No kangaroos in Kangaroo Valley.

3/26/08 2:42pm

Hard to believe I know.

Finally a bit of down time to write about my weekend. On Saturday night I went downtown near Bondi to sleep at Melissa’s parent’s friend’s house so that we could leave for Kangaroo Valley on Sunday. We took it easy and took off around noon, it’s not a long drive, but it was gorgeous. We took the scenic route on a road literally on the coast, sometimes even over the water. There were huge cliffs with lush flora and hang and para gliders over the ocean.

We found a cute motel in Gerrongong which is about 30 minutes north of Kangaroo Valley. A little exploring around town and a fresh sea food dinner, then bed. We got up on Monday and had a delicious breakfast and then headed down to Kangaroo Valley to figure out how to spend the day. It turns out that the Kovners have friends in the valley who own a kayak shop, so we all got kayaks and went the 3 miles down the Kangaroo River. Unfortunately we didn’t see any kangaroos or even a wombat but it was still fun. We went back to their friend’s house for dinner and relaxation and ended up spending the night since the drive back to our hotel was an hour and half. The next morning we drove back to the hotel and then went up to Kiama, a town about 15 minutes away. We had lunch and looked around town and saw the blowholes (a blowhole is a small crevice in a rock where the ocean comes spraying up...hence the name). We were all exhausted by this point so we drove home and I was back in my room by 8.

I took tons of beautiful pictures but they can’t begin to show how gorgeous it was there. The link is the same one as below, the 3^rd album.

Today I have another class and then I’m heading downtown to see my second cousin, Patrik, and friends. They’ve been living in Thailand for the last few months so they all came down to Sydney for a few days. I think we’ll get dinner and then I’ll come back to North Ryde because it’s Wednesday so that means it’s Epping Bar night (which has replaced The Ranch night because we don’t like it).

Tomorrow I finally have a day off to get some work done and sleep a bit, then going to an Easter fair with the Kovners. Then it’s time for the winery/brewery tours on Friday and off to the Blue Mountains for some hiking and caving from Saturday morning to Sunday night.

 Busy busy!

Busy bee.

3/21/08 11:47pm

Phew! I have had a busy week and still I have no time coming up for relaxation. Last you all heard, I got back from the surf trip on Sunday night. I have a very long day of classes on Monday, but it was Saint Patrick’s Day, so of course we had to go out downtown. We put on some green and went to a few Irish pubs, but were still so sore and tired from surfing that we came home before one.

Melissa’s parents came into town on earlier this week too, so after classes on Tuesday I had dinner with them at their apartment, which was very nice. They’re pretty much my second family (Vicki, I know you’re reading this...) Then after classes on Wednesday I went downtown again to a small dinner party that they were hosting.

I actually slept at their apartment that night since I stayed a little late (and the last bus home from downtown on week nights is at 12:10, it’s unfortunate).

Thursday I walked around campus and explored since I hadn’t yet and then we had a pub crawl! There’s this club on campus that sets up events for international students so we got tickets to a pub crawl downtown and a winery next Friday (more about that another time). There were about 40 kids and we just explored all these bars with the club leaders showing us around. It was disorganized but fun.

Today (Friday) We slept in a bit and then headed downtown (I’ve been downtown everyday this week) to The Rocks to pancakes. Pancakes on The Rocks is this famous place that makes other things, but mostly delicious pancakes. Melissa and her sister Kelsey joined us, among other friends. Then we made the long walk further downtown to the Sydney Football Stadium for a rugby game! It was the Sydney Roosters and the Brisbane Broncos, an exciting game. We bought t-shirts and finally learned how to play rugby. It’s so much more interesting than American football, so fun!

We got home a little while ago, and I am exhausted. We were out and about for twelve hours.

Tomorrow is a relaxing homework/errand/movie day. Not sure what’s up for tomorrow night, but I think Sunday morning I’m going to go down to Kangaroo Valley with Melissa and family, I’m so excited!

I posted some more pictures in the 2nd album, the link is below in the surf post.

And here is a new link for my 3^rd album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2289914&l=b1e83&id=824622

I'm a Pro Surfer.

 Home from the Surf Trip! And man, am I sore. We just got a 3 day workout.

