.....ohhhhhhh the good life.
Sunday, 16 October 2011
BRB STUDYING FOR FINALS!!!
My schoolwork in Australia has been pretty leisurely up until this week, when finals finally snuck around the corner. I have 2 exams and 4 papers to complete in the coming days, so my life will mostly consist of me being cloistered in my bedroom studying. Good thing I get to gaze at these views outside my window to keep my spirits high.....
.....ohhhhhhh the good life.
.....ohhhhhhh the good life.
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
BIRTHDAY DIVA
Saturday night was my 21st birthday, so I decided to celebrate in style at a shady karaoke bar. The last time I sang karaoke was at the ripe age of 7, when encouraged by a dare from my very own mother, my cousin Courtney and I risked public humiliation in exchange for 20 dollars. We sang Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like A Woman,” and I’m pretty certain that we were so shy that our singing was barely audible. Fourteen years later, I re-entered the karaoke world by belting out the very same song, this time assisted by an incredibly helpful 21st birthday buzz. I rocked it. It was an amazing and memorable night.
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| I wore these guitar sunglasses all night while I rocked out |
SORRY IN ADVANCE
My more savvy readers may have noticed an inconsistency in my spring break post. ONE DAY IS MISSING. That’s because on day nine I went bungee jumping. I’ve kept this secret from my parents for two weeks now, but it’s time for the truth to come out. Yesterday was my 21st birthday, and I didn’t ask for anything from my parents because all I want is FORGIVENESS. They begged me not to bungee jump, but being the bad girl that I am, I simply couldn’t resist. Mom and Dad – as you watch this video of me jumping into the abyss and rage begins to boil deep within you, please remember that I am indeed alive and breathing.
SPRING BREAK: BRISBANE TO THE GREAT BARRIER REEF!
G’DAY MATES!!! Today I’m going to update you on my SPRING BREAK TRIP (wahhooooooo!!!!!!) For spring break, many of my closest Aussie friends and I signed up for an organized ten-day trip that took us all the way up the coast of Australia to the Great Barrier Reef. It was one of the best (arguably THE best) weeks of my life, so I thought I’d fill you guys in on many of the exciting things I had the chance to do….
DAY 1: BRISBANE
We flew to Brisbane, which is about 500 miles North of Sydney, and arrived after dark. After checking into our hostel, my friends and I explored the city briefly, but returned to our rooms at a reasonable hour because we needed to get an early start the next morning. We were absolutely THRILLED to discover that our hostel room was oh so conveniently located above a club with an impressive speaker system, so I fell asleep to the loud belting of Beyonce and Lady Gaga.
DAY 2: THE AUSTRALIA ZOO AND RAINBOW BEACH
The fun begins! We boarded our charter bus early in the morning and began driving towards our day’s adventures. It didn’t take me long to realize that this wouldn’t be your average road trip: 67 college kids + 1 bus + 2 rowdy leaders = absolute, glorious chaos. The first thing we did was each sign a giant blow-up kangaroo, which we were responsible for bringing everywhere throughout the trip as if he was a member of the group. We failed miserably at this task -- the kangaroo was popped within the hour (RIP Rooey). To be honest, I wasn’t surprised…growing up with Aaron and Nathan has educated me about the terrible destruction boys are capable of on long road trips. After driving about two hours outside of Brisbane, we arrived at the Australia Zoo. I got to hold the most adorable Koala bear – it literally latched onto my arms as if I was a tree. Afterwards, we watched to zoo’s famous Croc Show (formerly performed by Steve Irwin himself). Though I loved seeing tons of new animals at the zoo, I have to admit that my favorite Australian animal is still the kangaroo. I have a soft spot in my heart for them – they are hysterical and adorable at the same time (look at my pictures…you’ll fall in love!). We wrapped up our day by watching the sunset on Rainbow Beach. We had to go on quite the grueling hike to get to this isolated spot, but let me tell you, it was well worth it. Rainbow beach is absolutely stunning – my pictures don’t do justice to how beautiful and serene this place is.
