I can’t do well when I think you’re gonna leave me, but I know I try

My blog titles have all been song lyrics for anyone who thinks I might be turning emo... This is a line from a song called 'we are the people' by an amazing aussie group called Empire of the Sun. Actually Fran and Alice have gone to a music festival for the day and might be seeing Empire of the Sun live right now. Jealous!
Big congrats to Heather and Patricia (Patrick to some) on their engagement!! So happy for you two, and I'm so excited to be a bridesmaid!
Last night we ended up staying in and sleeping early. It was glorious. Until I woke up wide awake at 6am. Yuck. I went for a little run along the river and it reminded me of running on the Ottawa River, so lovely! The wind was so strong I didn't even feel hot. Fran brought us breakfast from the caf, it was really good, PB and J, classic. It still blows my mind that Brits don't eat PB&J, but I've got Rocko eating it now. I will slowly convert them all...
I got to eat a full on English Breakfast for lunch, weird bacon, sausages, fried egg, canned tomato and onions (???), beans in tomato sauce... It was mostly good! Then Rocko and I went to King's Park and walked to the top of a mountain where the Botanical Gardens were.














It was so bloody hot, like 35 degrees. It's this weird dry heat where you sweat but it evaporates so fast that you can't tell and you dehydrate really fast. I think I had like 4 bottles of water and still got a headache. Layed down in the grass and woke up 2 hours later, guess I was a bit tired! Then I had a flat white at a cafe on the mountain. So good. We walked around the War Memorial and eternal flame and then walked along the boardwalk. It was nice, but we were getting tired. We walked for 2 hours to get to the IGA and got groceries, read: junk food. Haha.
We got back to the residence and I finally read the email my mom sent me about some exam I have to take. Turns out its the JKAT, which is kind of a big deal so I'm going to try and apply for a deferral, because I don't have the manual with me. Also, internet connections can be sketch so I don't want to get stuck and fail because the internet fails. I hope its not too late for a deferral, I have to just hope for the best I guess, and I need to give them written notice!
Anyway, for dinner Rocko and I bought lettuce, carrots, tomatoes and tuna. However, we realized the kitchenettes had no cutlery, plates, can openers, etc. So we had to scoop tuna from the can into lettuce leaves and eat them as wraps while spilling the water from the tuna all over the balcony. We ate our tomatoes and carrots whole, but thats pretty standard for us these days.




































Now I'm going to be lame and watch a movie. Why am I so tired?
Love!

This is the world we live in and these are the hands we're given

Our last morning in Canberra Neil took us to Goodberries. Oh my gosh, its amazing! I got mint chocolate, loved it! Then we waited at teh bus station for Oz Experience to get us, they were pretty late. It was Feb 24th when Rocko and I bussed with Adventure Tours (same company as Oz Ex)to Thredbo. We actually had a great driver, Squatter, he was so knowledgable, told us so much about history. There was also a trainee, who had been our driver with Oz Experience twice before. He was annoying for our first ride, but he grew on me and was the driver who drove in circles around Brissie to find me... so he's lovely! Anyway, we had a great night in Thredbo, we played this ridiculous ski relay where you dress up in full snow gear, take a shot and then ski down a bridge and back and take another shot. the shots were just peach snapps, so it wasn't strong or anything. the owners of the ski resort also owned the peach snapps factory. Our group, the Vikings, ended up winning our first round and went to the finals where a girl on the other team fell and cut her leg...pansy. so they forfitted, and we won free jagger bombs! we spent the evening in the jacuzzi chilling out and then played a hilarious clapping game in the resort bar. Dinner was filthy, spaghetti bolognaise but without spaghetti, there was mashed potato instead. yuck.
Next morning we woke up way to early, like 545am and had pancakes for breakfast with fake maple syrup, was also pretty gross. so much for a 4 star resort! haha. We drove to Thredbo and took the chairlift up to the top, then walked 6km uphill to the top of Mount Kusziosko. Got to stand on teh highest point of australia!! It was such a great walk, its funny because Brits call it walking not hiking. But it really was a hike. We were all so sweaty. Got to see a lot of the damage done by the 2002 bush fires. Quite sad really, but apparently teh fires are good for the ecosystem because it wipes out the vegetation that is not natural to Aussie but were brought by the European settlers. Then the native shrubs can regrow and flourish before the other stuff comes back. Sadly the fires kill koalas because they are get tired after running like 300metres and just stop and die. The eucalyptus trees are able to regrow buds from their bark which cover the trunks and branches with green vegetation to get nutrients until proper leaves grow in. Quite cool!
We spent the rest of teh day driving to Lake's entrance where we had dinner at DJs, filthy food again. fish and chips and salad. bought some goon as well, which we took down to the 90 mile beach and watched the sunset. Stayed overnight at a YHA hostel, 12 girls and 1 toilet. ridiculous. I couldnt sleep so I learned how to use Facebook on my phone. FUn fun. We bought the good with some girls from Denmark but we weren't interested in drinking much so we sold it to the people who wanted to get drunk. bargain! haha.
Next morning we had to get up at 515am and the meal was instant coffee, cereal and toast. We stopped at Ando's bakery, voted best bakery in Oz. Got a pizza bun for lunch, amazing. we walked up hamburger rock in wilson's promontory (national park) and got photos, then walked to the southernmost point of australia. then we walked to squeaky beach and ate our lunch, I got some bodysurfing in as well. Then we drove to melbourne. Sad to say good bye to everyone, our tour group was great, really easy to get along with people and our guides were fantastic as well. Only downside was the gross food! On the way into melbourne, Shrek saw his brother biking past, who he hadn't seen in months! so we stopped to say hi. When some ppl got dropped off at Base Hostel I recognized a guy from our Byron Bay hostel so I stopped to chat and shrek shut the door and started to drive off! he was just taking the piss though, he knew I wasn't getting off the bus.
Rocko and I got dropped by the Southern Train Station and got our bus tickets to teh airport, 13$ each way. Then we went for iced mochas at Gloria Jean's, but the place was being closed down like a 1/2 hour after we sat down. So we left and went to Cole's where a creepy old security guard man chatted to me for ages about why I don't have a boyfriend whilst Rocko bought food. When i went to get food and she watched our bags some creepy other told her his life story and tried to hug her. some serious weirdos in melbourne!!
We sat in the train station for a while then just went to the airport around 930pm to sleep before our flight at 630am. We slept until midnight when we got kicked out of the terminal... slept on the ground until 430am and we checked in at Tiger. We both managed to wear enough clothing to get our bags under 15kg, I had to wear lulus, a dress, runners, a sweater.... I was pretty hot. Flight was fine, I slept for all 4 hours pretty much. Fran and Alice picked us up at the airport at 8am, new time zone, wooo. They smuggled us toast and coffee from the cafeteria and then we headed to the beach. The beach was great, met some canadian's who were going to watch the Canada vs Slovakia hockey game, but I was having to omuch fun at the becah to leave. there were helicopters checking the ocean for sharks so I felt safe...hahah! I am staying in Fran's room, there is an extra foldout bed for me and everything, I love it! Rocko is in Alice's room and the room's are attached by a balcony. wicked.
Some of the latest idiot stories:
Guy fed a dingo on Fraser island by hand and lost all 5 fingers. Tried to sue Queensland government but it git thrown out of court! everyone knows you can't feed wild dogs!!
another girl in cape tribulation tried to hug a huge bird 3 times and the last time it cut her up so she was holding her intestines, she survived. but was a bit of a tool, i'd say!
Ooh I learned that Koalas start out drinking their mom's milk, then eat mom's turd and pee and then graduate to eucalyptus leaves. if they tried to eat the leaves straight away they would be poisined and sick. Wild. Also tehre are like 750 eucalypts and koalas can only eat the kind they grow up on. They will starve to death if you move them to another tree. Crazy.
Kangaroo moms can be breastfeeding 2 different aged joey's (each boob will have different milk) and be preggo! So tahts why there are problem numbers of roo. Also, Emu apparently travel solo but we saw a huge pack of them at the old army training base in Wilson's Prom just after our guide told us that, he was so chuffed to see a pack! We also saw about 50 kangaroo, and our guide chased them so that they were directly in front of us. So cool!!

