Day 111: So I lied...

I manage to have a couple of productive days Monday and Tuesday which is really fortunate because we have a cocktail in the Ocean Room on Tuesday night for the internship program promo video. They somehow talked me into being on this video to talk a little bit about my experience interning after I initially declined, because we all know I don't do much of anything at my job. But yea, I'm glad they did because I got a night of free drinks on the harbour for doing it. So I catch the bus down to the Quay with fellow Tulanians Joanna and Sim. Joanna spends the entire bus ride telling us greek mythological stories as she has her mythology final on Thursday. They're really weird and provacative and she talks really loud so we attract a lot of weird looks. We get to the Ocean room and meet up with my BMRI friends. I have something like 3 glasses of champagne in the first 30min setting a horrible pace for the night and make a liar out of myself (inevitable right?). My friends and I have a wonderful time chatting and taking in the harbour views. I look dumb on the video, as I really didn't have anything interesting to say for it (imagine that), and the camera adds 10 pounds to my face which is really gross looking. Or maybe Australia added 10 pounds to my face, its debatable.

While I should go home after the cocktail to do something productive and/or sleep, we decide it would be better to go out. Brilliant, right? First we head to the Argyle as I made a big case for it because I've never been and its supposed to be ledge. And it is quite nice. We have another drink and chat for awhile. Then out of nowhere, someone gets another brilliant idea: (I really can't remember whose idea it was, but all signs point to either Joanna or I embarrassingly enough...) its Tuesday, therefore we should go to Scruffy's! Oh, and we should walk. From the Rocks to Scruffy's. That's a long way, but that's alright! We can do it. (Please note I'm making fun of us.)So we start off and have a jolly time walking there. Tony, Joanna, and I notice a bus going by about halfway there and so we run to the bus stop and catch it the rest of the way there, and I'm quite glad we did. The other girls though were true champs and walked it all the way.

So we get to Scruffy's and take over the downstairs creepo basement that is oh so familiar. I'm quite happy to be down there having a nice breakdown session; it has been way to long since I went out dancing. Then I hear the DJ come over the speakers and yell,"What up Tuesday at Scruffys! Make noise for Jo-ANNA's 21st!!" I look toward the booth and sure enough see her back there.. hahaha. (Just to be clear, it is definitely not Joanna's birthday.) Then DJ Benny starts buying us free drinks, lots of free drinks. So we take turns wearing the DJ headphones, yelling things over the speakers, etc. Its really hilarious. We eventually decide it would be in our best interest to go home and go to bed (seeing as we never should have come in the first place). Before we go, DJ Benny asks for my number so he can tell us where he's DJing around. I think that could be cool as we would be VIPs and all that stuff so I give it to him, yea my real number. Then we head home.

The next morning as I'm sitting in my office chair at the computer in the data room at the BMRI, which I seriously struggled to get to 30min late, I get a text message from DJ Benny. I have totally forgotten that I gave him my number and while reading this message all I can do it laugh at myself and my ridiculous life. Ohhh my ridiculous life. I wouldn't trade it.

Day 108: The Hangover

Its another rainy Sunday. Subsequently, I can't be bothered to do anything but sit in my room in a t-shirt stuffing my face with cereal and toast or sleeping. After waking up from a nap that drug on for hours, I just polished off one bowl of cheerios, one bowl of corn flakes/cheerios/cocoa krispies (I miss mix-a-bowls, can you tell?) and 2 pieces of black currant jam toast and 1 piece of cheesy toast. Mmmmmm. I'm about to explode. And I really, really want to go back to bed. I figure the sleeping will pay off and I'll be really sharp when I stay up late tonight doing homework. I have officially hit the home stretch for the semester. This week I hope to complete round one successfully: BMRI presentation, a Buddhist philosophy short essay (750 wd), and my two final projects for social work. I can't even remember what happens in round 2, but my large Buddhism essay is due (2500 wd) and that makes me very, very afraid.

