Well today was pretty uneventful for one thing...
I FOUND A BABY OCTOPUS. Now, that sounds cool and all but it is pretty rare to find an octopus at all! (and to think I saw three while doing my intro dives to get certified). It was so cool. I looked down at some rocks in the water and saw a cool shell and decided to pick it up. There was some pull to it and it didnt want to leave the rock so I figured it still was alive. So I pulled harder and sure enough it came loose, expecting to find a snail. But sure enough I found a broken shell, sand, and this little pale pink/white looking mass. Sure enough on harder examination it had extremely small tentacles. I was in shock it was an octopus. I got it out of the shell (he wasn't really "in" it anyway) and let him crawl around on my hand and fingers. He was smaller than the top portion of my index finger. It was so cool to old such a small creature, and an octopus at that. I bathed him in seawater to make sure nothing happened to him. Eventually he was sitting with his beak on my finger and actually began to bite me haha. It was an odd feeling, a very faint pinching (considering his beak was probably 1/10 of a millimeter). Time came to let him go so I put him back in the shell I found him in and back into the water her went where I picked it up. It was so awesome. I am pissed I didn't take my camera.
26 March 2012
23 March 2012
Spring Break
This is Matt Schmalzel's interpretation of how I would describe my spring break: "Beer, beer,beer,beer, tits, dancing, THE GREAT BARRIER REEF WAS FUCKING AWESOME, beer, beer, tits, beer"
In all actuality, that is pretty accurate. Spring break was a lot of fun. I will start with where I left off from Sydney...
So we stayed the night at the Maccas and blah blah blah it was boring. We eventually got to the plane and boarded and I will be the first to tell you...Jetstar is many times more uncomfortable than Air New Zealand. That is beside the point. I didn't sleep at all (nor the night before in Maccas) and actually talked to the woman next to me. She was under the impression that America is a very dangerous place and that chances are you will eventually get shot because everyone has a gun, because that's what the movies show. I was a little shocked she believed the movies, but she is also afraid of flying and made it worse by watching airplane investigations of crashes that have happened. All in all I enjoyed talking to her. Made my trip interesting. So we get to Cairns and it is very rainy and that isn't fun at all.
OH before I forget, while in Maccas and going to Gilligane (our AWESOME hostel) we met this German kid. He was pretty cool and ended up hanging out with us the entire trip and became pretty good friends with. So ended up hanging out with him while we waited to check into our hostel....we arrived at 8am and we can't check in until 2pm. It was greaaaat. I was exhausted but we found things to do. Eventually we settled down in a skydiving place and watched jackass for about 3 hours I would say and they were cool with it. Checked in, took a nap, talked, hung out, got dinner and then we went down to the club for a beer.
Low and behold to our surprise it was JELLO WRESTLING NIGHT. We were stoked but didn't plan on staying for it. Before the store continues: My plan was to be back in the room at 10-1030pm and have one beer, what really happened: I went to bed at 1am and had 6-7 beers. How? You ask? Could my plans go so astray? Let me tell you. We get down there and everyone is having fun talking and the club is a lot more fun than we thought, loud, good music and eventually two woman come over and ask the girls with us if they want to participate in the jello wrestling. And you better believe we were making sure the girls we were with did it. After about 20 minutes of persuasion two of them (I won't give names) finally signed up!! We were so excited, bought beer, and prepared for an exciting night! We waited, drank and waited a bit more for it to start and eventually the spectacle of night was upon us! we made sure we were right in front to cheer them on. There were I think 6 girls total in the match. One from Sweden, Britain, another from America and then our girls. We cheered loudly for our two Americans. Unfortunately one of the girls lost her first round but the other girl MADE IT TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP. You better believe we were excited as hell. She actually ended up winning the entire thing! It was a great night. In the end they had everyone in the jello looking for a bar of soap to win a prize, here is the catch, they said the girls could do it topless if they wanted, thank you girl from the UK, mind you this was my birthday (real one) and so that means it was the 2nd time celebrating.