So Rocko and I are in Perth until we leave for our tour March 3rd, should be fun! Its weird to be living in a uni residence again, but its free and great so far!
Love!

It's these expressions I never give that keep me searching for a heart of gold

Canberra is almost coming to an end for me, and I'm not going to lie, its going to be sad to leave to Westgarth's!
Yesterday I got up early and had my new favourite cereal, Crunchy Nut, its unreal. Neil drove Rocko and I down to Bateman's Bay. It was such a gorgeous drive and we stopped for Ice Cream in a cute little town. We ate our sack lunches by the beach and then I went body surfing whilst Rocko chilled out on the beach. Drove back to the city and went to a BBQ at adventure park. Coolest park ever, there was a zip line (flying fox to Aussie's), crazy high climbing things, massive swings, bouldering walls, and so much more. apparently Rob and Tracy used to play there, awww how sweet. It was a birthday BBQ for some of the Westgarth's close family friends. delish food for sure. Neil showed us how to spot the Southern Cross in the sky and so now I can find that and Orion's belt (spelling?), very cool! Got to speak with both Heather and Rosa on the phone last night. was lovely but i think i used up all of my cell phone minutes, oh well! that is what a phone is for!
This morning we got up early to go for a bike ride around the Burley Griffin Lake. When we got there the bike rental shop was closed. Apparently they close every Tuesday. what are the odds of that? so annoying! so we just walked around the lake and went by the Uni and the Australian Museum. Also walked by some building that smelled suspiciously like sewage and seemed to be going into the lake? weird/gross.
later we met up with Wendy for lunch and then did a bit of shopping at the mall. We also went on a hunt for Ugg boots, but the factory only had one pair of boots in Rocko and my size so neither of us wanted to get them. We went to the Factory Direct Outlets too, but I just couldnt bring myself to buy anything thinking of how much i already hate packing and I probably couldnt fit any more into my bag anyway! we also went up the Blacktown Tower that gave an awesome view of Canberra. Cost 7.50$ to go up though! Not cheap, but worth it I'd say.
I cooked Barramundi for dinner tonight, it was so nice. and asperagus too. We had baked pumpkin (butternut squash to Canadians) and potatoes too. Oh and a salad with avocado and feta. For dessert we made Anzac cookies, they are amazing.
-Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Celsius
-melt 1 tbsp golden syrup and 1/2 cup butter in a saucepan, add 2 tbsp boiling water and 1 tsp baking soda
-combine 1 cup flour, 1 cup oats, 1 cup coconut in a bowl and add contents of saucepan
-drop cookies onto cookie sheet and bake for 7-12 minutes
These cookies originated in the 1st World War when rationing was necessary and these ingredients were relatively cheap. Also, the cookies could be sent overseas and still tasted good after 3 months of travel. Gave the soldiers a little taste of home. Sweet, isn't it?
So now I'm doing laundry and watching Grey's Anatomy. I am loving life. Maybe some Olympics later tonight?
I got some wild as news yesterday and am still processing it! But all I can say is I'm really happy for my friend but also a bit sad. Hopefully will be able to share the news sometime soon.
Also got some sad news from a close friend, which makes me really upset that I'm not home to be with them. However, I made my decision to travel and I hope people can understand that.
Tracy found out today that there is a really awesome deal with her airline for backpackers, you pay 500$ for unlimited flights for a month or a couple of months or something. Would be such a good deal, I paid almost 400$ for just a return flight to Perth. Next time I am in Oz will definitely keep that in mind!
I think thats it for now. Love!

