Terminals in AUS

Hi friends!

Interesting things this week:

            -Sunscreen is God’s gift to Australians. Seriously.

-I watched a movie that had Denver threatened by a nuclear bomb. The ending was very unsatisfying. Actually, the whole movie was. They didn’t do their Colorado geography homework for the film.

           

           -A girl from Wisconsin and her family was at the reef the same day as us and she and her parents were basically doing the same trip that we’re doing, but in reverse order.

  

          -I’m picking up on Aussie slang, accents, and speech patterns much more so than I thought I was. Having Mom and Dad here has pointed that out for me.

           

         -Someone asked me, “So are you a Mounty or a Yank?” the other day when they were trying to guess my accent. I think this is a fun way to ask where someone’s from. It made me happy.

I have spent a ridiculous amount of time in airports and airplanes the last few days. It's been fun, though!

This week has been so wonderful and incredible and just great. I am beyond excited with what the last week has been. So, as I said last time, my parents are here! It is so great to be able to hang out with them and travel with them and experience so much of this awesome country with them. Ahh!

Mom and Dad arrived on Monday, where I met them at the airport in Gold Coast. And I really do prefer the Australian airport style to the American one, just sayin. We hung out for the day before they went to the hotel for the night (yay jetlag!). The next two days, I had school, so my parents, being adorable, went running on the beach together at sunrise and spent lots of time playing outside while I had class. I’m not gonna lie, class felt ETERNAL that week, I just wanted to be out of that room and hanging out with my folks. But I got all my work done and am now free to roam. And I did hang out with my parents in the evenings after class. Tuesday night we went to a super cute restaurant in downtown Southport and on Wednesday night we had dinner with Merle.

I stayed at the hotel with my folks on Wednesday night so we could leave early the next morning. Hotels here are kind of interesting. Back in the States, a fairly typical hotel room is 2 queen beds. Not here. That’s just not “standard fare” here. So the room they had was 1 queen and 1 twin. It was kind of funny.

Thursday, we went to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. If you arrive early in the morning (8AM) they do a lorikeet feeding. Oh my goodness, those birds are INSANE. They fly everywhere, land on your head, shoulders, arms—wherever they can get their little feet down—and chirp at deafening volumes. The staff hands out these pie tins and then fills them with this white milk and nectar mixture that the birds lap out of the pan. By the end of the feeding, the pans are dry. The lorikeets are like attack birds going after that food! It's a bit scary, but fun.

Dad also bought a good “Outback Australia” hat. I love my parents. J After that, we went to the Koala area where I FINALLY got to hold my Koala. His name was Happy Jay and I just wanted to koala-nap him and take him home. He was so sweet and cuddly. And very, very soft. Kind of a thick-soft fur so it almost feels course, but still soft. Make sense? But, alas, I had to return him. I can’t grow enough eucalyptus in my Rosen dorm room to feed him.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the Sanctuary and attending presentations about Aboriginal culture so my mom could relate that back to her kids at school. We spent a ton of time at the Kangaroo habitat feeding and petting the ‘roos. Kangaroos are really interesting animals. They’re fairly slow-moving and adorable and super sweet and soft. And I got to see a baby kangaroo! Well, kind of. A couple of the Mama Kangaroos had joeys in their pouches and you could see them wiggling around. One (pictured below) had his feet and tail hanging out of the pouch! I always kind of thought that just the heads would ever be poking out, but nope. All sorts of baby roo parts hang out of the pouch. They just wiggle around and try to get comfortable.  And they’re so cute!

Friday was the one day that I didn’t have school and we didn’t really have any plans, but Mom and Dad had been doing their homework and had rented a car to go out to Tambourine Mountain and go on the Skywalk. The Skywalk is this very “eco-tourism friendly” site in the rainforest that has a large catwalk through the canopy of the trees as well as a narrow path below. Now, those of you who know me well know that heights are not my best friend, so this adventure made me kind of nervous. But it was really awesome. We got to see a ton of beautiful old trees and take lots of photos. The rainforest is gorgeous.

We went back to Tambourine Mountain after that and went on a wine-tasting adventure. There are some delicious wines up there. One my parents bought was a dessert wine that had brandy, chocolate, and coffee flavors. It was amazing. We ended up going to three wineries that day and just had a fantastic time with it. Plus, we found a place that we could get lunch for less than $15 for all three of us…which is pretty much unheard of in Australia.

Early the next morning, we went to the airport and boarded a plane for Cairns. What a beautiful city! Cairns is a fairly low-lying city (I think the tallest building we saw was 6 stories) and is much less chaotic than Surfers Paradise. We spent the day wandering the city and getting ready for Sunday, when we were headed to the reef.