After a great night we pack up and head to out to make 11 dives on the Great Barrier Reef for 3 days and 2 nights. We were picked up at 745am and we made it out to our transport boat where we did two dives. I was pretty nervous, just didn't know what to expect, I have never dove without an instructor with me so my buddy and I were totally free to do whatever we like. We actually use wetsuits that only go down to just above the knees, so I expected the water will be very warm, and warm it was. The first two dives were great, didn't see anything spectacular, other than the insane amount of colourful fish, the corals, just the experience was absolutely awesome. I will give a quick description of what happened over the 3 days. Things I saw - TONS of fish, colourful, weird, all sorts of stuff. Nemo, a barracuda, 3 turtles (pet one), cleaner shirmp (gave me a manicure), very small crustaceans (on night dive), porcupine fish, unicornfish, cowfish, triggerfish, sea cucumber. I don't think I will see anything more beautiful. Can't believe it is over now but it was absolutely spectacular. The night dives were a lot of fun and sorta creepy. If you turned out the lights and it was pitch black (the feeling of pitch black underwater is like nothing else) and wave your hand in the water then bioluminescent plankton show up, so a very cool but brief light show. One more little story, during our 2nd night dive I cut my ankle on some coral and was bleeding, and sure enough a white tipped reef shark came a little closer than usual to check me out, I like to say that I was almost shark food, that is pretty exciting. I can elaborate more but ask in person, don't want to make this post too long.
Eventually our dives on the Great Barrier Reef were over :( it was a very sad day. It was go go go the entire time so we were always doing something, or though it seemed. It was sad leaving the reef, we all got a lot better at diving after it was all done, definitely addicted. We are back on land, I am getting land sickness for SURE and you know what that means? Time to go to the club and get drunk and we sure as hell did. For a third time we celebrated my birthday. At one point in the night I had a beer in one hand and three full ones lined up to be drank, not to mention the many others that were bought for me that night and a rum and coke. It was a good as night. The club was a lot of fun, good ass music, lots of dancing and everyone was pretty friendly. Meta kid that was on the boat diving with us and hung out with him for a bit and was all around a great time.
Saturday was AWESOME. Eight of us decided to rent a vehicle and travel into the country a bit and see the waterfalls. After a very delayed start we finally got on the road in the most bad ass SUV I have been in. It was some Toyota, a big Toyota, a fucking diesel Toyota and it was so much freaking fun to drive. Yep, I drove on the opposite side of the road and it was SWEEEEET. The water falls were amazing. The second one we swan around behind it and swam underneath it. Its incredible to be behind a waterfall and looking up, and swimming under one. Oh but the water was probably the coldest water I have ever swam in but I certainly don't regret it.
Saturday was St. Pattys day so you know we went out and drank once again. Australia has taught me to LOVE beer, I don't think I will drink hard liquor very often when I get back to the states, and totally okay with that. Saturday night was just like any other. Great music, dancing, meeting people and making friends. I am going to miss Cairns, Gilligans, and the Great Barrier Reef. It was definitely a spring break that will be unmatched. I had the time of my life, with some of the best people I have ever met.
In all actuality, that is pretty accurate. Spring break was a lot of fun. I will start with where I left off from Sydney...
So we stayed the night at the Maccas and blah blah blah it was boring. We eventually got to the plane and boarded and I will be the first to tell you...Jetstar is many times more uncomfortable than Air New Zealand. That is beside the point. I didn't sleep at all (nor the night before in Maccas) and actually talked to the woman next to me. She was under the impression that America is a very dangerous place and that chances are you will eventually get shot because everyone has a gun, because that's what the movies show. I was a little shocked she believed the movies, but she is also afraid of flying and made it worse by watching airplane investigations of crashes that have happened. All in all I enjoyed talking to her. Made my trip interesting. So we get to Cairns and it is very rainy and that isn't fun at all.