Lets compare scars I'll tell you whose is worse

I have had such a lovely day yesterday. Started out really sad. Tracy woke us up at 6am and we had to say goodbye to Nico and Rhondo. After hanging out with them for 6 weeks it was actually super depressing. But I will see them again in New Zealand, so its alright.
Next we had a quick brekky and drove to Goulbourn to meet up with Neil and Wendy. We had delish coffees at McD's, I love the flat white its by far my favorite type of coffee. we went to the police academy for the morning and then said our goodbyes to Tracy and Eugen :(. Will definitely have to catch up again some day!
Drove to Canberra with the Westgarths, such a nice drive, really gorgeous scenery. We rocked up to Neil and Wendy's place and it is just lovely! really spacious and Rocko and my room is so great! apparently its Rob's old room. awwww. we even have our own air con again, we are so spoilt. Internet as well. We went for a grocery shop and got heaps of food. fruit and veg and tim tams, such a treat!
Got to speak with Rob and Bex on skype, was so nice to see them! Then Neil and I went to church, was a great sermon on the importance of the Old Testament. Which I have read, but don't tend to dip into that often with the exception of Psalms and Proverbs, so I will have to get on that. Unfortunately the Bible I got from YWAM is just the new testament. anyway, it was just nice to be in church again.
Got home to Rocko cooking chicken and making salad. Got to chat to Kirk on skype for a bit and then had an awesome dinner followed by watching a bit of House and having tim tam slams. I am so behind in House, didnt get the storyline at all. As I was going to bed my parents came online and I got to skype with them too! So I did heaps of skyping yesterday.
Today the plan is to bike around the lake and then go for a run and so some calisthenics. we'll see how it goes!
Just realized this is a bit of a boring post, but I will try and do something dangerous and stupid to mix it up for you today. Just kidding Mom!
Miss you, love you

I hope this old train breaks down...

I think I love Sydney!
So last post i wrote about how i was so excited to go on the blue mountains tour. I was supposed to get up at 530am to catch the train and be in town by 720. unfortunately i slept through my alarm and woke up at 630am. I even slept through eugene knocking on my door! so i was really upset that i was going to miss my tour that i had already paid for. i decided to try and get to central station anyway, but there was no chance. i called the tour company from the train and they said i could take a train to blue mountains and meet them there. so i hopped off the train at the first stop i could and got on a train to blacktown. i didnt have time to pay for a ticket so i told myself i would just buy it when i got to the mountains. but at blacktown there was a ticket thing that you had to put your ticket into to get out. so i told the train man that i lost my ticket and he let me out. i immediately bought a ticket for the next train and was good to go. 2 and a half hrs later i got to glenbrook and met up with the bus. i was so so so lucky!
Blue mountains was absolutely amazing. loved every second! we went on a 3 hr trek through the mountains and saw some phenomenal views! then we went for lunch at a sweet lookout with no tourists and ate beef pies and salad. then we went off to the 3 sisters where there were a million tourists. lastly we went to a bottle-o and rocko and i got strongbow cider and champagne glasses, everyone else got beers, and we went to a secluded lookout and drank beer. it was amazing.
when we got back to town i went straight to Sukmun's place in the northern beaches area. such a nice area! The kids were so adorable, 3 kids under 3. It was great to be around a christian family and they made me feel so welcome and comfortable. that night we watched the olympics and they made me an amazing home cooked meal. The next morning we went to manly beach, it was unreal, so gorgeous. I played in the ocean with Aneliese for a bit and Sukmun bought me and amazing flat white coffee from a cute cafe in freshie. We also went to shelly beach for a bit. When they left I jus walked around manly beach and fell asleep in the sun for a while. Did some shopping and found a great bakery with cheap treats. I am a bit obsessed with food! My sternum was really bugging me so I told Sukmun and she adjusted me, which was awesome! then another home cooked meal and a night of watching men's halfpipe, unreal. Shaun white is my hero, and torah brightman is a legend. so cool. Shaun White just has no competition. Love him, and his red flowing hair. hahaha. possibly ugliest man ever, but he has talent for sure. The next day i actually went for a run, no knee pain or shin splints, i guess the stress fractures have healed. i ran intervals and did loads of hill running. i feel so much better. in the afternoon i went to see a chiro friend of sukmun's who took xrays and adjusted me. turns out a rib was out of place and it caused major swelling and pain for me. he was a gonestadt chiro, not too sure what that means but he was very different from my dad's style of chiro. anyway i feel heaps better now and hopefully will find a nice chiro in perth as well to keep me in line. haha, that was a bit of a pun there.
that evening i went back to wake-up. Oh booked my flights to perth and changed my flight to new zealand and back home. I now am set to go to perth feb 27th, then doing the west coast tour for 2 weeks, then back to melbourne, then on to NZ, and will be home Dec 13th.... wild!
Last night all the Oz experience friends reunited and had a great room party, there were like 15 of us, and then we took the train to king's cross and went to a bar called the sugar mill. 10$ cover. ugh. it wasn't even that fun. so we left and went to mcdonald's. rhondo and nico and i got a 20 piece chicken nugget meal to share. then ice creams. we missed the last train and had to walk 25 minutes back to the hostel. then side bar was still open so we went there for a bit.
this morning i woke up at 9am (a solid sleep in for me!!) and had a big brekky. took the train to mcarthur, but due to train repairs we had to get off at liverpool and take a bus to mcarthur. 3 hrs later we arrived in macarthur. exhausted of course.
now we are at tracy and eugene's and its awesome. rhondo and nico couldnt find a hostel so they are here with rocko and i. we are making sausages and greek salad for dinner, followed by chocolate chip cookes, chips and popcorn....oy. gonna have to sort myself out after tonight....
Now I should get back downstairs and help with the cooking.
Love you heapsies!