So this weekend we went to Avoca. The house we were staying in was really cool, it was quite large with a nice back patio with beach views and an indoor pool. Upon our arrival I just wanted a pizza from Eagle Boys so Koko and I went to pick that up and stop by the bottle shop. They were having a special on Canadian Club for $30 (yea, liquor prices are RIDICULOUS if I haven't already whined extensively about that...) so I bought that. When I was getting out of the car back at the house, the bottom fell out of the freakin' brown paper bag they put my whiskey in and it FELL TO THE GROUND AND SHATTERED. I can't even tell you how angry I was. Really, I'm not going to try. Imagine watching your only bottle of alcohol for the weekend plummeting towards the cement in slow motion then smashing into a million pieces and the smell of whiskey filling the air as it races around the glass shards down the driveway into the gutter. Yea. So after having a few pieces of pizza and trying to pull myself together I determine the best course of action would be to go buy myself the cheapest bottle of wine I can find as a pitiful substitute for all that whiskey that had now either evaporated or found its home in the gutter. Matthew stopped me on the way out and said that the others were going to stop by the bottler on the way home from buying their dinner and buy me another bottle. Aww how sweet, yea? So they show back up a bit later with a bottle of some stuff called Woodstock. I noticed it at the bottler earlier, it was very cheap relatively speaking, but that was really nice so I am happy.

So flashforward a few partytastic hours later and this Woodstock business has hit me pretty hard. Flashforward to the next morning and I wake up feeling as though I have been hit by a freakin' bus. What is this foreign feeling? Could it be, the mythical hangover? Oh my gosh, I have a hangover; a first for me in Australia. I have a headache, I feel perpetually nauseous, I just want to lie around and not be bothered. So I lie around until its time to go to the beach. Then I go there and sleep in the sand for a couple of hours. Then I go back to the house before everyone else, shower, and sleep for a few hours. And FINALLY around 5pm, I wake up from my latest nap and feel halfway normal again. Curse you cheap nasty poisonous whiskey!! I declare that I'm never drinking again. Crap that was awful. And, for the record, I didn't drink again Saturday night.

That's basically the Avoca trip.

Day 105: The Beginning of the End (wow that's the saddest title ever...)

As of today, 22 October (as the Aussies would write), I only have one month left in Sydney and only one week left of class. I dreamed about going home two nights ago, it was weird. I don't wanna leave!! And I sure as heck don't want to pack this room up...

So, if you recall, I had quite an awesome weekend; and the fun didn't stop on Sunday. It was a lovely spring morning with showers rolling in. Matthew and I drove to Sydney's beautiful landmarky church St. Mary's cathedral that morning for mass. I haven't been to proper mass except for Krissie's confirmation so this was great fun for me. The church is gorgeous and I really enjoyed hearing the choir and loved the incense they were swinging around everywhere. After church, Matthew took me to see Elizabeth Bay at Potts Point. We strolled around enjoying the neighborhood and its nice gardens and shops before stopping in at a German cafe called Maggie's for brunch. I got this massive omelet with hashbrowns and toast. I think I can say breakfast is now officially my favorite meal of the day. Except for fourth meal, ha. Maybe not, I have a very ambivalent relationship with four meal. We went back to Newtown after that and I took a rainy Sunday afternoon nap, which is the best of all naps.

The rest of the week has been pretty standard, there were a few things of note: Monday I upped the weight on my bar for pump class, which was a lovely challenge and my arms actually felt a bit sore the next day. Tuesday I had a really awesome day, it was sunny and gorgeous out. There are these really great trees all over campus that are covered in purple flowers that I love. My connect group was good and I had my very last history tutorial and lecture until the final! Yay. That night I went for a run and ended up getting lost in Stanmore which was a fun adventure and good exercise.

Wednesday was another day at the BMRI doing 9-5 things. I'm really feeling the heat right now because I present on my research this coming Thursday. I spent the entire 8 hours of work crunching numbers on SPSS and sorting out what all of my data meant. I think in the end I came up with some presentable findings. I don't really know though. I didn't leave work until 6 actually and left my data for St. Tony, as I like to call him (who is another intern, but like a really important one that doesn't have to organize filing cabinets and stuff...) to look over and determine whether or not it makes sense. He has been my savior for this whole thing re-teaching me SPSS and dealing with all my annoying questions. While I hate fooling with stats and stressing over all this, some part of me thinks its cool.