OH before I forget, while in Maccas and going to Gilligane (our AWESOME hostel) we met this German kid. He was pretty cool and ended up hanging out with us the entire trip and became pretty good friends with. So ended up hanging out with him while we waited to check into our hostel....we arrived at 8am and we can't check in until 2pm. It was greaaaat. I was exhausted but we found things to do. Eventually we settled down in a skydiving place and watched jackass for about 3 hours I would say and they were cool with it. Checked in, took a nap, talked, hung out, got dinner and then we went down to the club for a beer.
Low and behold to our surprise it was JELLO WRESTLING NIGHT. We were stoked but didn't plan on staying for it. Before the store continues: My plan was to be back in the room at 10-1030pm and have one beer, what really happened: I went to bed at 1am and had 6-7 beers. How? You ask? Could my plans go so astray? Let me tell you. We get down there and everyone is having fun talking and the club is a lot more fun than we thought, loud, good music and eventually two woman come over and ask the girls with us if they want to participate in the jello wrestling. And you better believe we were making sure the girls we were with did it. After about 20 minutes of persuasion two of them (I won't give names) finally signed up!! We were so excited, bought beer, and prepared for an exciting night! We waited, drank and waited a bit more for it to start and eventually the spectacle of night was upon us! we made sure we were right in front to cheer them on. There were I think 6 girls total in the match. One from Sweden, Britain, another from America and then our girls. We cheered loudly for our two Americans. Unfortunately one of the girls lost her first round but the other girl MADE IT TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP. You better believe we were excited as hell. She actually ended up winning the entire thing! It was a great night. In the end they had everyone in the jello looking for a bar of soap to win a prize, here is the catch, they said the girls could do it topless if they wanted, thank you girl from the UK, mind you this was my birthday (real one) and so that means it was the 2nd time celebrating.
After a great night we pack up and head to out to make 11 dives on the Great Barrier Reef for 3 days and 2 nights. We were picked up at 745am and we made it out to our transport boat where we did two dives. I was pretty nervous, just didn't know what to expect, I have never dove without an instructor with me so my buddy and I were totally free to do whatever we like. We actually use wetsuits that only go down to just above the knees, so I expected the water will be very warm, and warm it was. The first two dives were great, didn't see anything spectacular, other than the insane amount of colourful fish, the corals, just the experience was absolutely awesome. I will give a quick description of what happened over the 3 days. Things I saw - TONS of fish, colourful, weird, all sorts of stuff. Nemo, a barracuda, 3 turtles (pet one), cleaner shirmp (gave me a manicure), very small crustaceans (on night dive), porcupine fish, unicornfish, cowfish, triggerfish, sea cucumber. I don't think I will see anything more beautiful. Can't believe it is over now but it was absolutely spectacular. The night dives were a lot of fun and sorta creepy. If you turned out the lights and it was pitch black (the feeling of pitch black underwater is like nothing else) and wave your hand in the water then bioluminescent plankton show up, so a very cool but brief light show. One more little story, during our 2nd night dive I cut my ankle on some coral and was bleeding, and sure enough a white tipped reef shark came a little closer than usual to check me out, I like to say that I was almost shark food, that is pretty exciting. I can elaborate more but ask in person, don't want to make this post too long.
Eventually our dives on the Great Barrier Reef were over :( it was a very sad day. It was go go go the entire time so we were always doing something, or though it seemed. It was sad leaving the reef, we all got a lot better at diving after it was all done, definitely addicted. We are back on land, I am getting land sickness for SURE and you know what that means? Time to go to the club and get drunk and we sure as hell did. For a third time we celebrated my birthday. At one point in the night I had a beer in one hand and three full ones lined up to be drank, not to mention the many others that were bought for me that night and a rum and coke. It was a good as night. The club was a lot of fun, good ass music, lots of dancing and everyone was pretty friendly. Meta kid that was on the boat diving with us and hung out with him for a bit and was all around a great time.