For a smile they can share the night

Dear 10 followers...
Today was such a good day, I got up way too early after only 5 hours of sleep. But I still felt really refreshed. Having my own room is amazing. And I have an air conditioner and a double bed all to myself!! whats better than that? I had the crunchy nut cereal for brekky. It is so good. Tracy took me to the mall and I got a sim card for Eugen's old phone. Its an LG touch phone. so cool! Its so nice to have a phone. Hopefully now I won't get myself into as many silly situations. But knowing myself I likely still will. Hah.
Tracy helped me get sorted and I took the train/bus to Bondi Beach where I met up with Rocko, Crystal and Vicky. There was a skateboard demo going on which looked pretty sweet. Apparently there is a show called Bondi Rescue filmed at the beach, I didn't see any cameras though, and it was too cold to pretend to drown. maybe next time.
my photo uploader is working! woah! this is so amazing, it hasnt been working for ages, I can finally post more than 5 photos at a time, thank you God!!! This means some of my photos will be posted twice, but I don't mind.
After Bondi I wanted to walk to Coogie beach but I just felt so tired I took the bus back to Tracy and Eugen's and decided to check how much I had spent on my phone in 7 hrs....5$! Yikes. I text way too much. anyway, I also realized the phone place didnt add my 29$ credit. So thats when I found out you need to keep the receipt with the voucher #. And I remembered chucking teh receipt in the garbage. so thats 30$ down the drain...ugh.
Also found out it costs 160$ to change my flight to Auckland. My travel agent said it would only be 100$, didnt mention the airline fee. Can I really justify spending 320$ on changing flights? I think I can... for the west coast!
Anyway as I was looking through my stuff today I found the voucher in a grocery bag! I am so pleased! Again God is good! even though I am a tool... haha
Eugen made a really nice dinner of spaghetti bol for dinner and wouldn't even let me do the dishes! Such a treat.
Tomorrow I have to get up at 530am to take a train to central station and I am going on a Blue Mountains tour, should be wicked. Then staying at Sukmun's for 2 nights and then back to Tracy's Friday night I think. I love being away from the city, its so chilled out! Sydney stresses me out a bit after all the beach towns.
I really have to get on changing my flights, booking flights to Perth and booking my tour of the west coast! Its time for me to spend all my money! Unfortunately I don't even have a credit card... Mom? Love you!!

My backbone is paper thin

So I am slightly retarded I think.
Went to bed super early last night. Had dinner at like 930 pm after stopping to watch a band play on a streetcorner for over an hour. the kids were amazing, really clean. wicked covers of all my favorite songs!
I woke up around 330am this morning because i coughed and it hurt so bad i thought I was going to die. stayed up for 2 hours trying to breathe normally. i think my sternum is fractured. i have never felt pain like this before. I guess after jumping from ridiculous trees and then surfing can make things worse... i will try to see a doc soon i think.
Thanks for the Valentine's day card Dad, very nice!
I woke up way too early this morning and had an awesome brekky of eggs, toast and 1/2 a cantelope. I ate with this girl who was starting her orientation for school today. very exciting!
I got heaps of free food from a guy who was heading to the west coast and couldnt bring anything, score! left it at the hostel though.
I spent the day on a wicked wakling tour put on by Wake Up hostel. It took 5 and a half hours, we saw everythign though! Botanical; gardens, opera house, sydney bridge, darling harbour, china town, Hyde Park, Kings Cross, etc etc etc. was cool. Our guide, Luke, was really lovely and invited Rocko and I to see some live music with him later this week. should be cool. met some nice girls too and we are going to Bondi beach with them tomorrow. Afetr the tour we went to Side Bar for free beer and apps. sooo good, i love the wedge fries with sour cream and sweet chili sauce!
Then I took the train to Macarthur to see Tracy and Eugene! Unfortunately upon arrival I realized I didn't copy down her number! So I walked around looking for an internet cafe. an hour and a half later I found a really nice guy with a cell phone who let me look up on facebook Tracy's number and then call her. He waited with me until she got there and we agreed to try and meet up later this week. we'll see though. its going to be a super busy couple of days!
Now I am at Tracy's and its so nice to be in a real house, I love it!
Happy Bday Rachel, its already your day here! Wish I could spend it with you!

