Back off a normal posting schedule, but life got frantic. Sorry. This is also on the long side. Again, sorry!
Last I wrote, I was in Melbourne heading to Adelaide the next day. Gia’s friend Caryl lives there and I went for a visit. Caryl is a teacher, so I knew that I would be arriving during school hours and that someone else would be picking me up. What I didn’t expect was to be picked up by a man from Colorado! That was very exciting, indeed. Ken from Denver and his wife, Barb, are in Adelaide on a year-long teacher exchange. He’s retired, however, and was therefore able to pick me up. Crazy.
That evening I met Caryl and her son, Tate. Both are wonderful. Caryl is very welcoming and fun to talk to. She has also been on a teacher exchange to Denver and so she knew a lot of the places that I know, which was cool. I haven’t talked to someone who knows my home state that well in a very long while! As for Tate, he is about as 10-year-old boy as a 10-year-old boy can be. But he’s also very fun. I had him convinced for a while that I could read his mind. He decided I was related to Charles Xavier from X-Men. That makes sense, right? Lol.
 |
| Australia has a thing for big things. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia's_big_things |
Caryl’s house is beautiful. It’s an old stone house with high ceilings and lots of space. I had a great time staying there. Plus, there was an electric blanket on my bed. That was awesome. I think I may need to invest when I move back to Colorado.
Wednesday, Caryl took the day off work and showed me around the Adelaide Hills. Adelaide is in one of the prettiest parts of Australia in my opinion. The hills are glorious and picture-perfect and the sea is fairly calm with great beaches (during the summer. During the winter, it’s pretty chilly). Honestly, it’s a location that I think is used to create the idea of a picture-perfect wedding.
That night, Ken and Barb, came over for dinner. We had a great time. They’re really fun people and very interesting to talk to and hear about their experiences in Australia. It’s funny what we realize is different or the same as home.
The next day, Thursday, I went to Caryl’s school. I ended up doing a lot of reading and studying that day, which is good for me. I have exams coming up! Caryl teaches years 1 and 2, so they’re all super adorable. They’re my favorite Day Camp age.
Friday, I slept in a bit and then headed into the city. I love big cities with fun streets. I wandered lots of cute little café roads and their main shopping street (a lot like 16th Street Mall) and also checked out the South Australian Museum and the Art Gallery of South Australia. I like that most museums in Australia are free if you have your student card on you. I’ve been to many free exhibits due to that card. That night, we ate dinner in China Town. So yummy. Largely due to the immigration here, the Chinese food here is a lot better than what I usually have at home. But their Mexican food leaves a lot to be desired.
Saturday we headed towards the Barossa Valley. This area makes a lot of wine. I think that I was told there are over 60 wineries in this area. That much wine. Once again, absolutely beautiful landscape. Wine regions tend to be like that, though. I mean, it’s almost necessary for something like wine to come from somewhere that is really pretty, right? We stopped at a few wineries for some photos and exploring and tried to get to the Whispering Wall (apparently one of those “you should see this!” places—it was too dark when we got there) before heading back to Caryl’s house for a pizza dinner and the night. Pizza here tastes a little different to me. Not sure why, but it just doesn’t taste like what I expect pizza to taste like. Hmm. Oh well.
 |
| Me and Tate |
So, bright and early the next morning (Sunday), Caryl and Tate and Tate’s friend Aaron dropped me off at the airport to fly back to Melbourne and then to Gold Coast. My flight to Melbourne was at 7:30 AM and my flight to Gold Coast was at 5:30 PM. I had a lot of time to kill at the airport.
Does anyone else find airports to be funny? Under normal circumstances, they are huge, open spaces with lots of people dressed and acting fairly professionally and not really interacting. But the second there is a delay, it’s like a storm shelter. People have kicked off their shoes, balled up their suit coats into pillows, and suddenly start talking to each other. Or they get mad at the flight staff, which is quite annoying. But it’s kind of weird to watch happen. I suppose you notice things like that when you spend literally the entire day in the airport and witness numerous delays.