I went straight to the gym after work for step class. I caught my reflection in the mirror a couple of times and couldn't help but think about how I am SO my mom when I'm doing aerobics. On the way home, I was passing the Wentworth building when I heard a saxophone. I listened a bit more and sure enough, it was the sweet sound of jazz floating out from the Herman Bar. I couldn't help myself and turned back around to go sit in and have a listen. The bar is really small so I was still noticeable sitting by myself even though I tried to get an inconspicuous table in the back. I was quite enjoying myself when this drunk dude sitting with a bunch of other drunk dudes yells,"Hey pretty lady." Or something to that effect. I cringed. He can't really be talking to me, I just left the gym. I stink. I'm sweaty. Everyone at the bar heard him yell that and looked at me. I tried to hide a little bit, but it didn't work because one of the other dudes yells,"Hey! You're Liam's friend." Oh, great. And then another yells,"Precious? PRECIOUS!" (As in the nickname Liam and the other Aussie boys gave me on our Blue Mountains trip to make fun of me.) I know one of the boys out of 5, and I certainly had no idea who this guy was that was calling me Precious. I was quite embarrassed and also cornered so I joined them over on the couches they were sitting on. After I got over the initial embarrassment of appearing to be that girl that got picked up by a bunch of drunkos, it ended up being pretty amusing. They bought me a drink and there was some promotion going on for a cider brand so I ended up getting a free visor and pair of sunglasses. When I left the bar I promptly gave Liam a call and whinged about his friends embarrassing me. Then I ended up hanging out at his place that night mostly listening to jazz in the loft. He kindly let me do my laundry over there, which saves me $15, and couldn't have happened any sooner. I was definitely out of underwear.

Nothing of note happened today really except Liam and I had breakfast at Hoochie's; two flat whites, a bowl of cinnamon porridge for me (I LOVE their porridge) and a Big Hoochie Breakfast for him. Did I already say how much I love breakfast? Also, I picked up the pictures I had developed from the water camera I brought with me over spring break. They came out very nicely and I'm quite excited. Tomorrow I'm going to the Central Coast with about 12 other people for the weekend. We rented a swanky house up there. Should be a good time, I hope the weather is nice.

Day 101 (woah broke 100!): The Surreal Life

I just got up from a nap and I'm sitting at my desk now having a cup of peppermint tea thinking back over the last few days. I feel like I'm living somebody else's life. Some really cool person that lives in Sydney and hangs out with cool Aussies in all the amazing neighborhoods that are full of so much character. I had such a fabulous weekend, check it out.

Thursday is University of New South Whales' Oktoberfest which is supposedly their party of the year. I have class until 6 but hear there's no chance of getting in if I leave that late, so my friend Maya talks me into leaving at 4. We meet at the uni bus stop, except she's across the street from me when the bus pulls up and is like,"Hurry up! Get over here." Well, the day before I was talking it over with a local friend, Tom, over chicken schnitzel at the Lansdowne Hotel and he said to make sure I catch a bus headed towards Broadway. So I was like,"No, its okay, we have to get the bus going this way." So she's like, oh, and comes over to my side and we continue to wait for a 370 that's headed towards Broadway. One finally shows up and I punch my travel ten (bus card w/10 rides on it) and then ask the bus driver where the stop is for UNSW. He says,"Wrong bus. Catch it on the other side." WHAT?! I already punched my card! Oh, and then I look at it and see that I wasted my LAST trip on the card. Crap, Tom! Naturally I have a fit for a few minutes as we get off the bus and head across the street. Maya has an extra card with a trip left on it and kindly lets me use that. Finally a 370 comes that is heading in the real correct direction and we're on our way. In Newtown Tim, Noah, and Codey happen to catch the same bus we're on, so that's cool.