Sunday morning with our rented waterproof camera in hand, we boarded the “Big Cat” boat and set out for the reef. What an incredible experience. We went snorkeling for the first half of the day before lunch and a glass-bottom boat tour. Then we had two more hours to snorkel before we had to be back on the boat. We saw so many cool things! The giant clams are kind of terrifying to float over (they look like they could eat you!), but there were lots of beautiful rainbow fish and clown fish and coral and zebra fish. And a huge number of the “Dory” fish (I think they’re called yellowtails). And one green sea turtle! No sharks, though, luckily! Oh goodness, it was so fun. Extremely exhausting, though. We had a fantastic dinner that night (Who knew a place called Barnacle Billy’s would be so delicious!?) before heading to bed early.

And now, as I write this, we are on Qantas flight 1859 on our way to Uluru for a sunrise camel tour and a day of exploration before we fly to Sydney the following morning for 3 more days before Mom and Dad have to fly home.

Just as a side note, Australian airports seem so social. There are lots of tables and chairs and better places to talk with the people you’re travelling with. And, for as expensive as this country can be, flights can be so reasonable. I think I’m flying to Sydney for $100 round trip! Stoked for that!

I’ve also met some really great people recently that I’m looking forward to hanging out with and getting to know better/maybe travelling with. We’ll see. They’re fun and love being outside, so I think we’ll get along swimmingly. We’re talking about hanging out the week I get back from my adventure with Mom and Dad. Yay!

So, basically, Australia is great. Truly, it is. The people who live here know that they live in a great place and are nice, happy, friendly and welcoming and very helpful. They are more than happy to help anyone if you ask nicely. People are also so trusting of each other and open. There is a lot less cynicism towards others here and it shows in how people talk to each other and how they live their lives and what they do. And the weather is (usually) great. I like it here a lot. Not planning on moving here, but would love to be able to come back from time to time.

I hope everyone back home/around the world is doing well. I miss you all! I’d love to hear from anyone and hear what’s going on in your life. I know a lot of you have very exciting things coming up and I would be thrilled to hear about it! As always, Skype, email, Facebook, carrier pigeon, and actual mail are all excitedly welcomed and quickly replied to!

Love you all!

<3, Leah

PS--Internet here at Uluru is kind of awful. I will add photos soon. Promise!

Consider the Platypus...

Seriously, Australia is God’s playground. Everywhere else, the animals are cool, but vaguely similar to another animal you know. But what the heck is similar to the platypus? Or the kangaroo? Honestly, I think that when God started planning Australia, he was like, “Hmm…what could I do here? I mean, I have all of these odds and ends parts to various animals, but I want to make something new and exciting. I know….let’s go nuts!” And TA DA! You end up with a country with more things that can kill you than anywhere else; an animal that has a pouch for it’s baby, really heavy tail for balance, and huge back legs that make it jump across the desert at a wicked fast rate; over 700 variations on a single type of tree (I’m looking at you, eucalyptus!); a huge rock (or monolith) in the middle of nowhere; a 1,600 mile long reef system that has some fish found nowhere else in the world; and, to top it all off, a “toothless, venomous, fur-covered, egg-laying, semi-aquatic animal with a ducklike bill, the tail of a beaver, feet that were both webbed and clawed, and a strange orifice called a cloaca, which serves both for reproductive and excretory purposes” (explained by Bill Bryson) that we now call the platypus.  Does the platypus sound like a little kid grabbed broken pieces of various animal toys and his mom’s glue and put them together in a crazy creation to anyone else or is that just me?

Hey All.

So, I know I just updated a few days ago, but I wanted to get myself back on track of posting on Monday nights.  Please just bear with me.

I started working at the Gold Coast Turf Club on Saturday. That was actually kind of fun. Basically, I just run back and forth from tables to the bar and get lots of drinks for the different tables. There’s a whole separate staff for food. But it was rainy, which wasn’t so fun because then the people couldn’t go outside to watch the races, so moving around became kind of difficult during the races and everyone was standing to try to see the horses. But I still had a good time. Plus, it’s a job, I’m not gonna argue. J

On Sunday, Merle and I skipped church (bad kids, I know) and she took me out to her brother’s house in Laidley. It’s a cute little country town with stores titled things like “The Meat Tavern” and “The Yarn Barn.” (Serious). It’s about two hours from Gold Coast. The town was affected by the flooding, but not terribly—there’s still debris in some places, but they’ve done a very good job of cleaning it up. It is kind of strange seeing in person how high those flood waters were in the “less affected areas” and seeing that it came to my waist. Eek! We also went to a really fun little country pub for lunch (it was her brother’s birthday) and it was so great. Honestly, it fit right in with every family country movie set in the world—picnic tables, Christmas lights, a small rodeo ground, nice people enjoying being together and drinking a few beers (none of this Wild West fighting nonsense), and little kids in cowboy hats and boots. It was grand. So for having a rainy weekend, I still enjoyed myself and Australia. 