Saturday was AWESOME. Eight of us decided to rent a vehicle and travel into the country a bit and see the waterfalls. After a very delayed start we finally got on the road in the most bad ass SUV I have been in. It was some Toyota, a big Toyota, a fucking diesel Toyota and it was so much freaking fun to drive. Yep, I drove on the opposite side of the road and it was SWEEEEET. The water falls were amazing. The second one we swan around behind it and swam underneath it. Its incredible to be behind a waterfall and looking up, and swimming under one. Oh but the water was probably the coldest water I have ever swam in but I certainly don't regret it.
Saturday was St. Pattys day so you know we went out and drank once again. Australia has taught me to LOVE beer, I don't think I will drink hard liquor very often when I get back to the states, and totally okay with that. Saturday night was just like any other. Great music, dancing, meeting people and making friends. I am going to miss Cairns, Gilligans, and the Great Barrier Reef. It was definitely a spring break that will be unmatched. I had the time of my life, with some of the best people I have ever met.
20 March 2012
Sydney
Holy shit I am in love. This city is INCREDIBLE. I certainly didn't want to leave and I can't believe I was there. Definitely a "is this real life?..." moment. Anyway....Now for what went on and all that we did.
Also, I apologize beforehand with how long this is going to be...
To start. We left at about 915pm Thursday night and it was an overnight bus to Sydney. I didn't think how miserable this was really going to be. I was so uncomfortable the entire time and half of the time I didn't even know if I was asleep or crazy or pissed or what. It was almost like limbo. It was a bizarre experience that is for sure. I have never hated a carride more than this one. By about 545am we made a stop and I got a little to eat and then after that I somehow fell asleep for a good chunk of time. I was probably just so exhausted, I could have been hung upside down and still fallen asleep. Maybe around......730-815am the bus driver tells us to wake up. And what do you know....we are in North Sydney, huge gleaming buildings all around us. It was a great feeling to wake up to Sydney. We soon made out way closer to the harbor and then we saw it. THE HARBOUR BRIDGE. It was right in front of us. Oh it was awesome to see, this structure of granite and steel, the pride of Sydney. We pull around closer and what happens to be the very first thing we are doing? Oh I don't know....walking across the Harbour Bridge. Oh there was nothing more exciting. No one was tired, everyone was happy excited and it was exhilarating. We saw the opera house from the bridge and we just couldn't believe it. Seeing that for the first time was just unreal. I miss it still. We make our way across taking pictures every few hundred meters of the opera house. We depart from the bridge at The Rocks, Sydney's historic area. Which is kept up beautifully and it was a very cool atmosphere.we were given about 3 hours to hang out and explore the immediate area and were to meet at Wharf 4 at Circular Quay (pronounced key) to head off to the zoo. So a couple of us decided to check out the botanical gardens and just take a nice walk. They keep their city very nice and clean and we wandered through there, fed some cockatoos. We made our way to the quay and got a little something to head and headed off on a ferry to the zoo on the harbour, Torango Zoo. The zoo was a lot of fun. Harland, Ryan and I tried to hit up just about every exhibit and also saw a little presentation on spiders. It was a very well kept zoo and was fun to see.
We headed on over to the Lands Edge Hostel over in Mosman (a good drive from downtown) and settled in...well not really. We had to hurry to freshen up and get ready for the opera IN the Sydney Opera House. We made our way back to Sydney where the bus driver dropped the group for the opera off and took the others to god knows where, I'm not concerned, they lived (actually over to Darling Harbour). The opera was interesting to say the least. Thankfully there were subtitles but only while they sang so it was tough when they were acting to figure out what they were saying. I overall did enjoy the opera and finally figured out EXACTLY what happened by the end. The end of the first act was hilarious. I can't begin to explain it, but there was a guy humping a dead deer....to say the least. I am happy to say that I saw an opera in the opera house.