Its a REALLY long trip out into weirdo Sydney suburbia and we finally get to this place that looks like a large high school complete with one of those scrolling marque sign boards out front. Yep, that's UNSW. We go around the corner to the entrance and there I behold the longest, hugest line I have ever seen in my entire life. It was like 20 yards wide and went back for at least 100 yards, probably more. We are all feeling very intimidated. Maya has housemates that left a little earlier than us, so she gives them a ring. Somehow they have managed to weasel their way up to towards the front of this massive queue and so Maya and I decide it would be in our best interest to join them. Once we squeeze into line, its like a giant mosh pit. I'm squashed into all sorts of people, some of which have intense body odor. I talk a bit with some people that are pinned on my shoulder that go to University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and a girl was like,"Oh, you go to Sydney. That's a really proper school." Or something to that effect. That comment in addition to the marque sign in front of UNSW confirm for me that I'm going to the Yale of Australia. (UTS and UNSW are the two other big schools in Sydney.) After a very intense half hour or so in line we make it in the gate and proceed to drink lots of beer. Oktoberfest at UNSW is comprised of lots of food and beer stands and then several stages with DJs and dance floors; good times. Maya's roommate tells Maya he will buy her a beer if she snaps this guy's suspenders who's standing behind us in line. I decide to up the anti and ask if he'll buy me a beer if I snap the guy's suspenders with my teeth. Of course he will. And so begins me getting free drinks and food for the rest of the night, aw yea.

The security people end up shutting it down at midnight and we have to figure out how to get home since the buses have stopped running. Luckily, they've chartered buses to get people back to Central so we get on one of those. I realize I really don't want to walk or get cab home from Central so I get brilliant and call Liam and ask him to come get me. He's sweet and drops Maya and one of her remaining roommates off at their place and then we go back to his where he's having a get together. I end up hanging out there the rest of the night. Around 4, I get really hungry for some ice cream and get his roommate, Chris, to walk with me to the nearest gas station (he promptly corrected me, its a petrol station). I get a hazelnut vanilla swirl drumstick (my new obsession) and we proceed to make up a quasi-rap about it the entire walk home. I end up crashing on the couch. This ends up being convenient for a few reasons. The first is Liam and I are planning on going kayaking in the harbour today anyway. The second is Liam cooked me a steak for breakfast, "Walt Whitman style." I'm pretty sure he made that up.

After breakfast and stuff we drive to a very swanky neighborhood on the harbour called Rose Bay. After stopping at a petrol station for some juice and lollies we get to the beach where the kayaking guy has his rental stand. The bay is terrifically gorgeous. However, the rental guy is nowhere to be found. We wait around awhile on the beach before giving up and heading to Watson's Bay. There's some national park land there as its at the mouth of the harbour that offers amazing views of the skyline and harbour bridge from across the bay. We scramble around some of the rocks over the bay and walk to some of the harbour-side beaches. One of which is a nude beach where a bunch of old dudes hang out all day. It is the most ridiculous thing; some of them are sunbathing, but most of them are just up walking around, poking rocks with sticks and stuff. Needless to say, we don't stick around there long. We end our walk there at the lighthouse at the mouth of the harbour looking out over the Pacific. The whole thing is so surreal and gorgeous. I'm a little ticked I don't have my camera.

After that we head to the gap which are these giant cliffs over the Pacific. Apparently this is the site of the most suicides in Australia; people hurl themselves over the edge with relative frequency. Subsequently, there is a large fence separating the road and the cliff edge. We jump it and lay down to gaze over the edge. The surf is magnificent and we spend at least half and hour staring at the delightful patterns it makes swirling over the rocks. Then a trip to Harry's Cafe de Wheels in Woolloomooloo is in order to have the best meat pies in Australia. Liam orders a massive hot dog de wheels for himself and a tiger for me. The tiger turns out to be triple decker: a beef pie on the bottom, a layer of mashed green peas in the middle, then mash potatoes and gravy on top. I have no idea how to eat this, but figure it out somehow. Decadent. I have to head back to the village after the pie as I'm meeting Amber at Hoochie's before we go to a party at Koko's. Incase you can't tell, I had a really stinkin' wonderful day.

On Saturday, I wake up, run some errands, and go grocery shopping before meeting up with ArinMichelle (friend from Tulane) to go on our adventure quest for Italian food. We catch a bus to Circular Quay (the harbour hub) and then buy tickets for the ferry to Balmain where one of her friends who studied here a few years ago suggested we go for good Italian. While waiting for the ferry we go shop for a didgeridoo for her little brother and I spot a Royal Caribbean cruise ship docked in the harbour. Upon closer inspection I discover its THE RHAPSODY OF THE SEAS!!! The very first cruise ship I have ever been on! It sailed all the way to Sydney to come see me!! I get Arin to take several pictures of me in front of it. Then the ferry comes and we're sailing past the cruise ship doing their muster (thanks for the correction Scrobert :) station drills, the opera house, and right under the harbour bridge. I want to explode because my life is that incredible.