I also furthered my adventure into Australian Coffee. For anyone who can give a better explanation of this, be my guest, but the Australian coffee menu is surprisingly difficult. And do not accidently use Starbucks terms. It’s bad. Tall, for instance, is not a small. Today, when I ordered a “tall mocha,” the girl apparently didn’t understand my accent and I ended up with a “short mac” or short macchiato, which is a shot of espresso with a half shot of either steamed or cold milk. Honestly, when I tried to drink my accidental coffee order today, I felt like I was having coffee concentrate. Wow. Talk about a buzz. The other difficult to understand ones for me were Long Black, Short Black, and Flat White.  Apparently a short black is truly a shot of espresso, so I can’t imagine that vs. what I had today. And Long Blacks are espresso with water, about 1/3 coffee and 2/3 hot water, so it’s the most similar to a regular cup of coffee. Flat whites (my personal favorite) are 1/3 coffee and 2/3 steamed milk. I think I’m in love with them. I add 2 packets of raw sugar to it and it’s heaven in a cup.  There is also an affogato, which is another love of mine. This is a shot of espresso over vanilla ice cream. Can you say yum?! Fortunately, there are many other items that are much more common: chai teas, hot chocolates, mochas (if they understand your accent), cappuccinos or “caps”, macchiatos (or long macchiato or “long macs”), and lattes are all what you would expect them to have been.  But when I get back, Starbucks will be so much simpler to me. Haha. Speaking of which, there is a Starbucks in Surfers Paradise, I learned today. I’m going to try to avoid it, though, I think, and enjoy the Aussie coffee instead.

And finally, MY PARENTS ARRIVED TODAY!!! I’m so freaking excited. I woke up super early and took the bus out to the airport to surprise them. It was so fun. Plus, Australian airports let you go to the gate, so I was able to wait right by the door to see them. It’s so nice hanging out with them. We explored Surfers Paradise a bit today and I showed them my campus before jet lag attacked and they crashed. So now I’m here, writing to you and doing homework! Haha. I need to do all of my homework for this week and next week so that I can miss classes next week to adventure around Oz with Mom and Dad. Next week is what they call “Amber Alert Week” (I find this a bit confusing when I think of American Amber Alerts) but what they are is a pre-midterm grade to make sure students are where they nee to be to finish the class. So, that’s fun…not. But really, I’m so excited to spend the next two weeks with my parents, I don’t even care about the extra work. And we’re doing so much fun stuff, I’ll be happy I put the work in now when I’m in Sydney next week.

Anyway, that’s all for now. I love hearing from you, so please keep in touch! I have enjoyed the letters, emails, Facebook messages/comments, and skype conversations (I’m talking about you, Ash, Lizzy, and Kaleb!) more than I can ever say. Keep them coming! Love you all!

<3, Leah

D-I-N-G-O! D-I-N-G-O! D-I-N-G-O, A dingo ate your birthday cake!

Chloe is a killer. Yes, Chloe the Cat has killed a gecko and given it to me as a gift. Dang cat. Actually, I may have been involved in the murder. I accidentally stepped on him and think I broke one of his legs, making him easy pickings for the mighty huntress. I feel horribly guilty. And yes, this is Chloe below. 

Hi Guys!

Firstly, sorry for the fail on my part. It’s Thursday and I had every intention to update on Monday. Whoops! But Jesus is a pretty cool guy who forgives, so hopefully you are all with him and will still love me too. ;) In my defense, though, I have totally lost track of days here because of the weather difference (Early Fall so it’s still summer heat as opposed to early spring but still winter chill) and my limited days at school. For example, I missed Ash Wednesday (not as in “didn’t go to church,” as in “it’s Wednesday? Oh, it’s Ash Wednesday?!” Lol) and also didn’t realize that it was St. Patrick’s Day until I saw a green bank display. Thank goodness I was wearing my green scarf and didn’t get pinched! Haha.

This week has been super interesting. I have been busy in classes and trying to pick up on all of the readings. Fact: Aussies do a lot of reading in school and it is incredibly apparent if you don’t do it. There’s not much homework, but the readings…ugh. And one of my professors may have set a record for slides covered in a 2-hour period. 82 slides in 1hour, and 40 minutes. It was impressive and daunting. Haha. I also am already proving to be as much of a geek here as I am back home. I think I was one of the only people in my tutorial/lab section of my class who had read the assigned readings, so the professor kept asking me and one other girl what we thought about it and how we could apply it. Whoops. So much for seeming cool. There’s just too much awesome in me to be cool. Jk. Oh well, I’m happy to be on top of my work—then I don’t stress when things are due. But pretty much everything is Group Work, which I don’t love. I would rather write a paper or report on my own. I just don’t love doing schoolwork in teams. Teams in sports…yes. Teams for why tourists love Tahiti…no.

 I’ve also been playing with my travel dates for different locations around Australia and it sounds EPIC. I just need to buy my tickets and get on the planes. Eeek! I also managed to run into the club signup at the last minute (literally) and found clubs for study abroad students, rock climbing, model UN, ultimate Frisbee, and acting workshops. I think/hope (pray, really) that I’m going to be busy!