Some people got left behind that night (that was a fiasco all in its own) but I thankfully made it back to the hostel where I fell asleep in probably less than two minutes and pretty damn sure that I did not move at all. On schedule for Saturday were to visit the Blue Mountains, Bondi Beach and the night tour of Sydney. The Blue Mountains were awesome to see. We arrived and saw the Three sisters to the left (cool Aboriginal story behind that) and more mountains all around. We took a rail car (at a 53degree angle) down to the bottom and hiked around for a bit then up back to the top on a cable car. It was nice to see all of that stuff. On our way back I slept and we went to Bondi Beach first thing back. The iconic beach and most famous in Australia if not in the world. It was kinda cool and windy so quite honestly, wasn't that great. Still fun to see though. Then we headed back to the hostel to once again, freshen up as fast as possible and headed into town. We got dinner at Harry's Cafe de Wheels. It was a very famous food stand. I got the meat pie and peas and it was pretty good! Weird cause the peas were mashed though, but hey, Colonel Sanders liked it, so I can too. The coach then took us on a night tour (our hostel host was also with us, PJ, she is hilarious and a lot of fun). Learned a good chunk about the city. Played "Spot the tranny" in Kings Cross, went down Oxford Street, George Street (the main thorough-fare). The city was beautiful at night. A lot of people decided stay and go out in Sydney but a few of us went back to the hostel. But turns out instead of the hostel, we went to the pub (go figure) and we had a great time drinking with PJ and playing thirteen, "to that guy!!!" We were actually so loud that the bar got the cops called on them because of us. So just before closing they ushered us out pretty quickly. Walked down a path to the hostel with nothing but the moonlight, everyone slightly drunk, dressed up. It was hilarious and so much fun. Instead of sleeping, we drank next door outside the coffeeshop (took Pat's wine and everyone pitched in to donate money so he could buy more). It was a great night. Me, Tom, Zack and Bri laughed hysterically after we got inside and had so much fun.
Sunday we said our goodbyes to PJ. I think she was a little sad to see us leave, she had so much fun with all of us. We went over to Manly beach which was beautiful (a common theme in Australia is seems) and headed on a ferry to the quay, got lunch and then WENT TO A RUGBY GAME!!! I went with Lee, Harlan and Nick. We barely knew what was going on so it wasn't that great but it was so cool to go and see one. Unfortunately the Sydney Roosters lost 18-0 to the Pilreth Panthers. After that we went to Central Station and then over to Chinatown and god lunch/dinner. It was interesting. Had to use chopsticks and basically ate leftover chicken parts. The three of them headed to Darling Harbour to get stuff from the bus while I went to the new hostel we were staying at for the night and I walked around a little bit. It was so nice to be alone and only with my thoughts in this beautiful city. I really enjoyed that. Eventually checked in got settled in and prepared to go out for mine, Jami's and Mary's bday!!!
So...Sunday night was interesting to say the least. I didn't drink all that much BUT we went to a strip club. Yes...strippers on Sunday. And Tom bought me a private lap dance, but I won't go into details considering this blog is pretty public. Also I got a sorta personal show from a stripper on the poll, thanks to Putt and Audrey for giving me the ten to give to the stripper. So my night was just fantastic if i do say so myself. After we left there was uneventful. Went to another pub and was pretty much empty since it was Sunday night and we finally went back to the hostel around maybe 230am? Passed out and had to check out at 10am. Did that and just explored the city. Most of us went over the the University of Sydney, which was so cool, I want to go there so freaking bad. Definitely looking into grad school here in Australia. From there we walked down George St., over the Harbour Bridge and checked out Luna park for about five minutes then headed back over the bridge and into The Rocks and stopped to get a beer at the oldest pub in Sydney, where I had my first Guinness (I think that is a good combination, don't you?). Then made our way to the hostel to regroup and then it was off the airport!