We get off the ferry in Balmain and after asking several people for directions, we happen upon a very promising Italian place. We have the best time doodling on the white paper table cover and catching up on each others lives. Then my lasagna and her cannelloni come out and they are SO divine. For dessert, Arin insisted I buy a Tim Tam (which I did before we left) so I could do the Tim Tam slam. By the way, Tim Tams are these amazing cookies adored by all Aussies. So I got myself a flat white (coffee) and bit off two cattycorner ends of the Tim Tam which I then used like a straw to suck the coffee up into the biscuit. Then I turned it around and bit off the coffee saturated end before it crumble/melted into my coffee. It was so mindblowing. Don't take my word for it, you must try this. I'm bringing Tim Tams home, you must try this.

Arin and I end up having lots of lovely adventures in Balmain before getting a bus back to Glebe, which is the neighborhood across campus from Newtown, where I live. We have big designs on going out in the Rocks once we get home and change, but it starts to rain while we're on the bus. Our ambition fades and we end up just hanging out at a cafe in Glebe having more dessert (cannoli and apple strudel). Another amazing, mindblowing, Sydney-rific day if I do say so myself. I really have the best life ever.

Day 97: A Taste of Home (kind of..)

Today I wake up, read a little history, and put on my new lilac sundress. That's right, it was sunny out; and warm! I don't think I've mentioned in the last post that the weather has been total crap the past week. Its been rainy and cold, not very spring like. So I'm quite thrilled this morning, as we all know wearing dresses is a hobby of mine. After breakfast, I make my way to my teleconferencing history tutorial and sit through the UNC students once again embarrassing America. What a bother. After class, Liam calls and I see if he wants to have lunch with me. He suggests I come over and we can lay out in the backyard. Well seeing as that is also my hobby, I hop the 428 bus to Addison St which is fun because I still find public transportation to be novel/an adventure.

We have a pleasant lazy afternoon. I do a little reading while he and his housemate try to build a pair of stilts which they manage to break about 5 minutes after building them. Then we get in a big debate over the Federal Reserve Bank because he tries to tell me that its existed since the founding of the country and that the Rockefellers own it. Eventually we end up going to Macca's where he spends his last $14 (til Friday) on a Mighty Angus burger meal for him and a hot fudge sundae for me. Turns out they don't give you a little package of peanuts with your sundae here and I fuss about that for awhile. He ends up giving me his fries to dip in my sundae, which makes me feel better, and we have a picnic until its time for me to go to lecture.

My social work lecture today is all about suicide, which is depressing, but quite an interesting topic. Matthew texts me during class suggesting that we go out to Sydney's only New Orleans style restaurant: the New Orleans Cafe. I was feeling a little homesick earlier in the day while talking to Peyton and think it would be a riot to see how Sydney does New Orleans, so I accept a dinner date at 7:45. Then I head straight from class to the gym for spin. If you will remember back a few entries (at least I think I recorded it..) I was whining about my knee hurting me after spin class. Well I forgot all about that and midway through warm-up my stinkin' knee starts hurting again. Its bearable enough for me to work through so I keep going because its really embarrassing to stop. By the end of the workout however, when I get off the bike, my knee is extremely stiff and hard to bend. Yea, totally fouled that up again. I'll probably have to get it checked out when I go home.

