argued with him about what we wanted to do. This is why I hate group projects. I just want to do it my way, on my time. That probably makes me sound selfish, but I just want things done well. If I do poorly, its on me that way.

I went and got Subway after class and just ate outside, watching the rain. I was in a weird mood.

We watched Crash. It’s a really good movie. Memories. Past. Present. Future. Who’s got a handle on it? No one on their own.

Tomorrow we leave for Sydney. I know I’ll love it.

Into Me

Way back to Lennox

3/26

I just stuck to the delicious toast with butter and strawberry jam for breakfast. Then nana came and took us on a historic tour of Tenterfield. She told us she wouldn’t talk the entire time, which was true considering she didn’t stop to breathe a couple of times.

We went to a museum that called itself some form of art museum, but I disagree with that title. We watched some history presentation on DVD, listened to a guy talk and I doodled.

After that we went to another museum where crusty nose led us around. We weren’t supposed to touch anything, but of course we did because they told us not to, too many times. Yea, we’re no longer teenagers so we revert back to kindergarten. Ashley got pretty upset with our childish behavior but we were bored and had to entertain ourselves somehow.

We went to another winery but a lot of us didn’t even try any because we were tired and didn’t have a very positive experience at the last place. Most people liked the wine at this place better, but they weren’t as cool.

We had more nasty sandwiches for lunch and then got back on the road. Too much bus time. We stopped at nasty McDonalds again for dinner but I went to KFC instead…because its sooo much better for you…We finally got back to camp and I went to the classroom. I was up there for a long time. I was a bit stressed out for a while. I thought we had to have our course requests in that day, I have a dilemma with our technology and keeping my job for the summer, and have a huge group project for Sports Admin that we haven’t started and have like 2 days to work on. I decided to make myself a pre-business major. I got to talk to the family for a minute… well I could hear them, and I typed.

A bunch of people cam in and watched “Borat” at the loudest possible volume so then I got distracted and put pictures on Facebook and such. Mary, Tristan and Courtney need to go to bed.



JD, Angie and I on the Tenterfield train

Oh Inverell...How Thy Bore Me

3/25

We woke up to have breakfast at 6:45. I guess I’m pretty picky because the toast was my favorite part of the hot breakfast. Then we had to drive a long way to Inverell, a little town with not much in it. We went to a tea place, an olive vineyard, and a pioneer village. We had delicious scones at the tea place, there were good spices and olive oil at the olive place, and the pioneer village was fun to just wander around in. Let’s not discuss the lunch there though. Not so hot.

We visited a car museum and then went back to the motel. We watched City of Angels and got ready for dinner at The Golfer’s Inn. We had roast, green beans, sweet potatoes, cauliflower and ice cream and tiramisu stuff. It was delicious!

Afterwards we watched Independence Day. Everyone was attacking each other, in a friendly way of course, and later the boys had a water fight in which they drenched each others beds. Nice huh?



Fossiking for rocks at the Pioneer Village




Tasting the olive oil




The nice motel we stayed at




At the olive vineyard




At the pioneer village




I got the big bed

Get off the bus for Tank Traps!

3/24

I woke up pretty early to have some Milo and do something on the computer. It was a 3 hour bus ride to our first stop which was Thunderbolt’s Hideout. It was a short hike off the road and there was a basalt rock formation that Thunderbolt once hid out in. Don’t ask me who Thunderbolt is or why he needed to hide out though.

We got back on the bus and drove for a couple minutes until we got off the bus and looked at a sign that said “WWII Tank Traps” and got back on the bus.
We went and put our stuff into our very nice motel rooms, had some nasty sandwiches and went to Bald Rock to hike. It was a bit over an hour hike and we got out of breath in places, but it was nothing like our last hike. We got rained on while we were on the way up, but it was pretty gorgeous on top, a nice day. We hiked down the steep face of the rock, although it wasn’t all that steep. You just had to walk like a pregnant woman down it.

When we got down the bottom of the hill, somehow the male species lead us on a jungle hike…off the trail. There was no hint of a trail where we went. We created our own path by breaking the flora ahead of us. One girl got a leech on her when we waded through a creek, I just walked on top of a tree across the top of the creek bed.

When we finally found the path we saw two kangaroo/wallabies just off of it. It was cool to see them in the wild again (yes…again.) It was so nice because when we got back to the bus, Max (our faithful bus driver) had boiled water and we had afternoon tea. I spilled apple juice all over the table. We also had watermelon, cookies and damper (bread.) It was so nice.