On Friday morning 14 kids from my program and I got up at 6am and met across the street to take the 6 hour bus ride up the coast to Crescent Head (about half way from Sydney to Byron Bay). It didn’t seem so long since we all slept or talked, and we took quite a few breaks for food and bathroom. A surfboard fell on my head on the way there and I have a nice scratch on my cheek from the fin (not the best way to start a surf weekend). We got to the surf camp around 2 and quickly ran to our rooms. Six girls in my room, boys in another and a few more girls in a third. Bathrooms outside and around the corner, screened in porch for meals. No cell service and one computer for internet. We all needed a weekend away, and it was great to really be out in the wilderness. We were about 10 minutes by car from the nearest grocery store, but we only made stops there on the way back from the beach. As soon as we had set out stuff down and gotten on swimsuits, we headed out again. We had a few surf instructors, our main one was Plenko, and awesome (although very inappropriate man) who just liked to drink beer and surf. There was also a younger guy, Kyle, and a gromit (apprentice) named Jai. We all piled into a van with boards for everyone and drove to a nearby lake, Tea Tree Lake. The water was brown and warm because it was filled with tea tree oil, needless to say, we all had nice skin for the weekend. Everyone proceeded to stretch and learn the rules of surfing. Next think I know, we’re in the lake practicing paddling on the board and learning to how pop up (stand up on the board). Once we all could stand up and be pushed along, we paddled across the lake and to the beach. A big and deserted beach with large scary waves. No one was ready for this (except for the boys who could already surf). “In ya go mates”, Plenko said, pushing us all into the water.

We did our best, but...most of us ate it. Actually all of us ate it. Over and over again. Knees and faces ground into the sand (my knees are bright red and purple right now), lungs full of salt water. My board hit me in the mouth once, it really gets tossed around in the waves. After a few hours we had had enough. We collapsed on the beach and couldn’t move. Surfing is hard. Unfortunately we still had to paddle back across the lake and to van.

We got back to camp and everyone ran for the showers. Dinner was burritos and everyone chowed down. We had all intended to drink beers around the campfire all night, but by 10:30 we were all in bed. It was a long day.

Up at 8am on Saturday, banana pancakes for breakfast and into the van for a full day at the beach. About a half an hour drive to Point Plomer, a campsite with a huge beach and some shady spots with trees. We unloaded and hit the water. The waves were much smaller and regular this time (Plenko said he purposely gave us big waves the first day to prepare us for what was ahead. Really though, he just liked to watch us go down). Pretty much everyone got up at least a few times, I did about 4 or 5, but no one could really ride a whole wave in. We took breaks for lunch and laying the sun, then back our or more surfing. A professional photographer came to take pictures of all of us surfing, a few of us, myself included, bought a CD from her of about 200 pictures. See the link below!

The waves got a bit bigger in the afternoon and we all gave it a go, but right after I got out there, my leg was suddenly on fire. I turned to Kyle, an instructor, and said “Hey Kyle, I think I got stung.” (Jellyfish stings are pretty common). “Stop being a fucking princess and ride this fucking wave”. Oh...ok. So I did, and then went in and ran fresh water on it. Gone ten minutes later, not so bad really.

We headed home later that evening, showered and had such a perfect dinner waiting for us. Steaks, sausages, mashed potatoes, homemade gravy and salad. We all washed it down with beer and then sat around the camp fire all night. Some of the staff at the camp jammed on guitars and bongos and we made make-shift smores (No graham crackers or normal marshmallows here). In bed by midnight, up by 7 the next morning.

A few more hours of surfing at a different beach Sunday morning, but most of us were too tired and sore to go out for the whole time. Drove in to town in the early afternoon and made a stop for the best meat pies ever. Meat pies are really big here, all bakeries have them, and if you get a good one, there’s nothing better. Today I had beef, bacon and cheese; cover it with a little tomato sauce (ketchup) and yum!

Back to camp, shower, pack and hit the road. We were all back to the Parklands by 8:30 where I unpacked my stuff and am now writing this. I will upload some pictures into an album before I go to bed, but I will be asleep before midnight. I am so sore and so tired, but it was such a good weekend. Class tomorrow and some plans for the week, Easter is coming!

Hope everyone is well, hope to here from you!

Link to new album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2287887&l=2e857&id=824622

Calm and warm on a Sunday.