A lot of Melbourne was delayed in the morning due to fog, which puts a hiccup in the rest of the day. But, by 4:00 PM, there was a much bigger issue. I’m not sure how many of you are aware, since it’s not really affecting the USA from my knowledge, but the volcano in Chile sent an ash cloud towards Australia and effectively grounded all of Tasmania, the South Island of New Zealand, and, just my luck, Melbourne. I got in line and, by the time I was at the desk, had heard the news from other passengers: no flights for 24 hours and all of Tuesday was already booked.
 |
| That was fun... |
Crap. This presented a problem for me. I had my final exam for Destination Marketing on Tuesday morning. Hmm. What to do? I called my friend Michelle and started discussing plans with her, only to realize that there was no way that I would be able to get back to the Coast in time or the exam. So I rebooked my flight for Wednesday at 1PM and started to figure out what I would do now.
So, I was still in Melbourne! Stuck. Which I wasn’t supposed to be. Lol. I ended up deciding that it would be best if I went to a hostel rather than staying at the airport for three nights, so I ended up going back to Urban Central, where I had stayed the previous week with Larissa. I figured that it was safe and affordable and I already knew my way around the city using that as a base, so I called and made a reservation and took the bus to the city.
Once I reached the bus station, I started walking towards the hostel. I was tired and frustrated and a little annoyed with Mother Nature and really just wanted to be in bed. But, about half way there, I saw some people walking together in the same general direction that I was heading. This isn’t totally unexpected. There is a MASSIVE casino right there and people go together all the time. What was different, though, was that one of the girls saw me with my suitcase and asked if I was heading to Urban Central. I told her I was and she was like, “Oh, walk with us, then! We’re going there, too!”
So I joined up with this group and started talking to this girl about why I was in Melbourne and what she was doing there. Turns out, Sarah (that’s her name) was one of the volunteer coordinators at the convention center where the Dalai Lama was giving three days of teachings. Well, that’s pretty interesting! I had no idea he was in Melbourne. We were talking about that for a little while when she asked, “Would you like to go? I can get you in for free tomorrow. It’s the last day.” WHAT?! Sure, I’d love to go! What a strange and exciting blessing to happen on the way to my hostel after a fairly long and irritating day.
So, the next morning, I woke up early and walked over to the convention center to meet Sarah. She gave me one of the conference bracelets and showed me where to go. So cool and so random. The Dalai Lama is pretty amazing. He has a very interesting presence to him, even in a huge auditorium. And he laughs a lot. Which I think is great. But it was very cool to be able to sit in this room and listen to him tell his story, share wisdom, and even crack a few jokes. I feel so fortunate that I had this opportunity.
 |
| The Dalai Lama (I got in trouble for this photo) |
So after I got back that night, I met a few people at the hostel from Australia, Spain, and Norway—(Anna and Lachlan from Australia, Emmanuel from Spain, and Jon and Hanna from Norway)—and ate dinner with them. Anna and Lachlan also taught us all how to us all how to do a Tim Tam Slam. Pretty fun, honestly. Like Oreo dunking on steroids. To preform a Tim Tam Slam, you need to bite both ends off of a Tim Tam cookie, stick one end of the cookie in coffee or tea and then use the cookie as a straw to suck the tea into your mouth. As soon as you taste the tea or coffee, you need to try to get the cookie into your mouth before it falls apart in the drink. Really fun! If I can find a cookie that will work the same way in the States, this will become a way of socializing for me to share! Sadly, the five of them were leaving really early the next morning, so I said goodbye and went to my room.
Then the night took a turn for the worse. I found out some really upsetting news via Facebook, lovely thing that it is. Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp, my second home and favorite place in the world, had been evacuated due to a forest fire being dangerously close to our borders. Not gonna lie, I had a freak out session in my hostel room. Glad to say that none of the girls who were staying in that room with me wandered into my emotional breakdown. However, I have amazing friends who talked with me, helped calm me down, helped me find out more information, and were just all around great. I love them all!