Then we went to the Doctor’s Nose Winery. Most of us aren’t big wine fans, it was kind of cold and rainy, and everyone was tired from the hike so it wasn’t the best experience. They were nice people though. Eventually we got back to the motel and everyone showered and went to dinner. We had finger foods, like little chicken pieces, fries, and spring rolls. We also had to listen to this country singer. He was giving us a concert. But we didn’t know much of the music and he wasn’t that great of a vocalist... in my opinion anyway.

After the “concert” we got ice cream and some custard-y cake thing. They were delicious. Then we all watched Jurassic Park together and played a game of Euchre.




AWal 'singing' with the country guy




Group in Thunderbolt's Hideout




On the way up Bald Rock




Angie with the Kangaroo we saw on the Bald Rock hike




Pretty View at the Winery..and our bus

Byron to Tenterfield

3/23

We went to Byron at 9:30 and went shopping. I had some yummy pasta for lunch. I really like Byron Bay. I got a bunch of postcards for a good price.

When we came back everyone was exhausted so we all took naps. I made myself an interesting little taco for dinner and later on watched this movie about a teacher that made a spectacular and completely not far-fetched miracle occur within his downtown NYC classroom.

Tomorrow morning we head off to Tenterfield for our Life and Culture field trip. Apparently we are visiting wineries, going to a country concert, and going on a hike. We will get back Monday afternoon I think. I’m not too excited about it, but hopefully it will be better than we are expecting.



Bald Rock.. another climb on our agenda

Hair Salon at Cabin 2

3/22

Didn’t really do a whole lot today. Mostly just was lazy. I woke up and went down and laid on the beach for a while. Then I went to the cabins to make our booking for the hostel in Sydney. The girls (Angie, Tracy, Awal and I) went to the café closest to us for lunch. We had nachos and they were delicious but didn’t leave us feeling too great. Then Tracy and Awal and I went into town and I mailed some stuff, got some milk and went into the little boutique where this lady made me try on this weird hippie outfit. I again, politely declined.

It was our hair salon that night. First Angie and I cut JD’s hair. It’s a bit shorter than last time, but I think it is good. Then I cut Angie’s hair. I was really nervous, but she kept telling me not to be, so I took off an inch and half or so and gave her more layers.

Then we cut Awal’s hair. We took about 2 inches or so off and gave her more layers. She was freaking out the entire time and not too pleased with the end result. She kept stressing that she didn’t want bangs, but we kind of gave her some. She ended up liking them, but she thought we took too much overall length. I think it looks super cute.

We trimmed Tracy’s hair too, so there was a big pile of hair sitting on the front porch.

I was supposed to work with Grant and Jordan on our project but that never happened.


Angie's nervous face as I started to cut her hair...

Our trip to Nimbin

3/21

We caught the Jim’s Alternative Tours bus at 9:30am out in front of the camp…and let me tell you, it was quite a day. We swung by his house where he picked up lychees? (a small round fruit a big bigger than a grape that is a bit pear-ish tasting) for us to eat. We picked up some more people around the Byron area and he gave us to lot of history about the city and what it was about. They are very against large food chains and commercialization/destruction of the natural habitat.. very hippie...in short.

We made several pit stops at points of interests for munchies/drinks or just to look at the gorgeous surroundings. When we got to Nimbin it was pretty crazy. There were people with little tables set out with drug paraphernalia asking you if you would like some “marijuana cookies” or a smoke?

Much to all of your dissapointment.. I made no purchases from these such stands.

We went in several stores, and the Nimbin museum in which everything is very pro-environment, anti-war and just… laid back, and cool. We ate a local café…I had a chicken, sweet chili falafel. It was descent. Everything there is crazy. It is pretty much just a big pot town that everyone knows about and even though it is illegal, it is just dealt and smoked on the street. There was even the Hemp Bar in which the door was open and everyone in the building was rolling a joint, or smoking already, or perhaps just chilling with a cookie.

We also went to some overlooks of the countryside, a waterfall area, and to a crazy old hippie's place that planted a forest and lived in a solar powered glass house. We just sat on his porch and cracked macadamia nuts, and then got a tour of his backyard forest. It was a bit creepy.

After we got home I stayed in bed for a while, ate, and then eventually went down to the cabins


Sign when we first got dropped off in Nimbin w/ JD, Tracy, Angie and Rachael



Us and the hippie that sat outside the museum



Me and our bus




Creepy old New Yorker that lived in a glass, solar-powered house and planted a forest.



My girls Tracy, Rachael and Angie in front of the falls that we stopped at.

I Was A Teacher Today!

3/20

I woke up to talk to Abby and the rest of the family on skype, and then got ready to go to school. I went to the classroom that JD helps in at Lennox Elementary School (Angie and I both wanted to go.. so we're alternating weeks) and I really liked it. We were helping the kids with double letter sounds like “dr” and “fl,” they were in first grade and of course they love us because we’re new and different.