So, as I said, I joined the rock climbing and adventure club and went climbing with them this past Friday night at Kangaroo Point. It was so cool! We were climbing from about 8PM to Midnight and had massive floodlights up to light the cliff. Kangaroo Point has (I’m told) 300 different possible climbs ranging in height from 15-25 meters. We had ropes set up on 8 of them and they were each about 25 meters tall. I ended up climbing twice (there were a ton of people there) and had a fantastic view of Brisbane from the top. I also finally learned how to tie a figure 8 knot. I’m very proud of myself and my newly acquired skill. There were also some cool fire fighting/dancing people near us in the park. When not climbing, it was so cool to watch them! As fun as it was, I could definitely feel that I hadn’t been climbing in far too long, my arms hurt so badly the next morning!!! The next climb I can get to isn’t until April, which is kind of a bummer, but I’m pretty much ok with it because I will be with my parents!

I also found a job that fits my schedule down here really well, as in, I can work when I’m free and can be off when I’m busy or travelling. I’m going to be serving and working at the bar at the Saturday horse races. I think it will be interesting. I mean, if nothing else, it’ll give me some extra money for travelling with. Having a job here means finding bank, though, which is a mess all on it’s own. I don’t love figuring out banking rules and procedures. Boo.

In other news, Pastor Neil (the pastor who helped me make my housing arrangements) also gave me the number for another student who goes to Trinity Lutheran as well as Griffith: Jenna. The two of us met up at the Sharks Football Club for coffee and hit it off really well. She’s a bit younger than me, but is really sweet and enjoys a lot of the same things I do, so that’s fun.  We’re currently trying to figure out when we can actually meet up. We’re both horribly busy and that makes it difficult.

I’ve also started to plan a trip with Larissa (the girl from Canada…I think I mentioned her before) down to Tasmania or Melbourne. I think it’ll be a lot of fun to explore with a friend. I can’t wait to see more of this country! It’s freaking huge. Like, I knew Australia was big, but if you look at the map I posted, Australia is about the size of the USA. It really doesn’t seem that big otherwise, does it?  Haha.

As for Merle and the Cat…haha. Chloe and I are now buddies for life. Firstly, the gecko gift, but she also has begun to sleep on the other half of my bed. I am a fan of this. She’s not like Sadie, though. Hmm. Merle asked if I would like to go to the movies the other day. She wanted to see “Unknown” or “I am Number 4.” I agreed and went with her to the theatre. She had looked it up online and had written it down on a page, but I couldn’t help but feel the times looked wrong from what I’d seen in the paper. But I figured that I was looking at a different theatre. We got there and found out that the times were in fact wrong and that the next showing of both movies wasn’t for almost 2 hours. Merle asked what I wanted to see and I told her I was happy with anything. So, she picked. She chose “Hall Pass.” Is that the one about having a week off from marriage, you ask? Yep. That’d be it. Talk about uncomfortable. Definitely not a movie to take the grandparents to, kids. She seemed to enjoy it, though, even though I was really unsure how to feel about it.

Let’s see…anything else interesting to tell you? Oh, I found a Husker’s shirt at the mall the other day. It was unexpected, so I took a photo. Thinking of my lovely friends in New Mexico and Nebraska. There is also a Broncos Football team here (and by football, they mean rugby). It makes me feel at home. And I got a letter from home! Thank you, Lou! I’ll write you back soon! I’m writing to you after this!

I know I’ve talked to a few of you about what my plans are post-Australia, aside from getting back to UCF in August. I’m honestly not sure at this point in time. I have a lot to consider and a lot of options in front of me. But I will let you know when I get it figured out!

So, in closing, Australia is great. I highly encourage you all to put it on your bucket lists. The weather is excellent, the people are friendly and laid back, the animals are cool, the food and drink is good, the news and politics is fairly low key, there is no one claiming that the end of the world will be on December 21, 2012, and they’re pretty far away from natural disasters. Well, flooding, but no volcanoes or earthquakes. As Eeyore so wisely said, “It’s raining still,” Eeyore said gloomily… “However,” he said, brightening up a little, “we haven’t had an earthquake lately.” But really, Australia is better than that. J But...it is raining again. 

All right loves, I am going to leave it at that for this week. Hopefully I will update soon with some fun stories about other parts of this country. Please keep up contact! I love hearing from you and am pretty reliable to write back in the very near future.  So, facebook, messages, email, skype, real mail (!!!), and carrier pigeons are all welcomed/loved!

Love ya’ll!

Leah

PS—My parents will also be here on MONDAY! I cannot wait. We’re going to have an epic trip and see lots of fun things, so Australia better watch out! Haha. But seriously. It will be legend…well, you know the rest. :)

"God bless America. God save the Queen. God defend New Zealand and thank Christ for Australia."-Russell Crowe

(Author's Note: I have been listening to the Hoedown Throwdown while writing this...sorry!)

I have a new favorite Aussie-ism: Macca’s for McDonalds. It makes something I really don’t like sound so much better. I’m still not planning on eating there, but it does sound better somehow. Does that make sense? I hope so.