Never Take Friendship Personal

Oy what a long day! But I will start from the start. So yesterday we got to surf camp around noon-ish. The bus was good fun our driver, Sonic, was such a cool guy! Our surf lesson was at 1pm so i had a second to chill out. The head coach gave us a bit of a lesson and then we went out into the waves. So much easier this time! I loved it! Joe made a bet with me that he would be better. We bet on a pack of Tim Tams. I got up the first time without an instructor, and then got up pretty much everytime after that. So I won! It was such good fun, me and 2 other guys left the group and paddled way out to catch some sweet as waves. It was amazing! Eventually the head coach came out to where we were because the rest of the group was too tired to continue. He said he had been head coach since he was 16, and he competes and stuff. pretty cool. He sat on my board though and I was a bit annoyed because I just wanted to surf, not chat... but he meant well i suppose.
The girls and another couple from our bus just slept for the rest of the afternoon on the beach it was glorious. Dinner was amazing. salad buffet, apple crisp, chocolate cake, curry chicken, mixed veggies, pappadums, I could go on for ages. I even had a glass of milk with my dessert. such a treat! after dinner we looked at our photos taken whilst surfing and they were cool but not worth 10$ a photo! After dinner we attempted a game of touch football but it didnt work out well, no one knew how to play. so the DJ started up and we sat by the campfire. we were lame and went to bed but apparently the place turned into a bit of a nightclub with a dance floor and all that. It took us ages to fall asleep because the 4 of us had a room to ourselves and were just laughing hysterically about everything. we are so immature i love it. rhondo spotted a giant spider and of course it caused a big freak out. but we survived.
Breakfast this morning was so good, 545am wake up though.... ugh. it was bacon and huevos, baked beans, toast, cereal, etc etc etc.
the bus took off at 7am and we watched wedding crashers. I passed out and had a nice nap as well. Our bus driver tried to motivate us to play a game but no one was into it. Poor guy. Good taste in music though! Nice to hear something different from the usual. I bought a giant meringue yesterday for 2.50$. so yummy! I left it on the bus though and I am pretty annoyed about that. But I got my Tim Tams from Joe, they are caramel, soooo good. almost as good as the feeling of victory! haha.
We arrived in Sydney sans the BC sisters. I miss them already! They are coming to sydney soon though so its ok. Rocco and I decided to go to Collaroy but then we were so tired when we got here at 330ish and decided to just come to Wake Up hostel. Its pretty nice, the elevator is super weird though! you have to swipe your room key to make it go to your floor. Safety first, hey.
We already have heaps of plans to go to Bondi beach, Manly, Blue Mountains, etc. I think I will need to extend my trip to fit it all in. 2 weeks left and its not even close to enough! Still debating Perth as well. Sigh. Its Valentine's day! Its nice to see flowers everywhere and couples in love. Hope everyone is enjoying it!!
Love to all of you! xoxo

Peace Byron Bay

I'm leaving Byron Bay tomorrow morning, so sad!
The Nimbin tour was super fun. We left around 10am, with George, Bill and Kirk. George and bill were in our room at Aquarius and they are teh funniest kids ever! Highest voices and mental banter. anyway we did the Grasshopper tour. Our driver was kind of a douche and was talking about how religion is crap, oh well.
We went to the secret swimming hole and I stood under a wicked waterfall, it felt like a massage! Next we went to the Charron pub for pints, salad and vego burgers! So yum. We chilled out in teh sun for ages, heaps of nice ppl on the tour.
We went to Nimbin after teh BBQ and its basically a tiny town famous for hippies and marijuana. Most of the ppl on our bus went there for the special baking but Kirk and I went to the local stores to check out art work and then swam in the community pool. it was a huge circular pool with tents over it to give shade.
the drive home was a bit sketch as the bus door was left open to keep us cool and i was right across from it! luckily i didnt fall out and die!
That evening we hwent to Cheeky monkey's for free dinner courtesy of grasshopper. it was a coconut curry, super good. I was still hungry so I went back to the hostel for some leftovers of last night's family dinner of spaghetti bolognaise.
We met up with Carla and Jack for drinks and then went to the Rails for some live music. unfortunately we got there just as the music was finishing. we went to the 23 hr bakery and i got a meringue, not as good as Josh's though!
I ended up pulling an all-nighter last night and at 4am the canadian brothers, and the rest of us walked up to the lighthouse to walk the sunrise from the most eastern past of australia. basically we were the first ones to see the sun rise in aussie! so cool. but after that i crashed. slept from 7am till noon. Then went to wooly's and got bacon eggs and toast. sooo good. the bacon is flipping weird here, its called middle bacon and is super thick and looks like normal bacon with back bacon attached. still tastes good but loads of fat...
Next I went body surfing at the beach and nearly lost my top heaps of times, luckily managed to keep it on though!
Went to the central station with Kirk to see him off to Brissie. Then met up with the girls and hit the beach again. we got hungry and went to wooly's but on the way saw a sign for a free BBQ. jackpot!! it was run by YWAM, or youth with a mission! so crazy, they have a discipleship training program here and have beach vball tournies twice a week and a weekly BBQ. it was awesome. we stayed and listened to James play wicked music, he had the best voice ever! sang some neil young, postal service, Dave matthews, etc. so chilled out!
we went to wooley's for dessert and got some mint chocolate ice creams. now im going back to the hostel, hoping to get to bed super early!
surf camp tomorrow, cant wait. why is this trip flying by so fast? time needs to slow down right now.
LOVE!

