Val's Australia Blog

I'm Coming Home!

2006-11-17T14:59:00.000+10:00

Kyle and I decided to change our plans coming home! Here is our new itinerary!

Take Note: I will be changing time zones three times during the trip. Brisbane Australia is 15 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time (EST). Fiji is 17 hours ahead of EST. Los Angles is 3 hours behind EST.

November 28th
Fly: Brisbane, Australia to Nadi Fiji (Qantas Flight 397)
Depart: Brisbane at 3PM (12AM November 28th, USA time)
Arrive: Nadi at 11PM (6AM November 28th, USA time)
Sleep: The Smugglers Cove, Nadi

November 29th - December 5th
Tour: The Ultimate Lei Tour

November 29th:
6AM Hotel Pick-up (Smugglers Cove)
Transport to Nanuya Lailai Island, Arrive around lunchtime
Free time

November 30th:
Boat trip to the Sawailau Caves (underwater caverns!)
Free time

December 1st:
Transport to different island
Free Time

December 2nd:
Transport to Kuata Island
Guided Summit Walk
Free Time

December 3rd:
Remain at Kuata Island
Guided Kayaking trip around island (the island is super small, 50 residents, less than 2 miles long and 1 mile wide)
Free Time

December 4th:
Transfer to Bounty Island
Free Time

December 5th:
"Seaspray Sailing to the Mamanuca Islands"
Visit traditional Fijian Village and see a Kava Ceremony
Visit the island featured in "Cast Away"
Return to main island in the late afternoon (3-4PMish)
CONTINUE RETURN TRIP HOME

December 5th:
Fly: Nadi, Fiji to Los Angles, California (Qantas Flight 3839)
Depart: Nadi, Fiji at 10:50PM (5:50 AM on December 5th, USA time)
Arrive: Los Angles, California at 1:05PM (4:05PM, Eastern Standard Time)
Fly: Los Angles, California to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (US Airways Flight 1454)
Depart: Los Angles, California at 11PM (2AM December 6th, Eastern Standard Time)