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| Holding my koala...look how tightly he latched! |
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| Wannabe Steve Irwin |
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| Don't hate me cuz I'm beautiful |
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Rainbow Beach looking east |
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| Rainbow beach looking west |
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| Frolicking in the sunset! DAY 3: FRASER ISLAND Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. In order to access it, we had to take a ferry over and then roam the island via TANK. These tanks were extraordinarily massive (each fit around twenty people) and riding in them felt like some sort of Army simulation. We drove around in our tanks for a couple of hours and stumbled upon a lot of interesting local wildlife, including Dingos (a dingo ate mah babbyyyyyyy! anyone? meryl?) and several poisonous snake species. My crazy driver thought it appropriate behavior to bring a highly poisonous snake onto our bus and wildly brandish it above our heads…that was interesting. After this near death scenario, we drove about two hours into the depths of the island’s rainforest until we reached a beautiful fresh water lake at its center called Lake Mackenzie. After going for a dip in the lake, we threw some shrimps on the barbie and enjoyed a delicious lunch (Australians barbeque all the time and it’s ALWAYS delicious – I don’t know how they collectively do this as a country, but I LOVE it). After our barbie, we drove about an hour to an 80 year old shipwreck. The name ‘Fraser Island’ is actually derived from the story of this shipwreck. The island was known for a long time as Great Sandy Island, but its name was changed to Fraser after stories of a shipwreck survivor named Eliza Fraser became popular legend. After returning from Fraser Island, we embarked on a FOURTEEN HOUR overnight bus ride north towards Airlie Beach. (Read: the most efficient night’s sleep I’ve ever had…seriously!)
DAYS 4-6: AIRLIE BEACH AND THE WHITSUNDAYS Moments after arriving at Airlie Beach, we boarded motorboats and set off for the beautiful Whitsunday Islands. The Whitsundays consist of 74 islands (only 7 or which are inhabited…so cool!) located in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef. They are incredibly isolated and only accessible by boat, so we spent our first day on the motorboats slowly making our way towards our designated island, stopping every so often to snorkel and enjoy the reef. We spent a large portion of our day enjoying the beautiful Whitehaven Beach – stop reading right now and google this place. It’s consistently rated as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and to be honest, it has RUINED ME – no beach will ever begin to compare to it in my mind. The sand here is white silica, which basically means that it has no rough edges (I would compare its texture to confectioner’s sugar). I wanted to fill a jar with sand to take home to my mom (the crazy lady loves sand and all things beachy) but doing so is literally ILLEGAL because the sand is such a precious natural wonder. Why they let 67 crazed college students set foot on this beach is beyond me, but I’m so thankful they did because it was an experience I’ll never forget. Our guides were forced to literally manhandle me when it was time to leave Whitehaven – I latched myself onto a palm tree and began to cry (you think I’m kidding but I’m notttttt). I had nothing to complain about, though, because our next stop was the beautiful South Molle Island, which we were scheduled to spend the next three days on. Once again, I was shocked that our rowdy group was allowed to step foot on the premises. This time I did my homework to find out why and discovered that South Molle is, in fact, the only island that our tour agency isn’t banned from. (Apparently we were banned from one particular resort because an “adventurous” aka inebriated boy jumped into a shark tank and took a casual swim…he emerged from the experience unscathed, but hopefully a bit humbled.) We were the only souls on South Molle (SCORE), so both nights we threw outrageous themed parties. The first night was jungle themed and the second night was plastic bag themed. I considered sparing you the hilariously inappropriate photos that surfaced from these two nights, but I just can’t resist sharing them. You may think I’m crazy after looking at them, but that’s all right because I am (just ask my parents, who think that I’m a certifiable lunatic). Also, on a side note, South Molle looked really familiar to me when I first got a glimpse of it from my boat. It took me a while to realize why, but I eventually remembered seeing it in a cool Coke commercial. Check out this link to see a commercial filmed on MY ISLAND, hellz yes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqvFF3N0zic
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