Amber told me earlier in the week that Matthew's been asking her whether or not he should ask me out and stuff. I like Matthew, he's quite kind and I enjoy his company, but I'm not romantically interested and am finding myself a little aggravated that another one of my friends "likes" me. Amber told me she told him that this is def a "just friends" thing, so I feel free and clear enough about going out with him and not being awkward. So anyway, we hit up this New Orleans Cafe in the Crow's Nest across the harbour. Don't worry, I don't have high expectations. I am really excited though for this experience and perhaps a taste of home. There are about 4 traditional nola dishes on the menu mixed in with, surprise, chicken burgers and things. I order jambalaya and he gets a bowl of gumbo and we both order corn bread. The jambalaya is kinda like Zattarain's and his gumbo is the most un-gumbo tasting thing I've ever had; more like chicken soup with some veggies and sausage in it. In fact, I asked the waitress if the cooks used Zattarain's and she looked confused and asked me what a Zattarain was. I think she expected me to say it was a vegetable, but I told her it was a brand and not to worry about it. So apparently the jambalaya wasn't out of a box. It was pretty spicy and the corn bread was pretty good. Anyway, I was amused by the whole thing. We head back to Newtown after dinner and end up at this cake and coffee place on King Street where Matthew insists we try the mortal sin cake. Oh my gosh, I ate like 7 bites of that thing and wanted to keel over. It was delicious, but wow, couldn't quite handle that one.

So, all-in-all it was a good date type thing, Matthew took wonderful care of me. He wants to take me for cocktails in the Centrepoint Tower (the tallest structure in Sydney with a rotating top for 360 degree views of the city!) and then dinner at some other super-fancy revolving skyscraper restaurant sometime in the next few weeks. Yea, count me in!

Day 94: What's German for Secretary?

Friday and basically all the days before it were ridiculous and my life was absolutely consumed by this stupid history paper I had to write. I "finished" it in the law library, printed it at Fisher at 4:45, and sprinted to the office to turn it in by 5. A weird feeling hit me when I dropped it in the box, I wanted to fly and collapse all at the same time. Instead I went home and got a chicken burger and a bottle of wine. I couldn't possibly have wanted more. Then I played hearts with the boys for awhile, I lost really bad, and then I hung out with Amber for a bit before crashing.

On Friday Amber and I go shopping like we had planned all week. We catch the bus down to Paddy's market where they sell lots of touristy stuff. Its almost time to start thinking about souvenirs...She broke her sunglasses right as we left the village so we end up at this sunglasses stall, and then I see them: fake glasses. I have been looking for a good pair of fake glasses since I wore mine so much in high school until I scratched the lenses too bad to see through them. We try on a few and each buy a pair. We spend the rest of the afternoon shopping, running around Chinatown, and eating sushi before heading back to the village to catch a nap before the big night we have planned in the rocks.

At 7 we go to Kuletto's for their buy one get one free cocktail happy hour with Amber's sister, Tim, and Aki. Amber and I get a brilliant idea for a themed outing involving our new glasses. Amber borrows my red dress and I just so happened to buy the most perfect black skirt while out shopping earlier. Pair that with the glasses and bam: Amber is a primary school teacher and I'm a secretary. The group meets up at my apartment and we go catch a bus down to the rocks.

Our first stop is a German restaurant/bar called Lowenbrau; its Oktoberfest! We get inside and I see people walking around with these massive beer mugs, turns out they sell beer in liter mugs! I beeline for the bar, must have one. Its really crowded, but I finally make it up to the bar and ask for a big ol liter of Lowenbrau brew. And the bartender goes,"Sorry, we stop serving those after 11." I look at my watch and its barely 11:05. Grrr. Ok, fine. I'll have the 0.8 liter mug. So he gets me one of those and it isn't even filled all the way up. I kind of politely (ok not really) ask him if he wouldn't mind filling it up all the way. He says no. He obviously doesn't like secretaries. Other people do though and Amber and I get lots of giggles telling people about our professions. We stay there for a quite awhile as its such a good time. Then someone gets this bright idea to leave, boo. Outside this guy comes up to us that I guess we met earlier and asks for either mine or Amber's number in case we go to some bar later and want to meet up or something. Amber goes,"um, I don't really have my number memorized.. um, Kathryn?" Aww come on Amber. She later claims she did this because she knows I'm semi-professional at giving out fake numbers. And I, of course, give him a fake number. Note to self: memorize hers for next time mwahaha.