Hi guys!

It has finally cooled down here. It is now a much more manageable 78 than the awful 105. Yes! This Colorado girl is happy. It’s also raining pretty much every night, which is nice. It cools everything down. And no, all of you Facebooking me and telling me that it’s beautiful where you are is not helping! Haha. Oh well, if it sticks to the 70s, I won’t complain.  

So, I have officially started my classes here and love them. I only have class two days a week, so Tuesday and Thursday are busy busy busy, but it gives me time to explore and adventure with 5 day weekends. My classes this semester include “Sport Event Operations,” “Destination Marketing,” “Sustainable Tourism,” and “Tourism, Culture, and Society.” They are all super interesting and very different than what I have come to expect from Rosen. I suppose part of it is talking about this part of the world rather than around the USA. As opposed to talking about how Harry Potter and Mickey Mouse are about to go to war (Which is a horrible comparison, but also kind of entertaining…I’m thinking Harry vs. Mickey from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice—Harry trying to fly on a broom and Mickey making it come to life and carry buckets of water…so much potential!), we’re talking about Movie World and Dream World and how they market against each other and with each other at the same time. Rather than the NFL and team rivalries, I’m currently discussing how the Sunshine Coast is trying to draw people away from the Gold Coast and how it has caused rivalry between the soccer (excuse me, football) teams. And instead of talking about taking off on a cruise to the Caribbean, we talk about heading off to the South Pacific. Or we watch Bid Videos for the Olympics and FIFA World Cup. Just so you all know, Qatar’s video is wonderful—it gave me goose bumps. If Australia seriously thinks they should have had it after that video, they need to get a cat scan. (Australia’s video wasn’t that special...honestly, it was edging on hokey.) It’s not good or bad—it’s just different. And that’s probably a good thing. In all honesty, it has really opened my eyes to what areas I’m missing knowledge in before I actually try and find a career in one of them. I mean, seriously, I would never have thought of Vietnam as a vacation destination, but it’s HUGE here in Oz. Well, really, travel in Australia is huge. There are travel agencies everywhere—literally, everywhere.

Australia is also full of my secret vice: book sales. As I’ve said before, I should never be allowed into a bookstore clearance sale without proper supervision. So far, I have purchased 6 books. I’m forcing myself to finish those before I buy any more. But I have kind of rediscovered books and love it. I’ve also purchased new music and have explored my iPod on random long bus trips/waits (it took me almost an hour and a half to get home tonight) and have found some great new music as well as rediscovered some old favorites. This is not always good, though, because you can end up with “When You Wish Upon A Star” followed by 3OH!3’s “Don’t Trust Me”. Or Josh Groban followed by Ke$ha and occasionally some “Go, Go, Power Rangers” (courtesy of a joke from Kiel Adams). Throw in some of Zac Brown Band’s “Chicken Fried” and you have my iPod mix for the last week. Yup. And if you’re curious, the acoustic iTunes version of “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz is really good. It was an impulse buy and now I have rocked out to it for the last few days.

Oh yeah! So while exploring some of the shops around the area the other day, I wandered in on what I guess is kind of the equivalent of an Alco or something like that—you know, kind of like a dollar store, but everything’s not a dollar and it’s a little bit better, but not much? Yeah, like that—and was looking around the kid toys and, next to the pirate and princess dress-up sets, there was a “Male Stripper Set.” Umm…what? I was really surprised and began laughing out loud in the store. And of course, I had to document it because without a photo to prove it, it didn’t happen. If you look closely, it does say “Not for use in play by children under 14.” Glad we’re watching out for those 7-year-old’s who would rather be a strippers than pirates. Try to explain that costume to you kiddos, moms of the world! But still…I just don’t even know how to feel about it. That’s really something to be proud of, Australia! Haha.

Unfortunately, I have found something that I dislike about Australia. They have an equivalent to our Wal-Mart. Dang. It seemed like such a great place, but then…Sam’s Warehouse. A place that devours dreams and happiness like Roxy devours her dinner. So I’m not too thrilled about that. And then there’s the Internet. This country does not do free/unlimited Internet with near the kind of love the USA does. This is something that is very difficult to deal with when trying to use Skype to call home. Dang. Ugh. Ok, I’m done ranting. But I will figure it out. Because I just have too much awesome to be taken out by something as silly as the Internet. True story.  

Australia is an interesting place to be, in all honesty. Even if I'm not out doing something particularly interesting, it's interesting how removed from the rest of the world it seems to be. The news talks about the problems the rest of the world has, but in kind of a distant manner, like, "Well, that's unfortunate for them, but no worries, mate, it's all good down under!" It's pretty interesting. I mean, I guess we don't hear that much about Australia back home either, but it's more obvious to me here. 

Well, this week has been surprisingly boring. Sorry about that. However, Chloe the Cat and I have become friends. That is an achievement for me to check off of my “To Do” list! Anyway, the main thing I wanted to post was my photos from the last few weeks. Hopefully you guys like them and they show what I’ve been trying to tell ya’ll about in these posts.