I made a couple little friends, and liked the teacher. I’m glad I got to go. I might try to go to Ashley’s classroom next week.

We grabbed an iced coffee on the way home and when I checked my email D. Arthur had decided to start Sports Administration at 4pm…much earlier than typical days. It was then 4:15. I was supposed to present my research on international sport marketing so I had to run over to the cabins to get Mikes flash drive that I used and then couldn’t find my note cards. I got to class about 30 minutes late and was freaking out, but I went and told him were I’d been and he told me not to worry about it that I would be presenting next week.

That was certainly relieving. He also introduced our Sponsorship proposal projects and I am paired up with Jordan and Grant. I’m not so sure about it. They are marketing majors but I just am not crazy about group projects.. especially ones that are so intensely graded.

We all went up to the classroom to look at booking hostels for Sydney.. afterwards Angie and I had a nice little chat.


The Classroom



JD setting up his powerpoint about New Zealand that we presented for them

More Great Barrier pictures!

Plus look at all of my new albums linked on the right!! New Zealand albums, marine bio, and Great Barrier are all new links

Remember.. I like comments.. so feel free to leave them. ;0)


Some of the enormous Coral Walls



More coral with yellow fish



Fan coral



The Hawksbill Seaturtle I pet



The Little "cave" we swam through



Thanks to Craig for taking all of the underwater pics!!!

Back from the GBR!

3/19

So we went to Cairns for the weekend. It was pretty awesome and may be my favorite city that we've been to so far. The transportation kindof sucked. Jd and Ash nearly missed the Greyhound from Byron Bay to Brisbane because they didnt get up early enough to prepare breakfast for themselves.. ahem. But It was nice though.. we were waiting for the bus into Byron to catch our Greyhound and 3 different people just stopped to see "how we were goin". haha.

I on the other hand had been up since 5:30 finshing my packing and studying for my Marine Biology final. The final did not go as well as I had hoped, but it wasnt terrible.

Our hostel there was okay. We had meal vouchers for basically spaghetti for dinner everynight.. so I just ate that. There are bugs here though.. not bed bugs like we have had...but still..bugs were biting me in my bed. The thing Im most looking forward to being home is cleanliness. Having a good washer and dryer...and bugs not occupying everything I own.

We shopped a lot. JD, Ash and I even went to see a movie in the theatre there.. "Bobby." I liked it. I spent way to much money but finally started gift shopping.

We went diving on Saturday after everyone was here. We went out on the SilverSwift.. a branch of Quicksilver. I did 3 dives in one day. The weather was not great and it was a bit pricy but it was still amazing. We saw some awesome coral formations, but the fauna was better at Julian Rocks I think. It wasnt that it was bad, but the water clarity wasnt great so we couldnt see the brilliant colors that you always see pictures of, or any truly amazing animals. Dont let me seem like a downer though, I loved it and am glad I got to see what I could.

We went to an Irish pub that night for St. Pattys day. We didnt drink but had fun just listening to music, dancing and people watching.Its so great getting to meet people from all over the world and just sharing information and learning.

To get home we caught a taxi bus to the airport here, then flew to brisbane. I did not feel very well, got a head and stomache ache and even a little dizzy. Craig was worried I had decompression sickness.. but I think it was prolly just fatigue among other things. Took the train to the greyhound station in brisbane. Somehow, Tracy and Angie booked the wrong bus home, and when Ashley and I got to the front of the line.. so had we. We had to pay for more tickets and eventually got seated on the bus. Took the greyhound to Ballina. Got there around midnight and Mike, Craig, Court and I took a taxi to camp.

I couldnt get to sleep when we got back.. im sure it didnt have anything to do with the coffee fix i drank in Ballina at midnight. Anyway I stayed up organizing pictures and putting them on facebook, as well as talking to the roomies and watching Outback Jack.. Australia's form of the bachelor. It was quite funny.

Ash, Tracy, Angie and I gave our presentation in Life and Culture about deadly aussie animals today...i think it went pretty well especially for the time restrictions we had to work as a group with all of us traveling on different days. We almost ran out of time.. but we snuck in this cool song about animals killing people in the end. That was cool. haha.

Other than that I didnt do much today. Went in to get groceries and such. We had a group meeting, and I was supposed to go sing with the BBS ladies, but im running on 3 hrs of sleep and we had a mandatory lodge fall cleaning to do tonight. it looks really good because its always gross here.


A Great group picture at the pub



Giant clam that I put my finger in and it closed up..
they heard me scream underwater. haha



Cool Damsel fish



Me playing football with a sea cucumber



Tracy, I and Angie