Far out

Wow the past few days have been ridiculous! I went hang-gliding and loved it so much! It wasn't scary at all, just totally chilled out. the wind lifts you up but you just kind of hang there and take it all in. wicked. I just wanted to go again after we landed. The guy who worked there invited us to go to Wet and Wild with him and his buddies the next day but unfortunately it was Rocko's bday so we couldnt. oh well, it would have been pricey i think.
That night we had another family dinner of roasted chicken, salad and tim tams! so good. after that we went over to YHA for some drinks with Carla and Jack for Carla's bday. We went out to Cheeky Monkey's but Rhondo had forgotten her ID so Kirk and I went back with her to get it. we fully ran all the way and it took 3 minutes but we were all so filthy and sweaty. I ran into Phoebe and Katie from Noosa again, such a small world! Kirk and I decided not to go into Cheeeky's since cover was 5$ and i was stuffed. we stopped at a 23hr bakery and i got my first pie! chicken, bacon and cheese, so so so good. I wanted to sleep right away but the 2 boys in our room came in and were super loud. George had lost his phone and was distraught. Then the Canadian boys from Oz experience came back and they were in teh room next to our so Andrew started belting out the national anthem and then opened my door and yelled "Ottawa! Sens Suck!", needless to say I didnt even get to sleep until 230am when everyone settled down. so annoying! but thats hostels for you...
For Rocko's bday we got up early and set out a banner, party hats and a tiara. We made sausages, scrambled eggs, toast and had fruit for breakfast. sooo good. Rocko loved the wallet we got her. we then went and made identical anklets, it took us ages to decide on what to make, but we found a great one and i love it. we hit the beach later and I tried to body surf but the rip was too rough and i kept getting shuttled out to sea. lame. we went out for a fancy dinner at Asia Joes. My first meal out at a restaurant in Australia! so good, i had malaysian satay, as spicy as possible. wasnt even spicy! so i added hot chili sauce and powder and it was a bit spicy.
we went back to our room and had our cab sauv. it was good fun a solid big group. we went to Coco mangas because it has AC but it was dead so we went to Cheeky's, this time i paid cover. the dance floor was made up of tables pushed together in a cramped room. why do aussie's love to dance on tables? cracks me up. we left at 130ish and again i ran into Phoebe and Katie! so funny. we ran into the 3 canadian brothers again too on teh way home. we decided to go for a swim in the ocean, it was so refreshing! bedtime was 3am though, and i had to wake up this morning at 730am for my sea kayaking with dolphins. There were heaps and heaps on dolphins! so cool, nursery pods too. apparently tehse dolphins wont travel more than 30km from where they were born, they are called resident dolphins. haha. on teh way into the beach we tried to surf on a wave and got dumped out so hard, the waves were massive, i smacked into the kayak so im very glad i wore a helmet. so, instead of extra large or XL, the aussie's say super large or SL. so funny! i couldnt figure out why the guide's jacket had SL on it...
we ate so many tim tams after the kayaking, they were delish i had a tim tam slam with Milo. mmm a tim tam slam for you non-world travellers is when you take a bite off 2 opposing corners of a tim tam and suck a hot drink through it, which melts the inside of the tim tam and you eat it whole. its phenomenal. really.
next i did some laundry, second time since i've been here, how gross is that...
and i just got back from my surf lesson, i got up on my first go at it! there were 3 coaches and 30 students, super annoying they hardly helped us. but whatever it was fun! I surfed all the way intp shore a few times. The head coach knew my name and who i was before i said it but we couldnt figure out where we met, so weird! he said i should keep at surfing since i was better than everyone else and he said i had good style!!! so cool to get some good feedback since i felt i was sucking, but i guess it went well!
i am so sore still from the tree jump, my sternum and tailbone hurt so much i cant sit properly or carry anything,and getting up on the surfboard was brutally painful.
I finally caved and bought Berocca, so I feel much better, it always stops my cold as its starting. I reeeally need to sleep early tonight. here's hoping!
Going to Nimbin tomorrow for a daytrip, should be great!
Love!

The wind blows at precise rates when I have my ice skates on

Sorry its been ages since I have written. I have just gotten to Byron Bay, decided to skip Surfer's Paradise since its know as the plastics capital of Australia. Apparently all the ladies are plastic and in order to get into clubs you have to pay cover and wear real clothes and shoes. And unfortunately for me my uniform is flippy-floppies and boardies only. Rhondo and Nico went and they liked it ok, but Rocko and I decided to stay in Brisvegas and I don't regret it at all! Brisbane was amazing. I honestly could live there. Its got so much to do.
IF YOU READ MY LAST POST SKIP THE NEXT 2ish PARAGRAPHS. I DONT KNOW WHAT WE ARE YELLING ABOUT.
The lagoon was lovely, its called Streets Beach. Fitting title. Looks out over the river. That was our first stop the day we got there. Rained like crazy though, and we had to take cover under the BBQ area. Anyway my first night there I already wrote about I think. Rocko, Phoebe, Katie, Billy, Timo and some other ppl we met went over to the Bunk bar and played ridiculous games and then went to the Down Under bar where we watched the men dressed up as ladies compete for some special title. Aussie boys love to dress like girls for ladies nights, anything for cheap drinks apparently! Too funny.
Rocko and I got home late, but I definitely did write about this already...
Met up with Kirk the next morning at 9, we went on the walking tour with Rocko, Carla, Jack and JJ. But it was well bad. Left the tour after an hour and went to the botanical gardins. Gorgeous. Mom would have loved it. we ate tim tams and nutella for lunch. Im a great dietitian. Ha.
Just looked at my last post. Already wrote stuff along those last few lines.