Whoever the genius was that suggested we leave took us to this other bar that was closed. Brilliant. As we wander back down the street, a few of us notice the sound of salsa music floating forth from some building. It draws us in and we find ourselves in this hoppin' Latin club. Tim gives me a crash course in salsa and we end up having a phenomenal time salsa dancing into the wee hours of the morning. At one point this large old Chilean dude is dancing with Amber and I feel its my friend duty to cut in so Tim can dance with her. Well end up really taking one for the team, he like tries to kiss me. Ew, so not comfortable with this, haha. The song ends shortly and I bolt. We all decide its time to go and oh wonder of wonders, this Latin club is located right above the ever wonderful Pancakes on the Rocks. (The fancy rocks version of IHOP that is also 24hr.) Amber and I split a crepe and fries. Everyone is quite satisfied and we start off to try and find a cab home. We can't decide if we're going to try and fit everyone in a normal cab, which is tricky because its illegal, or find a maxi taxi, which is also a bit tricky. Meanwhile, my feet are killing me so I waddle down the street before finally taking my shoes off. Oh and then I decide it would be a good idea to walk into this convenience store that I see and buy myself a Cornetto. Bloody brilliant Kathryn, you late night eater. Oh well, spring break is over and I eat whatever I want!! Soon we find our maxi taxi and are on the road back to Newtown. Fabulous night.

The next "morning" I get up at noon and Amber and I go over to Matthew's house for the first weekly pancake feast. We have a delicious spread of pancakes with fruit, syrup, ice cream, butter, etc. I end up eating more pancakes than everybody, even the boys. People think its really amusing that I'm such a garbage disposal. I go park my bloated behind on the couch and someone pops in a dvd that we continue to watch the rest of the afternoon until Darren says,"Man, I could go for some pizza." I quickly echo that sentiment and pizza is on its way to the house. I eat half a pizza then roll back to my apartment around 5 with the intention of going to bed. Instead I take a few painstaking hours to update my blog and eat a poptart, THEN I make it bed around 10. And I slept until 9 this morning and then managed to sloth around until 3 using class as an excuse to get dressed and leave my room. It has been a fabulous few days indeed.

Omg 6 weeks left in Sydney! Hit the panic button!

Days 78-87: Chronicles of a Legendary Roadtrip

I sat down to write this and then managed to spill milk on my laptop, camera, and planner all at the same time. Good job. Think I got it covered though. Anyway, I apologize that I haven't updated in so long, a LOT has happened since my last update and I'm not really sure what the best method of covering it all will be. I think in this entry I will try to cover spring break mostly using pictures for two reasons: telling all the stories would take years and what happens in Queensland stays in Queensland, haha. So here goes: The Aussie Spring Break Roadtrip You Wouldn't Believe:

The travelers: Amber (my British bff), Koko (spunky German), Jackie (Minnesotan, sweetest person award winner), Codey (Noah's Aussie gf), Aki (I think he's Japanese?/American, one of my fave ppl all time), Dino (loveable eccentric tall person), Brett (meticulous trip planner), Noah (the voice of sarcasm), Nick (doesn't like to wear shirts), Tim (whimsical yacht accomplice), Michael (the pale Australian), and myself (only southerner.. only American not living in Cali actually).
The vehicles: white Mitsubishi, the Ford Falcon, Corolla
Distance: roughly 2300 mi up Australia's east coast and back

The Falcon and Corolla left around 11am on Friday heading for Noosa and the Mitsi left around 4 as it carried people who had class to go to that day. My car (the Falcon) was very musical as Jackie, Tim, and I all like to sing. I got my first experience driving on the wrong side of the road for a few hours. It was pretty fun, but I hugged the left side of the road really hard and hate roundabouts. I spent the majority of the time we were on the road sleeping, cars just magically have that effect on me. We also ate heaps of Maccas and LOADS of crappy gas station food. I got a Cornetto ice cream cone practically every time we stopped. Diet over! We met up in Noosa at a hostle in the wee hours of the morning and crashed.

The next day we checked into these awesome townhouses we rented for two nights in Noosa, which is a cute little beach town on the Sunshine Coast. While there we went to the beach during the day and then got up to lots of mayhem at night. Also, I think we made about 4 trips to Woolworths in 2 days. (pictured below: the girls ready to go out, Amber grilling out 'roo steaks, and the state of the townhouse every morning)