Sydney: Day 3 and 4

2006-11-08T23:32:00.000+10:00

We spent most of our time Sunday (Sydney: Day 3) at Darling Harbour. Circular Quay is the harbour by the Opera House and the Bridge. Darling Harbour seemed larger and more elaborate. It's the next harbour down from the Bridge so we were still in the same vicinity. There is a monorail that circles around the Darling Harbour and the surrounding area. Kyle and I bought a daily pass for the monorail to save us time hopping around the area. We started our day by stopping at the Powerhouse Museum...the largest Museum in Sydney. We alloted an hour and a half for the museum which wasn't near enough to cover the entire museum but after looking at the directory we chose our must sees - the hand's on room and musical instrument room :) The hand's on section was by far our favorite. They have a chocolate making machine, which even gave samples of the chocolate. A smelling machine - they released different smells and you have to identify the food. It was yummy food. That's how they get you hungry to buy food from their cafe! haha :) They had other fun things to play with that slightly triggered things I learned in physics in high school. The rest of the things we saw were interesting, though not as fun as the hand's on section. The musical instrument section was nice though you couldn't play with anything - how disappointing. After the museum, Kyle and I booked a lunch cruise. I'm not sure if I mentioned earlier but we bought a See Sydney Card. When we bought our cards we received a free upgrade of a Magestic cruise to a Magestic lunch cruise. Just a side note, I'm not spelling majestic wrong. It really was called Magestic Cruises! :0) So for lunch we had a huge buffet style meal with tons of yummy foods and desserts. I'm glad we took a sight seeing cruise the previous day because this cruise we were more concerned with the food! Just as the cruise finished we jumped on the monorail to a different part of the harbour. We had made reservations for the HarbourJet Boat ride. We were supposed to be on a later ride but it was cancelled and luckily they were able to squeeze us on the 2PM ride. There were about 20 passengers in a speed boat. The driver took us out of the harbour and did some crazy maneuvers. He did 180-degree turns while driving along and would occasionally come to a sudden halt. At the end of the ride we were completely soaked. The driver said usually only the people in the back of the boat are drenched but because it was so windy we were all doomed! We then spent some time sitting in the sun. Luckily our clothes dried quickly – if we were wearing jeans we would have been sitting there a lot longer! We then saw a 3-D movie in the IMAX theatre – Deep Sea, narrated by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. It was an hour documentary, which was rather entertaining. However, I’m not sure if we were more amused with the goofy glasses or the movie! After the movie we spent about two hours in the Sydney Aquarium. Throughout the aquarium they had Nemo and his friends. They had tunnels that went underground through huge tanks with sharks, string rays, sea turtles, and heaps of fish! I must say Zoos and aquariums in Australia have been exciting not like back home when you see the same animals every time. I enjoyed seeing some Australian creatures J After the aquarium we grabbed a late dinner at Kyle new favorite chicken joint – Oporto! I think I mentioned it in an earlier post. Of course, we had a chicken sandwich and chips! We finished off our night back at the Sydney Tower. They have a virtual stimulator ride that takes you through the different sights of Australia. The ride was a little rocky but quite enjoyable! After being shaken and tossed around we decided to get some sleep. Day 4 – Sydney Olympic Park and the Bridge Climb! We caught an early train into the Olympic Park area. We started our day with a quick swim at the Aquatic Park. They have the Olympic pool and then an indoor water park! They have a pool for swimming laps, a waterslide, saunas, jacuzzis, and a pool with a mini lazy river. We went on a Monday morning and luckily there wasn’t much of a crowd – except for the senior citizen aerobic class. We wandered our way toward the information center and found they rent bicycles! Kyle and I decided to amuse ourselves by renting a bicycle built for two. We decided to see the Olympic Park area on wheels! Trying to ride together was a little difficult at first but we caught on quickly. We managed to see the tennis courts, archery grounds, Telstra stadium, and field hockey stadium. We rode our bike around a trail that circled around the park and found a lookout point. It was a spiral path that took you to the top of a little plateau where you could see around the area. After we returned our bike we had a booked tour at the Telstra stadium. The tour was more exciting than expected; I was skeptical about how much they could say about a stadium. We rode in a golf cart bus type vehicle around the stadium first and then into a tunnel that lead into the basement of the stadium. We saw all the fancy box offices, press boxs, and private restaurants and bars for club members. We saw the warm-up room for the rugby teams and even got to try on a rugby jersey. They had a rugby ball you could practice throwing into a little hole – Kyle missed but I scored!! Woohoo!! We finished the tour by taking our picture on the Sydney Olympics medal podium for the gold, silver and bronze medals! Kyle and I had some trouble decided who got to stand on the gold podium…we had to get two pictures! After we finished our adventures at the Olympic Park we headed back into the city for the most extreme part of our trip – the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. Kyle got more nervous as our climb time approached and I was beginning to wonder how he was going to make it up and down the bridge successfully without having a mental breakdown somewhere along the way. Luckily when we arrived some teenage boy told Kyle he was scared but after he got up there it wasn’t that bad – for some reason advice from a complete stranger is more comforting..haha. We waited inside for about 15 minutes before we began our debriefing. Kyle and I got free matching Bridge Climb hats with our SeeSydney Card. When it was time to start, we meet our group. Papa Bear, his son and wife, an older couple from South Australia, three girls trying to face their fear of heights, a girl celebrating her 21^st birthday and her boyfriend, Kyle and I, and Stella, our climb leader. We started by all taking a breathalyzer test – intoxication is not tolerated. No worries. We all passed! Next step – our high tech suit. We were given space-looking suits to go over our clothes, and wind pants to go on top of the spacesuit. They slipped our utility belt over our heads and tightened it around our waist. The only way to take it off was over your head (so it would be an extensive project to disconnect yourself from the bridge). The belt had a device that hooked onto a cableline that followed the length of the bridge. It was a unique device. It is too hard to explain how it works so I’ll just simplify by saying I felt VERY safe. Our belt had a spot in the back for our headset so we could hear the climb leader the entire time. They also handed us a “parachute” in case of an emergency. Which was really a fleece to put on because it tends to get cold and windy at the top! They offered gloves and I turned them down but when my hands were numb halfway through I was beginning to realize it wasn’t sure a bad idea either. The climb itself was AMAZING! I believe it was my favorite part of our Sydney adventure and definitely a nice way to end our time there. The climb to get to the bridge was a little intense. We started at the end of the bridge from underneath. We walked along a skinny little catwalk and to make it worse they were doing construction on part of it so we had to take a detour on another skinny catwalk out and around, directly above the water. After about our initial 10 minutes walk out, we climbed a series of ladders until we finally reached the arch of the bridge. The hike up was exciting. We stopped along the way and enjoyed the view and took some pictures. Kyle was too nervous to talk so I spent the majority of my time singing and dancing to the top. I assumed since Kyle had trouble hearing, so did everyone else, but the man in front of me suggested I sing for our group after we finished since I entertained him during the climb. In the middle of the climb we crossed the middle of the bridge to climb down the opposite side. In the dead center of the bridge (one and a half football fields high) we stood an admired the traffic zipping by below us. Kyle was nervous enough and it didn’t help that we were standing on yet another skinny catwalk with nothing but a grate below us. It was quite the thrill, but Kyle found it more comforting on his knees grasping my legs. He survived and despite his fear of heights, he loved it. The climb down was just as exciting as coming up but after an hour and a half on the bridge it was nice to come back down. By the time we got to the bottom I was tired! I think it was climbing down the sets of ladders when the adrenaline rush started to die and the exhaustion of the week started to kick in! We walked back on the catwalk and that was it! We order some great pictures, grabbed a late dinner at a Pizzeria and went back to the hostel to get some sleep.