New info starts here!!
That night we looked for live music in the West End, walked about 7km to get there and it was just an open mic night. ANd the guy told us way better live music wa sin the valley. where our hostel is. Really? haha but we had a chilled out evening anyway. The next morning I moved out of Bunk and into Kirk's place. Thank you Kirk for free accomodation!! It was a really nice place in Kangaroo point. An old Queensland style house. It was so nice to be in a real house! and his housemate Al was really lovely as well. It was his bday when we were there and he didnt even tell us until the next day, so sad! I met up with NJ and her adorable son Macsen and she tool us to Mount Coo-tha lookout, Just up a mountain and it has an amazing view of Brissie. We chilled out there a while and took photos. Then we went to another Botanical Garden. Even nicer than the one in the city. It had a cactus room and a japanese style garden among other things.
We agreed to meet up with NJ and Jason (her brother who I also met in Cairns) for a BBQ in South Bank. I forget what we did the rest of the day, I think we just made kangaroo burgers to cook at the BBQ. 7$ for 1kg of meat! neither of us had made burgers from scratch before but they turned out fab. We made like 12 burgers i think. At South BAnk it took a while to find a free BBQ but we did and had such a feast! Corn on the cob, squash (which ppl here called pumpkin, aka acorn pumpkin, butternut pumpkin, etc), and we had real wine, not goon! But we werent allowed to drink in teh area. The cops came and busted us, they were like "we could fine you 100$, rah rah rah". But they didnt. Yay. Anyway we swam until the lagoon closed at midnight. Lovely.
The next morning Kirk and I decided to take the train to a beach. We decided on Manly beach. The city train in Brissie goes all the way to Mooloolaba which is like an hour and a half away. Really cool. So we went to Manly. we were running late for the train so we ran to catch the bus to the train station, and then our train was cancelled and we had to wait an hour for the next one, waste of a run! oh well. the train was full of school age kids. atrocious uniforms. like straw hats and frumpy dresses for highschool girls. and i thought ottawa catholic schools had ugly uniforms! nothing compared to here. and they were light colours so the girls all had wicked sweat marks. so unfortunate.
anyway, when we got to manly it stank of fish and sulphur. not a swimming beach at all. so we picknicked at the marina. along the way we found some nuts off a tree that looked like a mix of a macadamia nut and an almond. so obviously we ate one. Our tongues went numb and the taste of the nut was proper minging (Welsh for terrible). we also started to feel a bit ill. smart move to eat a nut off teh ground, right? no, never again. we spent a half hour trying to find someone who could identify the nut to see if they were poisonous. we didnt mention that we ate it to anyone though, lest they think we are weirdos. no one had a clue what the nuts were. The Numbness wore off and I felt less sick after some lunch. Im still alive too!! No drama.
We went home for dinner and ate roo burgers. We ate roo burgers every day for next the 3 days. love it. we watched Iron Man out on the back deck until his laptop died and we went inside to finish the movie but just fell asleep by accident.
NExt morning we rented a car and headed to Gardener's Falls. Unreal. I learned to backflip off a rope swing! There were 2 rope swings one was super high. teh super high one was super fun. We decided to climb up the tree the rope swing was attached too, because we saw a kid on Youtube do it. Kirk thought it might be unsafe so I offered to go first. I took a sec to psych myself up for it and jumped. the key was to jump out far enough to miss the rocks and bushes below. I did it! I bruised my tailbone and sternum though. As well as completely bruise my upper arms and legs. I guess I landed wrong as i was trying to flail enough to make it past the rocks. I lived though, only minor internal/external contusions. I still cant sit down right. I have to lean forward.
Next we drove to the winery. It was Called "Something Mountain Winery" according to Kirk. He just looked it up and its actually called Melany Mountain WInery. We tested 4 wines and a delish spirit that tasted just like Bailey's. so good! we bought one bottle of cab sauv. so good.
I drove us to Mooloolaba. So weird to drive on the wrong side of teh road. But we lived. We went body surfing in 5 ft waves. It was awesome. I had never heard of body surfing. you just start swimming with the wave and if you hit it right you can keep your body on it and coast. If you swim to slow or hit it wrong you get smashed around by the wave. I would say its like being in a washing machine. I was scared teh first time it happened because it takes a while for the wave to spit you out. but you get used to it. You also get used to the idea of swimming with sharks. its so not that scary, they arent all that interested in people, and dont really come close to the beach until sunset/nightfall to feed. I havent seen any but the lifeguards say they are around.
We visited the infamous mooloolaba backpackers and then went for sushi. Bought a cakemix to make for Al.
We drove back to Brissie around 630pm and made the cake for Al. The gas oven didnt work so Kirk's landlord cooked it for us. So nice of her, she's a middle-aged lady with a chinese/british accent. she brought beers and we had cake and VB. Random, but fun.
The next morning we went to Hillsong church and returned the rental car. It was so nice to go to church, great music too, obviously. Next I packed up my stuff and walked to the bus station. My bags were so heavy. I ended up deciding to take the bus from the downtown station instead of bunk, but there was a mix-up and as I was arriving I saw the Oz bus leaving. I freaked out and called Oz and the girl said she would call the driver and see why he was so early. I waited until 130 (when the bus was supposed to come) and then called Oz and said I was taking a cab to Bunk. she assured me the bus wouldnt be at Bunk until 135. I got there and no bus. I waited until 2 and then started to cry. I had missed teh bus and the next bus was in 2 days. Kirk had decided to join us in Byron and had already left from Downtown. So I was stuck, no Rocko, no Lindsay girls either, they got to teh bus on time. But so did I! Just not early. Then the Oz bus appeared from around teh corner!!! Turns out Rocko had called kirk to see where I was and he said i was dowtown so the bus had left bunk early to get me. Then when i wasnt downtown rocko asked to just swing by bunk again to see if i had gone there! I was so so so lucky she did that for me.
We arrived in Byron Bay last night at 6, in new south wales there is no daylight savings time so I had to change my watch. weirdos. THe girls and I made a sweet dinner together of sausages, salad and pasta. So good, I love family style meals. Such a treat. stayed at the YHA last night, cost 36$! Oy, so pricey. switched to aquarious this am, way nicer and just 32$ for an 8bunk. and all 5 of us could stay in the same room.
Going hang-gliding today at 1pm, will try and post again later to say i am still alive. Its carla's bday today so we are going to see some live music with her and her boy. Then rocko's bday tomorrow, I am going to get her a cake right now!
Love you family.
Big congrats to Matt and Carlos, I love you both so much and you two are perfect together. Please wait until I get home.
Oh i randomly skyped Rachel since i knew Becky, Rod and Daph were visiting (it was 1am here, i stay up too late...) and then Matt came online so i added him to our convo and it turned out hom and carlos had literally JUST gotten engaged! he was about to call Rach! So random. Love it.