(Since I’m writing this on a later date, I will let everyone know that camp is OK! I’ve been pretty much superglued to my laptop, checking out the situation every chance I get—which is silly because I am checking when the time in the states is about 4AM. Haha. The fire came dangerously close and singed our haystacks at the archery range, but the site is beautiful. As of right now, the camp is still evacuated, but the fire is 80% contained and the weather has been helping the firefighters a lot. They’ve been given the go ahead to move back onto site! Based on the photos at http://www.rainbowtrail.org/downloads/photo-galleries/?album=LivinOnAPrayer, the site looks exactly how I remember it. But if you look at the incident map (below), you can see exactly how close the fire came to the camp. It’s like there has been a bubble placed over the camp to protect it from the fire. It’s absolutely amazing. God is so good to us. If you would like more information or to see some more photos, go to www.rainbowtrail.org. Dad and Ben Larson have been updating fairly regularly, so the information there is good.)
 |
| Holy Closeness Batman! |
The next morning, I went exploring in Melbourne again before heading up to the Melbourne Museum to see the King Tutankhamen Exhibit. Wow! It was absolutely amazing. I was in awe of how intricate the work was. And how well preserved it was! It was over 3,000 years old and was still incredible. Totally worth it. Plus, I got in free to the rest of the museum. Melbourne’s museum is pretty cool. Kind of random, though. They have a stuffed racehorse that was apparently so well loved by the city that they had to keep him! Pretty neat, eh? It was awesome. They also have a whole hall of taxidermy animals from all over the world. It was incredible.
That night I met one of my roommates. Strange to share a room with someone you don’t know and not actually see them for 2 days. Anyway, her name was Mona, she’s from Germany, and she’s travelling Australia before going to England to get her doctorate. We had a great time getting to know each other and she was super friendly.
 |
| Melbourne's Bike Share Program. Helmets in vending machines! So cool! |
The next morning, I finally got back to the airport and made it back to Gold Coast in the late afternoon. I’d been emailing my Destination Marketing professor and was able to set up a time on Friday morning to take the exam, so Thursday was mainly studying and Friday began with my exam.
Saturday also held an exam for me, sadly. I didn’t prepare well enough for that exam, so we’ll see how it turns out. I’m going to pass the class, though; I know I didn’t do THAT badly.
That night, I went with Larissa to Brisbane to see a Lions game. The Lions are an Australian Rules Football team, or AFL. Aussie Rules is kind of like soccer mixed with football with some other things thrown in. It also made me feel like I might be at what inspired the Quidditch atmosphere in Harry Potter. It’s so much fun! The Lions lost (not that surprising, they’re not very good this year), but we had a great time. Fun fact: similar to how we have hotdogs as our fairly typical “game food,” the Aussies have hot meat pies. I thought that was just great! Very Australian.
 |
| Me and Larissa with the Lion's Mascot, Bernie "Gabba" Vegas |
 |
| AFL Game! |
Sunday night I went down to Kayla’s house to study with her, Anna, and Michelle. We had our Tourism, Culture, and Society exam on Monday and figured that 4 brains were better than 1. We did actually study, I’ll have you know! It’s an interesting topic, but also kind of frustrating—a lot of terms can be used in a different way and therefore represent a different aspect of tourism, but I think they should have different terms. Oh well. Can’t change that. So we spent most of Sunday evening studying and eating pizza.
The studying definitely paid off, though. I went into the exam and during perusal time (unique thing to Australian University—you get about 10 minutes to look through the exam before you’re allowed to write any answers down—I like it), I realized that I knew how to answer every question. I was in the exam period for the whole 2 hours (eww) but gave good answers and think I’ll end up with a high mark on that exam.
After the exam, Kayla, Anna, Michelle, and I joined our friend Sonny and went out to dinner as a sort of “End of Exams/Last Hurrah!/Leah’s Going Away” dinner (even though two of us still had exams to complete). It was so nice to just sit and have dinner with them and just have fun. I’m going to miss hanging out with them!
Tuesday was a packing day for me for the most part. I’m hoping that everything is going to fit! I really haven’t bought that much, so I don’t know why it seems like I have so much less space. Oh well. I think I’ll be ok. I hope!