So it is true, the airport does close (for domestic flights). So our plan to sleep in the airport was foiled by the (thankfully polite) security officer who directed us over to Maccas. So I spent the first hours of my bday in Maccas (McDonalds) and I would like to give a thank you to Megan Carter for buying me an ice cream cone. Best I ever had. We hungout/slept there till about 345am and headed back to the airport and met this German kid that will be on spring break with us! He was fun to get to know him and learn about his travels up until then. We finally made it to the airport. Sydney was now only a memory (and a damn good one at that). It treated me so well and I loved every minute of it. But now, it's time for spring break Aussie style. Nothing will top it!
Also, I apologize beforehand with how long this is going to be...
To start. We left at about 915pm Thursday night and it was an overnight bus to Sydney. I didn't think how miserable this was really going to be. I was so uncomfortable the entire time and half of the time I didn't even know if I was asleep or crazy or pissed or what. It was almost like limbo. It was a bizarre experience that is for sure. I have never hated a carride more than this one. By about 545am we made a stop and I got a little to eat and then after that I somehow fell asleep for a good chunk of time. I was probably just so exhausted, I could have been hung upside down and still fallen asleep. Maybe around......730-815am the bus driver tells us to wake up. And what do you know....we are in North Sydney, huge gleaming buildings all around us. It was a great feeling to wake up to Sydney. We soon made out way closer to the harbor and then we saw it. THE HARBOUR BRIDGE. It was right in front of us. Oh it was awesome to see, this structure of granite and steel, the pride of Sydney. We pull around closer and what happens to be the very first thing we are doing? Oh I don't know....walking across the Harbour Bridge. Oh there was nothing more exciting. No one was tired, everyone was happy excited and it was exhilarating. We saw the opera house from the bridge and we just couldn't believe it. Seeing that for the first time was just unreal. I miss it still. We make our way across taking pictures every few hundred meters of the opera house. We depart from the bridge at The Rocks, Sydney's historic area. Which is kept up beautifully and it was a very cool atmosphere.we were given about 3 hours to hang out and explore the immediate area and were to meet at Wharf 4 at Circular Quay (pronounced key) to head off to the zoo. So a couple of us decided to check out the botanical gardens and just take a nice walk. They keep their city very nice and clean and we wandered through there, fed some cockatoos. We made our way to the quay and got a little something to head and headed off on a ferry to the zoo on the harbour, Torango Zoo. The zoo was a lot of fun. Harland, Ryan and I tried to hit up just about every exhibit and also saw a little presentation on spiders. It was a very well kept zoo and was fun to see.
We headed on over to the Lands Edge Hostel over in Mosman (a good drive from downtown) and settled in...well not really. We had to hurry to freshen up and get ready for the opera IN the Sydney Opera House. We made our way back to Sydney where the bus driver dropped the group for the opera off and took the others to god knows where, I'm not concerned, they lived (actually over to Darling Harbour). The opera was interesting to say the least. Thankfully there were subtitles but only while they sang so it was tough when they were acting to figure out what they were saying. I overall did enjoy the opera and finally figured out EXACTLY what happened by the end. The end of the first act was hilarious. I can't begin to explain it, but there was a guy humping a dead deer....to say the least. I am happy to say that I saw an opera in the opera house.