What happens in Brisvegas...gets posted on my blog

Special thanks to Rachel for today's blog title.
I love Brissie! Its so nice to be in a city, I actually could live here I think. sort of regretting not having a work visa for Oz. It was so nice out today, really hot but not too humid. Perfect, but I think my heat rash is getting even worse if thats possible. Baby powder does help but I keep forgetting to use it. I just realized I lost my favorite MAC eyeliner last night and I am just gutted over it. There are no MAC's here. I am so annoyed with myself for losing it. Oh well.
So last night I ran into the 6 guys from Oz Experience and the 2 girls from Noosa backpackers that I met. Such a small world! And a girl I met in Magnum's. Anyway we played some games and then went to Down Under bar downtown, it was really a fun time. But we got home way too late and I found a girl sleeping in my bed! The worst part was that she had chucked all the stuff that wa son my bed onto the floor! what is wrong with people? who does that? I was so annoyed that I actually woke her up and asked her why she had moved my stuff. She went on about how she thought it was the stuff form the bottom bunk person. whatever! there was another free bed she could have used. I was very unimpressed and let her know it. I'm usually not confrontational, but in this case i made a special exception.
5 hours later I got up and went to Queen street mall to meet up with Kirk, a friend I met in Ottawa just before I left to come to Aussie. we went out for some brekky and then met up with Rox, Carla, Jack and JJ to do the free walking tour. Unfortunately the free walking tour was dead boring and we ditched it after an hour. We moved on to the botanical gardins and they were gorgeous. Then we went to the South bank lagoon and cooled off. Really lovely.
We decided to walk back downtown and do some shopping. I spent way too much money at the Reject Shop, but its all stuff I need! I lost my soap in Cairns so I really needed some... and got some snacky foods too. We bought Caramel Tim Tams, they were unreal. So delish.
I went to get a cell phone, but their plans are so confusing, I think I will wait until New Zealand to get one. I can last another month without one i think. I am so tired of paying to use the internet, its driving me mad. I spent like 5 dollars a day, at least, on just internet. So annoying.
The free meal tonight was fish and chips. really tasty but the portion was so small I am definitely still hungry. Rox and I are meeting up with Kirk in the West end tonight to see some live music. should be fun!
On another note I can't decide what to do in New Zealand, buy a car and make some friends in Auckland fast or just do another bus tour. So hard to decide, I am leaning towards the buying a car option though, I am kind of over bus tours. Anyone have some advice?
Love yous!
Hannah

Noosa to Brisvegas

Yesterday I got woken up by my roommates way too early, but at least it gave me heaps of time to get to the other girl's hostel. I got there around 10 and the girl's decided because it was raining they wouldn't go on the rainforest walk. I just went by myself because I really wanted to see what it was like.
The National Park was amazing. I tripped over my flip flops and ripped the skin off my toe and it was bleeding pretty badly within the first 5 minutes of my walk. It was bleeding so much I stopped at the info desk to get a first aid kit. I saw some koala's in the trees and a gigantic frog on the trail. I also saw about 100 surfers in their natural habitat. It was so cool to watch, they made it look so easy!
I accidentally rocked up to the nudist beach. I only realized when this guy was walking down the steps in a g-string and as he got closer to me he took off his little bathing suit! It was filthy, I literally ran back up the steps and down the path.
The waves in Noosa were massive, its definitely not a good place to learn to surf, maybe I will go back when I'm an amazing surfer! I booked some activities for Byron Bay, I'm going to go on a kayak tour, get a surf lesson and go to Nimbin.
I arrived in Brisbane today around 130. It was so weird to get to a big city! I love it here though. I went to South Bank and saw the lagoon and royal gardens. so gorgeous! the Aussie's really put a lot of effort into their gardens. Mom would love it! I also saw this palace that i forget the name of. We all took the train back to our hostel. its in the middle of nowhere. But its nice and we get free meals. expensive though, like 29$ per night.
I'm going out tonight I think, we are staying in the Valley which is a great location for going out.
Love!
Hannah