The next stop on our trip was Fraser Island which is the largest sand island in the world. Its kind of a miracle because these beautiful rainforests grew out of this sand islands and there are magnificent freshwater lakes and heaps of dingoes. The only way to get around the island are on sand tracks that you are only accessible by 4WD vehicles. We rented two six seater Land Cruisers and had a blast off-roading through the island. The beaches are huge and served as the freeways essentially, the speed limit being 80kph and there are people in their 4WDs all up and down it. The first night we camped on the beach and played games like werewolf (a hide and seek variant). I saw my first dingo sneaking around the campsite while everyone was off hiding. We put the food up in the cars that night so we wouldn't attract them, but someone left an esky (aussie for ice chest) out and dingos broke into it while we were sleeping and ate all our lunch meat! (below: pushing the Crusier after it got stuck in the sand, the beach freeway, our campsite dining area)

The second day we drove around the island. We stopped at an old shipwreck on the beach and climbed up to a very nice lookout point. The rest of the day we hung out at Lake McKenzie which is the lake they put on all the postcards because its absolutely gorgeous water.

We camped out in a forest the next night, I popped a bottle of champagne to have with my meatball dinner. I woke up with the sunrise both mornings because I really hate sleeping in tents. The first morning I rewarded with a magnificent sunrise and the second a few of us went for a walk to this creek that has water so clear, its practically invisible. I was particularly thrilled about this creek because I remembered it from an episode of Crocodile Hunter.

After we came back from the magic invisible creek, everyone else was waking up. We packed up our campsite and drove to the ferry and left the island. We spent the next day driving and made it to Airlie Beach that night where we stayed in a hostel. The next morning Amber, Tim, and I split off from the rest of the group as we booked the Anaconda II for a 3 day, 2 night cruise around the Whitsunday Islands which are in the Great Barrier Reef. The Anaconda II is a retired racing maxi-yacht that has circumnavigated the globe, she was a real beaut. She had the capacity to hold 30 people but there were only about 15 on board so we had plenty of room and lot's of deck space to lay out on. The first day we cruised around and did some snorkeling at this sandy island. We were encouraged to wear stinger suits in case we happened to come into contact with jellyfish (it was too late for me at that point, as you will see in a minute). We thought they made us look like Star Trekkies.

The first night we sailed to South Molle Island which is some private island the guy who owns the boat and several other boats put a resort on. We had dinner there and partied at their club before getting back on the boat around midnight. The next morning we got up early and went back to South Molle to climb up to a very beautiful lookout over the islands. Then we hung out at the resort for awhile and went swimming. I bought a Cornetto ice cream again, obviously, and a cheesy South Molle tank top.

Later that day we did some more snorkeling at a reef called the coral gardens. It was the most beautiful reef I've ever seen. We also went to the magnificent Whitehaven beach with its famous swirling sands. That night we watched the sunset on the boat, had dinner, and then made lots of mischief and had guitar singalongs til the wee hours of the morning. It was ledge.

On our last day of the cruise we did lots of jumping off the boat, more snorkeling, fed eagles sausages from the deck, and lots of general boat activities like laying out. The crew was tons of fun, Amber and I had a total crush on the deckhand from New Zealand (the dark one at the wheel in the picture). He would throw bread into the water where I was swimming and these giant batfish would swarm me, its scared the mess outta me; so fun though. The food was delicious and it was quite a relief to be eating something other than PB&J and camp/fast food.

At the end of the day, we sadly had to leave behind our beloved Anaconda II and get back in the cars for the very long drive back to Sydney. We took a more inland route to save time through the middle of nowhere. We didn't have cell phone reception 95% of the trip and rarely saw any other cars out on these roads. The first night we had to drive through kangaroo country and they were everywhere darting out into the roads. Dino was driving the Corolla when one jumped right in front of him and he hit it! Basically it died and cracked our bumper and the rental people are not happy about it. We spent the night in place that seemed like a total ghost town and then drove the whole way back to Sydney the next day getting in around 1am.

It was the most amazing trip ever! The friends I went with were so much fun, the locations were beautiful, and I got to see so much of the country. It was by far the most amazing spring break I've ever had, and I've had some pretty great ones. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I also want to throw in one more that depicts the jellyfish sting I got on my left thigh in Noosa. I didn't feel it happen but had a really nasty reaction I noticed the next day that started as a rash and then started blistering. Pretty painful, but I was pretty proud of my wound and enjoyed grossing everyone out with it.

Yea, that's gonna scar; a little something to remember the trip by. The End!