That night, I went down to Kayla’s house again to go out to Ladies’ Night in Surfers Paradise with Anna, Sonny, Steven, and Nick. We had a fun Aussie barbeque (where I tried a Kanga Banger—a kangaroo sausage/hot dog type thing) and then went out to Surfers.
 |
| Me and Anna in Surfers |
That’s the last time I get to hang out with Anna and Kayla, though. Anna left for Uluru this morning (she’s a German tour guide out there) and Kayla went home to Brisbane to get ready for her trip to Nepal/India, which she leaves for on Tuesday. She’s gonna have a blast. I won’t be seeing the others, either, though. Nick and Sonny will both be working a lot and Steven is leaving for China in the next week or so (I don’t remember exactly, sorry Steven!) and I’m gone on Saturday, so we’re all taking off in different directions.
Wednesday, after I left Kayla’s, I decided that I needed to make use of my VIP Theme Park card and headed to Sea World. I’m probably biased from living in Orlando, but I’ve gotta say, I wasn’t horribly impressed. (Warning: Theme Park Nerd Coming Out) The layout was really horrible and that really detracted from the experience. Plus, aside from the dolphin and sea lion show, the other shows weren’t that great. And the sea lion show wasn’t that great, either, but it was really corny and so I thought it was funny. The dolphins, though, were amazing! They had a really cool show and were absolutely beautiful. I always love dolphins, though. I think that if reincarnation exists, I want to either come back as a camp dog or as a dolphin. Or maybe even a dolphin trainer. That would be cool.
 |
| Cheeky dolphin. :) |
That night, I took Merle out to dinner to thank her for hosting me for the last 5 months. We went to Montezuma’s Mexican Food for dinner (The idea of GOOD Mexican food in Australia doesn’t jive for me. We have good Mexican in the states because of immigration, but Australia isn’t exactly an easy country to immigrate to, especially not from somewhere as far away as Mexico) and had a really nice time. The food was nice (not really great) and the sangria was tasty, so it was enjoyable.
Thursday, I did most of my errands that needed to happen before I leave (on Saturday!). So I went to the bank to close my account, checked on internet in New Zealand, dropped off stuff at the Salvo (Salvation Army store), did laundry…things like that. Productive, but not particularly interesting to share with anyone.
Yesterday was my last day in Gold Coast and today is my last in Australia. Weird. But my day was pretty busy. I went to lunch with Pastor Neil, which was really nice. It was cool to just sit and talk with him. We had a really good time and some great food. Then I crammed for my last exam at 5:30PM. After that, I saw Larissa for just long enough to swap photos and return her flashlight before getting a fantastic pasta dinner with Merle and heading back home to finish packing. Michelle came over to help me be motivated to pack. Haha. Actually, she was very helpful as my moral support as I threw away my notes from this semester (I HATE throwing away class notes. I have some weird panic that I’ll need them later on). She also took a lot of my “I’m leaving this, do you want it?” things, so she got something out of the deal! Lol. Just kidding, she’s a great friend. I’m really glad she came over and we got to hang out for a while before I left. I’m gonna miss her a lot. Then, this morning at 3AM, Merle and I headed up to Brisbane for me to catch my flight to Sydney. So that’s where I am now. This afternoon, I take off for Christchurch, provided that the planes are still flying and that there are no more ash clouds, to spend 2 weeks in New Zealand. I cannot tell you how excited I am. I’m going to try to update at least twice in New Zealand, maybe three times, so check back regularly for updates.
 |
| Sadly, my sunglasses have died. |
Anyway, I hope life is fantastic for everyone! I can’t believe I’ll be home in just two weeks. It’s so soon! But I still have quite another adventure out in front of me before heading back stateside. I can’t wait! I’m flying Auckland to LAX and then will arrive back in Denver at about noon on July 10th and then back to RTLC on the 11th at some time in the evening.
Love ya’ll and can’t wait to see you soon!
Cheers!
LeahJ.