Some people got left behind that night (that was a fiasco all in its own) but I thankfully made it back to the hostel where I fell asleep in probably less than two minutes and pretty damn sure that I did not move at all. On schedule for Saturday were to visit the Blue Mountains, Bondi Beach and the night tour of Sydney. The Blue Mountains were awesome to see. We arrived and saw the Three sisters to the left (cool Aboriginal story behind that) and more mountains all around. We took a rail car (at a 53degree angle) down to the bottom and hiked around for a bit then up back to the top on a cable car. It was nice to see all of that stuff. On our way back I slept and we went to Bondi Beach first thing back. The iconic beach and most famous in Australia if not in the world. It was kinda cool and windy so quite honestly, wasn't that great. Still fun to see though. Then we headed back to the hostel to once again, freshen up as fast as possible and headed into town. We got dinner at Harry's Cafe de Wheels. It was a very famous food stand. I got the meat pie and peas and it was pretty good! Weird cause the peas were mashed though, but hey, Colonel Sanders liked it, so I can too. The coach then took us on a night tour (our hostel host was also with us, PJ, she is hilarious and a lot of fun). Learned a good chunk about the city. Played "Spot the tranny" in Kings Cross, went down Oxford Street, George Street (the main thorough-fare). The city was beautiful at night. A lot of people decided stay and go out in Sydney but a few of us went back to the hostel. But turns out instead of the hostel, we went to the pub (go figure) and we had a great time drinking with PJ and playing thirteen, "to that guy!!!" We were actually so loud that the bar got the cops called on them because of us. So just before closing they ushered us out pretty quickly. Walked down a path to the hostel with nothing but the moonlight, everyone slightly drunk, dressed up. It was hilarious and so much fun. Instead of sleeping, we drank next door outside the coffeeshop (took Pat's wine and everyone pitched in to donate money so he could buy more). It was a great night. Me, Tom, Zack and Bri laughed hysterically after we got inside and had so much fun.
Sunday we said our goodbyes to PJ. I think she was a little sad to see us leave, she had so much fun with all of us. We went over to Manly beach which was beautiful (a common theme in Australia is seems) and headed on a ferry to the quay, got lunch and then WENT TO A RUGBY GAME!!! I went with Lee, Harlan and Nick. We barely knew what was going on so it wasn't that great but it was so cool to go and see one. Unfortunately the Sydney Roosters lost 18-0 to the Pilreth Panthers. After that we went to Central Station and then over to Chinatown and god lunch/dinner. It was interesting. Had to use chopsticks and basically ate leftover chicken parts. The three of them headed to Darling Harbour to get stuff from the bus while I went to the new hostel we were staying at for the night and I walked around a little bit. It was so nice to be alone and only with my thoughts in this beautiful city. I really enjoyed that. Eventually checked in got settled in and prepared to go out for mine, Jami's and Mary's bday!!!
So...Sunday night was interesting to say the least. I didn't drink all that much BUT we went to a strip club. Yes...strippers on Sunday. And Tom bought me a private lap dance, but I won't go into details considering this blog is pretty public. Also I got a sorta personal show from a stripper on the poll, thanks to Putt and Audrey for giving me the ten to give to the stripper. So my night was just fantastic if i do say so myself. After we left there was uneventful. Went to another pub and was pretty much empty since it was Sunday night and we finally went back to the hostel around maybe 230am? Passed out and had to check out at 10am. Did that and just explored the city. Most of us went over the the University of Sydney, which was so cool, I want to go there so freaking bad. Definitely looking into grad school here in Australia. From there we walked down George St., over the Harbour Bridge and checked out Luna park for about five minutes then headed back over the bridge and into The Rocks and stopped to get a beer at the oldest pub in Sydney, where I had my first Guinness (I think that is a good combination, don't you?). Then made our way to the hostel to regroup and then it was off the airport!
So it is true, the airport does close (for domestic flights). So our plan to sleep in the airport was foiled by the (thankfully polite) security officer who directed us over to Maccas. So I spent the first hours of my bday in Maccas (McDonalds) and I would like to give a thank you to Megan Carter for buying me an ice cream cone. Best I ever had. We hungout/slept there till about 345am and headed back to the airport and met this German kid that will be on spring break with us! He was fun to get to know him and learn about his travels up until then. We finally made it to the airport. Sydney was now only a memory (and a damn good one at that). It treated me so well and I loved every minute of it. But now, it's time for spring break Aussie style. Nothing will top it!
Tenterfield Trip
Well shit, I have been slacking haven't I. Well this is going to be a quick little update because I have bigger and better things to talk about.