This coming week will be a lot of getting into the swing of things with school and everything education related as well as meeting up with some new friends. There’s also the potential of job-hunting, but it’s kind of frustrating to try and find a job when I know I’m leaving in a few months. Any advice? I’d welcome it. But I’m sure it will all be good.

And then, on March 21^st, (less than 2 weeks!!!) my parents arrive! I’m so stoked for them to come and for all we’re going to do while they’re here. We’re doing pretty much all of the major Australia hot spots in less than 12 days. It’s going to be legen—wait for it—dary.

Anyway, I hope you all are having a great day/week/semester/life! I miss you all and think about you regularly. Please continue to keep in touch—it makes me very happy.

Enjoy the photos! I'm sorry some of them are sideways, I couldn't figure out how to fix it. I'll try again later. It's late and I don't have the patience to deal with it right now!
Love you all!

<3, Leah

PS—There’s a store here called “Colorado.” I went in to feel at home. Haha. So of course, I took a photo. How could I not?!

Me feeding a kangaroo! 

Saltwater Crocodile--he was about 12 feet long! Yikes!

Emu that chased me...

The wildlife sanctuary staff doesn't like when you sing "D-I-N-G-O!" to the tune of Bingo!

Lesson learned. 

Really cool tree...sorry, I liked it. 

One of the many scary things in Australia. 

One of the many cute things in Australia. Aww...koala! 

Is it pretty? Yup. It's beautiful. 

The beach behind me is the only beach on the east coast that faces west. Pretty cool, huh?

Most easterly point of continental Australia

Dolphin dorsal fins

Me sea kayaking. So fun!

Colorado Brand store

Completely unexplainable Australian convenience store item...

Hope that was fun for you! 

Sunny with a High of...105

Whew. It’s been quite a week. Let’s start out with lessons I’ve learned from Australia this week.

1.     Always make sure the bus you board is going the right direction

2.     Even if they tell you Gold Coast doesn’t have snakes, they lie

3.     Never take the 3PM bus

4.     Australians don’t sell bike locks anywhere you would expect them to be

5.     Surfing is really hard

6.     Always wear sunscreen

7.     Kangaroos are surprisingly soft

8.     Emus will chase you if you get too close

9.     If you bump a kayak guide’s boat, you owe them a beer (therefore, be in their boat)

10    Yes, it’s English, but sometimes, you just have to nod and smile at what Aussie’s say

11    Australian television is weird

Since my last post, I went to Byron Bay for a 3-day adventure.  It was so much fun! We first went to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary just south of Gold Coast. It is absolutely beautiful there. And there are some crazy strange Australian animals. I got to pet and feed some kangaroos (so soft and cute!), pet a koala (which have surprisingly course fur…and I’m waiting until my parents come to take photos since they cost some money and it was rainy aka not pretty picture time), I was also chased by an emu (apparently, they won’t hurt people, though) and in general, explore this sanctuary. I also saw what I hope will be my first and last saltwater crocodile. He was monstrous—definitely not a fan.

That night, we arrived at Backpacker’s Inn on the Beach in Byron Bay. It was a little hostel that we pretty much took over (there were 120 exchange students on this trip) for the next three days. We went to dinner at a place called Cheeky Monkey’s, which just confirmed by belief that most college party bars in any country keep the volume about 5 ‘clicks’ too loud. There was also issues with getting food for everyone and my ‘hospitality brain’ was going mental with the whole situation. I don’t think that I will be doing bar management when I finish at Rosen…at least not college bar. Haha.

The next day,  we were given a time slot for surf lessons, but then free time the rest of the day with optional lunch times. It was still kind of rainy, but I just kept thinking, “I’m in Australia, dang it! I’m going out!” so I spent most of the morning exploring. Those of you who know where this is, Byron Bay is a little bit like Salida…or maybe New Smyrna. Then, it was time to surf.

I’ve always known that surfing takes work. Anything that looks that cool and that “easy” usually is harder than things that look harder (like how I find snowboarding harder than archery).  But I didn’t expect to have the ocean kick my butt quite so hard. My biggest problem was remembering which foot went in front, which went in back. I kept trying to flip them and therefore, ended up falling into the water a lot. I could get the first three motions (basically you go from your stomach to upward facing dog to downward facing dog) but then when I needed to bring my front foot forward, I started to bring my back forward, then tried to switch, did a tap dance, and faceplanted into salty ocean water. However, right at the end of our time, I managed to stand up on my board for a few glorious seconds! I was so freaking proud of myself.  My excitement may have been what threw me off the board that time, though.