It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon here. All my friend went to the beach but my throat still hurt and I had tons of lectures to watch since I didn’t go to class last week, so I stayed in and took care of that.

I’ve actually been pretty busy since the last post even if I have been feeling under the weather. Thursday my friend Lindsey and I ran errands all over campus and the mall.

Friday, Lindsey, Jen and Cydney (my housemate) and I all went to Manly beach for the day. It was slightly chilly and overcast so we got lunch and poked around in all the little beach stores. Got pad thai at our favorite thai place in Manly (Chad Thai) and came home. Everyone was going to go out at night and I was going to stay in and continue healing, but then it started to pour (when it rains here, it really rains) so we all just stayed in and watched a movie. Saturday, the four of us went downtown and spent the day shopping and checking out Chinatown. We got lunch at one of the many Chinese restaurants and then hit Paddy’s Market. Paddy's Market is a huge market with tons of little stalls where you can buy hats and bags and clothes and jewelry and boomarangs and everything else in the world. We all needed some things (beach bags etc) so we shopped around. Melissa joined us too. The other part of Paddy's Market is a fresh fruit and vegetable market that is just crazy. Of course all the vendors have the same exact products so you can wander around a keep finding cheaper prices. And when I say cheap, I mean cheap. We all bought tons of stuff (fresh lychees!) and headed home. Melissa came back with us and we cooked dinner until it was time to head back downtown to go out. We usually travel in groups with everyone in the Parklands (our buildings) so there’s always about 25 of us or so. People hate us when we get on the bus because we take over and are very loud (hence why people here hate Americans).

Everyone spent the night out together dancing and having fun (I took it easy, no worries) and came back late. Lindsey and I made grilled cheese, we always get really hungry at night. Slept in really late (I’ve been getting up at 9 everyday because I can’t sleep) and listened to lectures all day. Now I have some more reading and homework to do for class tomorrow.

Tomorrow we’re going to sign up for a Hunter Valley vineyard tour. It’s $55 for transportation to the valley, lunch, wine tasting and the trip back to campus. A pretty good deal. Next weekend is my program’s surf trip! We leave Friday morning in a bus and drive up the coast for 7 hours. We have surf instructors waiting for us there to teach us how to surf for 3 days. I think we camp out or stay in beach shacks and just enjoy the last days of summer. Last week was the first day of autumn here, although it’s still been about 70 everyday. In fall it can go down to 50 or so though.

Still fighting this infection, hoping my throat feels better soon. Send me messages or leave a comment, I get homesick over here!

Pictures!

Ok, Mardi Gras pictures are up.

I know there aren't many of the parade, but we only saw an hour of it...tops.

Same link as down below. 

New album coming next.

I'm alive!

Wow, sorry for the long break in between posts. I got very, very sick. Sicker than I’ve ever been, the doctors thought I had mono or tonsillitis, so I’ve basically been in bed since Saturday. Luckily my doctor just called 5 minutes ago, and it turns out I just have a very bad bacterial infection. I’m feeling better already, hoping to be 100% by Friday.

Of course, all this didn’t stop me from going to Mardi Gras. My pics will all be up soon, but here’s the run down. Everyone got dressed up (neon, makeup etc) and we all headed down to Oxford Street in downtown Sydney (that’s where the parade is). It didn’t start until 8pm, we got there around 2, so we all just walked around, got some lunch, checked out the Mardi Gras scene, and eventually found an awesome gay/lesbian bar/club. Of course it was all decked out for Mardi Gras, so our whole group, about 20 kids or so, just hit the dance floor. Everyone loved the crazy Americans (for once) and we had a great time until the parade started. We bought some crates to stand on so we could see and watched the parade for about an hour. After that our feet got tired so we went back to the club. I met up with Melissa and we all hung out for a bit more, but we had been on our feet since 1 in the afternoon, plus I was feeling sick, so a couple friends and I headed home. It was quite an experience, something I’ll never forget.

Then unfortunately, I got very, very sick and have basically been down and out since Sunday morning. Have a doctor’s note for missing class, so I may just take it easy today. Get some groceries and relax. I guess I won’t be going out to the Ranch tonight (the local club that’s the place to be on Wed. nights). Now that I’m getting healthy, I’ll update soon and let you know when all the pictures are up (assuming wireless on campus works for me).

Talk to you all soon!