On the 5th of March we took a field trip inland to the foothills of the Great Dividing Range. We went to Tenterfield and Inverll and learned about a little history of Australia. To begin the trip we went to he largest granite monolith in the southern hemisphere....which implies a bigger one in the northern, guess Australia just wanted some claim to fame. So we climbed to the top of that and it was a spectacular view. Provided a 360 degree panorama of the area and got some great shots from there. We had perfect weather for the hike up as well and it really only took about 45 minutes. On the way to Bald Rock we stopped at the "best horseman of NSW's" hideout (he was a thief and bandit) and that was really awesome to see and a bit of history. We also saw tank traps they placed during WWII just in case the Japs invaded. These tank traps were just posts of wood in the ground, not sure what this would have done....oh well.
After we stopped at a local winery. It was cool to see my first winery and learn the process. They let us try all of their wine and I must say, that was a fun ride home with everyone tipsy. The wine they made was pretty good and I really did taste differences in the wine between each one. Since this is a wine that will never be found outside a couple cities and NEVER in a store, I bought a bottle for my mom. Super stoked about that.
For the next day we went to Inverell and stopped at Billabong Blue Sapphire to go fossicking for sapphires!! It was freaking sweet they had this little setup that they let people come and do this (for free too I believe). I found some really good sapphires and other precious stones. After that we headed to the pioneer village in Inverell and learned about some more history.
That night the Ball State put on a talent show for whoever wanted to see (ended up being other Ball Staters, our professor and coach driver). It was absolutely hysterical. We had an improv group and they did some great performances. From prom, to cpr, to modelling as a tiger and dress shopping. It was a great time. Bri burped her ABC's, Maddie did a real Irish dance and Lee sang the Oscar Meier Weiner song but in-between each syllable she added...something, I wish I could remember. it was hysterical and everyone enjoyed every minute of it. The next day we just had a tour of Tenterfield and learned about the federation of Australia and some more history. Was the best field trip we had taken so far.
Now onto more important things like SYDNEY AND SPRING BREAK!!...scroll up for all of that!!
On the 5th of March we took a field trip inland to the foothills of the Great Dividing Range. We went to Tenterfield and Inverll and learned about a little history of Australia. To begin the trip we went to he largest granite monolith in the southern hemisphere....which implies a bigger one in the northern, guess Australia just wanted some claim to fame. So we climbed to the top of that and it was a spectacular view. Provided a 360 degree panorama of the area and got some great shots from there. We had perfect weather for the hike up as well and it really only took about 45 minutes. On the way to Bald Rock we stopped at the "best horseman of NSW's" hideout (he was a thief and bandit) and that was really awesome to see and a bit of history. We also saw tank traps they placed during WWII just in case the Japs invaded. These tank traps were just posts of wood in the ground, not sure what this would have done....oh well.
After we stopped at a local winery. It was cool to see my first winery and learn the process. They let us try all of their wine and I must say, that was a fun ride home with everyone tipsy. The wine they made was pretty good and I really did taste differences in the wine between each one. Since this is a wine that will never be found outside a couple cities and NEVER in a store, I bought a bottle for my mom. Super stoked about that.
For the next day we went to Inverell and stopped at Billabong Blue Sapphire to go fossicking for sapphires!! It was freaking sweet they had this little setup that they let people come and do this (for free too I believe). I found some really good sapphires and other precious stones. After that we headed to the pioneer village in Inverell and learned about some more history.
That night the Ball State put on a talent show for whoever wanted to see (ended up being other Ball Staters, our professor and coach driver). It was absolutely hysterical. We had an improv group and they did some great performances. From prom, to cpr, to modelling as a tiger and dress shopping. It was a great time. Bri burped her ABC's, Maddie did a real Irish dance and Lee sang the Oscar Meier Weiner song but in-between each syllable she added...something, I wish I could remember. it was hysterical and everyone enjoyed every minute of it. The next day we just had a tour of Tenterfield and learned about the federation of Australia and some more history. Was the best field trip we had taken so far.
Now onto more important things like SYDNEY AND SPRING BREAK!!...scroll up for all of that!!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)