That night we went to this awesome little pub called “The Owl and the Pussy Cat.” It is somewhere that is definitely not designed for 120 college kids to come to for drinking purposes, but it is somewhere I would love to go again with just a few people. ALSO, sorry for the sidetrack, but while waiting in line to get in, there was this guy who looked about the age of everyone in our group standing there. His shirt said, “It’s going to be LEGEN-wait for it-DARY.” I was so excited to see a HIMYM reference, I went up to him and told him we could be friends. He seemed surprised I knew what his shirt was from, but then asked if I was familiar with his dear friend, Lorenzo von Matterhorn. Turns out, this guy is from Innsbruck, Austria (where my friend Matt is studying) and wasn’t with our group at all. Whoops. He was nice, though. I ended up going home early, though, because I wanted to be wide-awake and ready for the next day: sea kayaking.

So, the next morning, bright and early, I left for my sea kayaking lesson. OH MY GOSH. I loved sea kayaking. It was incredibly fun. I ended up in a boat with one of the guides (Sam) and had the best time. Plus, in theory, every time someone bumped the boat, they owed us each a beer. No one paid up, which is probably a good thing since there would have been a lot of beer purchased. Anyway, kayaking has a bit different of a paddling motion than rafting, but courtesy of a summer of paddling the Arkansas with campers, I was pretty comfortable with it. Sam even kept saying that he was really impressed with how well I was paddling and that he could tell I had been on the water before.  We saw a pod of dolphins a ways away, but then, 5 minutes later, we saw a dolphin and her baby about 50 yards away. Then they came swimming through our group of boats. It was incredible. I really wish I could have taken a photo, but unfortunately, my camera is not waterproof.  The photos I have were taken by the company we went with. We also saw a few sea turtles. (Please feel free to insert any “I like turtles” references you can think of here.) The only downside was the absolutely awful sunburn I got on my legs. Luckily, it’s healed up by now. Thank you, good genetics. That afternoon, it was back to Gold Coast and into bed for a LONG nap.

I haven’t done a lot else since I got back other than get ready to start classes (Which is TOMORROW!—yes, I’m a geek,) and start planning for when my parents arrive. J I’m very excited. Let’s see…I have been to Surfer’s Paradise now (it’s ok…kinda typical beach area…reminds me a little of Miami) and there were apparently two black snakes there yesterday afternoon (which, according to a quick Google search, are some of the most poisonous in Australia…and that’s saying something with over 100 venomous snakes in the country, 8 of which are in the world’s top 10 most venomous). So…yeah, I didn’t need to know that.  And everyone told me they were all “out west.” Lies. Total lies. And I have pretty much figured out the bus system here. I just need to remember to make sure that when there are busses with the same number, I look at where their destination is. I ended up going on an hour and a half long ride the other day because I went north instead of south. Whoops. J And the 3PM bus is awful. It’s filled to the brim with school kids and it’s insanely hot. So I won’t be doing that again.

Now on to my oddities of Australia (listed in the lessons learned, but now with an explanation). Firstly, I am borrowing a bike from Merle’s son, David. While that is really great and very nice of him, I do not want to lose the bike or have it stolen. Therefore, I went on a mission today to purchase a bike lock for it. I seriously looked for about 2 hours. No luck. Not in a sporting store, not in a fitness store, not in K-Mart and not in Target (also strange seeing American brands here).  Merle said she’d take me to a hardware store and we could just buy a length of chain and a lock for it. That’s fine with me, but for a country that rides bikes A LOT, I was shocked to not find one anywhere. Secondly, I go to church with Merle every Sunday. It’s actually very similar to church back home, which is nice, but I’m still not totally used to the accents yet, and so when people talk to me and use their Aussie slang along with the accent, I sometimes get really lost. So, if I can, I just try and move on and nod and smile and then ask Merle about it in the car.  And lastly, Australian television. I don’t watch it a lot here, but sometimes, when Merle is out and I’m home alone with Chloe (the cat), I’ll have it on for noise in the house. There are a fair number of American shows on (including “How I Met Your Mother”…that made me happy) as well as a number of Aussie sitcoms/game shows/soaps and then the typical news shows and other things like that. However, more often than you would expect, you find something strange…like “Home Alone 2” at 7PM on a Saturday night at the end February. Why? I don’t think anyone knows. It just happened. The shows also start at strange times, but I think they just have fewer ads than the US does.

Well, that’s all I have for now. Kinda long again, sorry, but I just wanted to share my experiences. Tomorrow I head to school to take some pretty awesome classes. I only go to class Tuesdays and Wednesdays and have two classes each day. Tuesdays I have Sport Event Operations followed by Destination Marketing and then on Wednesdays I have Sustainable Tourism followed by Tourism, Culture, and Society. I can’t wait! Hopefully, I will meet some awesome new people and will really enjoy my classes.

I hope everyone is well! I miss you all and hope you all get the chance to experience Australia one day…it’s amazing. Keep in touch! Love you all!

Leah

PS-There’s a brand here called “Colorado.” It makes me happy.

In a Sunburnt Country

Hi All!

So I safely made it to Australia on Thursday, the 17th at about 11AM. Wow! It's crazy and wonderful and I'm loving it. So far, it is not terribly different than Florida...but mashed bananas and bacon on toast is not a recipe I will be bringing home with me. Haha. I have been here for 5 days now and believe me, this is one HOT place. The temp has been a balmy 40 degrees celsius...or about 104 fahrenheit. Plus humidity. Ugh. I forgot how much I disliked that part of the start of classes in Orlando. Haha. Oh well. I just avoid being outside during the hottest parts of the days. But I have gained the beginnings of what I hope will be a glorious Australia-worthy tan in the form of a slight sunburn. That makes me quite happy. I promise, Mom, I'm wearing sunscreen, the sun is just fierce here--like Tyra Banks or America's Next Top Models. Haha. But, for as hot as it can be, the rain comes on as quickly here as it does in the Rockies and cools everything down.  Currently, there is a glorious storm outside and it sending wonderful breezes through the house.

I am living with a fantastic Aussie woman named Merle and her "fearless hunter queen" Chloe (she is a fat cat that is still unsure if I am welcome. I've made it my goal for this cat to like me). Since I've arrived, I've really just been getting used to everything around me. I visited the campus (which is incredibly green), attempted to navigate Australia Fair--a massive shopping center, and have figured out how to take the bus to school. I have also been to a family gathering with Merle and have attended a few international student activities. I've met a lot of international students (not very many Aussies or Kiwis yet, but so far, I've only been to International Orientation Activities, so that's not too shocking), including  a boy from France, a girl from Russia, a girl from Denmark, and a handful of students from the US. It's pretty cool how many different countries are represented at this school. :)


One of my friends asked if Australia was what I was expecting. Has it been what i was expecting? I don't really have a good answer for that. I don't really know what I was expecting since I can really attribute my knowledge of Australian life to "The Man From Snowy River" (a movie about turn of the century cattle herders in the outback), Outback Steakhouse (which you may be surprised to learn is really NOT Australian,), and "Our Lips Are Sealed" (yes, I am talking about the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen movie where they are sent to Sydney as part of the Witness Protection Program...definitely not the most realistic view of Australia I could have given myself at a young age, haha). I'm sure that there are other things that have influenced my preconceptions about Australia, but those are what come to mind. Those and "The Wild Thornberrys."

As for Griffith University, it seems really cool and i can't wait to start classes. Everyone has been super friendly and welcoming. The hardest thing for me to get used to has been the colloquialisms. "How you go?" rather than "How are you?" has confused me a number of times so far. And calling my cell phone a mobile is a bit hard to get used to. As far as just "life" goes, there are parts of it that are really "american" feeling and parts that are much less so and closer to my other abroad experiences. I'm currently at a tie for the weirdest two things for me to wrap my head around: one--driving on the left side of the road. I just struggle with it. It feels wrong and kinda scary. Haha. And two--a bar at the university. It's called The Unibar and they gave all the exchange students free beer today. Hmm...lol. Maybe it's just an american thing to not have bars on campus...I know that Carey (my roommate from Surrey last semester) said that they have a bar on campus in the UK. Anyone want to weigh in on their experiences?

So, the point of this very long post is that life is going along wonderfully for me. Up next, I leave on Wednesday, the 23rd, for a three-day trip to Byron Bay for playing on the beach, snorkling, surfing, and sea kayaking as well as maybe some rock climbing and then Australian clubbing. I'm stoked.

I hope everyone back home is having a great day. I miss you all and would love to hear from you! If you would like to Skype with me, my Skype name is "solskinnpike." If you ignore the date change, there is a 7-hour difference between Gold Coast and Colorado (1PM in Gold Coast is 8PM in Colorado, just different days). Otherwise, leave a comment, Facebook me, or send me an email! Love you all!

Leah

31 Days and Counting!

Oh. My. Gosh. I cannot believe it is already Mid-January and I will be leaving for Australia one month from today. This is so freaking exciting!!! I feel like this has been such an incredible journey to even get to this point and I haven’t even left the country yet.

The current plan for me is to end my time working for Kid's Nite Out on January 23rd (in a week, I know, weird), fly home on the 25th to spend some much needed time with my parents and even my brother a little (love how that worked out!) as well as do all my shopping, doctor appointments, new contacts, packing, and all that fun stuff before I leave from Denver to LA on February 15th and then fly to Brisbane that night. Once  I get there, I will be staying with an Aussie woman named Merle and her cat Chloe about 2 miles from the university. That in itself will be an adventure. :) My program runs until June 25th and then I will likely be flying up to Europe to adventure around there for a bit. 

I am truly excited that I was able to get my program changed. A small part of me is sad that I will not be in Europe while so many of my friends are there, but I do think that the change was for the best and I couldn’t be happier with the situation as it stands now. Plus, if everything works out, I’ll be going to Europe on my way home, anyway!

So, if you’re interested in what I’m up to in the Land Down Under, please follow this blog, Facebook, email, or Skype me. I officially leave on February 15!

PS-If some of you are seeing this again, sorry! I decided i liked Blogger better than Wordpress.