Sydney: Day 2

2006-10-21T13:16:00.000+10:00

I'm a little behind but better now than never. Hopefully my memory will serve me well.

Our second day in Sydney was one of my favorites! We woke up early and headed to the Opera House. This was a wise decision. Apparently early morning is not a popular viewing time at the Opera House. Kyle and I were lucky enough to get our picture taken on the steps of the Opera house without crowds of people around. We walked around the Opera House a took a few pictures and then Kyle and I took a 9AM tour of the theatres. I read in one of our tour books that the early morning tour is the best option as most of the performances are in the afternoon and evening and most likely you'll be able to see all of the five theatres. The book was right! Woohoo! The Opera House was amazing, inside and out! We saw the Opera Theatre first followed by the Concert Hall, the Playhouse, Drama Theatre, and the studio (a smaller theatre with various types of performances).

The tour was more fun than I expected. Our tour guide was an older lady who didn't seem to have much spunk at first, but she kept it interesting and fun. It was definitely worth our time and money! Looking back at the end of our trip the Opera House was in my top three favorites. That could be expected - considering my life is music.

The Opera House is at the tip of the harbour so after we took a few more pictures we walked into Circular Quay - the inner harbour. We took an hour sight-seeing cruise and saw the main sights from the water (the Opera House, the Sydney Bridge, the famous Bondi Beach, Luna Park - similar to Cooney Island, and the Prime Minister John Howard's lovely home).

After our cruise we rushed back to the Opera House. We had tickets for the Operetta, Pirates of Penzance. The show was absolutely amazing. Last year in Rep Class at Etown we had sang parts of the music from the show for fun at the end of class. So I know some of the music which made it more exciting. It was a humorous show unlike most Operas that end in tragedy.

We spent some time walking around The Rocks. They are famous shops near Darling Harbour. The streets are old fashioned with stone buildings and fun little cafes, restaurants and tourist shops. We had tried to make reservation for the Harbour Jet ride but they didn't have enough people for the afternoon ride so we headed to Centennial Park. Our original plans were to rollerblade around the park until sunset, a little before 6PM. What our tour book didn't tell us was that the rollerblade rental shop had closed down. We soend some time walking around the park then decided to head to the Sydney Tower.

The tower had double decker elevators. Slow Elevators. The tower is the tallest building in Sydney and the 2nd tallest Observation tower in the Southern Hemisphere. I hate elevators and it took forever to reach the top. It was windy that night so they shut down one of the elevators due to the wind - that was comforting. When we got to the top, the view was pretty spectacular. You could see the entire city from a 360 degree view. We only spent some time at the top but spent a lot of time in line to get back down to the bottom.

After we made it safely to the bottom we headed off to dinner at the lovely Summit Restaurant. The dinner was probably the most elegant and spectacular restaurant that Kyle and I will ever visit. We really didn't know what we were eating - but it was yummy. I believe my first course was quail and my main meal was salmon. The meal had fancy little shiny balls in the dish with pieces of lobster underneath it. I think Kyle had a red salad first (which resembled nothing like a salad) and Kyle had Duck...I tasted the duck....it was yummy too! I should mention why this restaurant was so spectacular. While we had our lovely dinner, the restaurant revolved around the city. It took about an hour and 45 minutes to revolve the entire way around the city. The views of the city were amazing, as you as can see Kyle enjoying his dinner with the Sydney Bridge in the background :)

After dinner we decided to call it a night. Our day doesn't seem as packed once I start writing it down, but I didn't mention that we did a lot of running and didn't spend very much time resting.

Whitewater Rafting!!

2006-10-04T19:58:00.000+10:00

I've come to the conclusion that if I created one long post about our last trip, no one would ever finish reading it. Therefore, I've decided to write several short blogs - also in effort to save myself from extreme exhaustion from writing...

Day One:
Kyle and I left promptly at 4:45AM. The flight to Sydney was rather uneventful. It was a short flight (about an hour and a half) but I still managed to eat breakfast and get a quick nap. Kyle is a fan of airplane food. I can't say that I get near as excited as him, however, breakfast was actually decent. We had little raisin muffins (but they were squares), cereal, and blueberry yogurt.

We arrived in Sydney and took the Super Shuttle (like Superman - as the guy from the hostel explained it) to our hostel. Our hostel was called the Jolly Swagman and was very colorful. Our room had bright red carpet, a yellow cabinet, and purple curtains with surfing men on them. It was a fairly nice hostel considering we had our own TV, fridge, and table.

We had a nice gap in the morning so Kyle and I decided to take the bus to Bondi Beach, Sydney's most famous beach. The water was a little chilly so we didn't get in, but we enjoyed relaxing in the sand.

We left around noon and caught a train to Penrith - home of the famous Sydney Olympics Whitewater Rafting Stadium!

Getting to the Stadium from the train station was another story. Kyle and I allotted 40 minutes to walk from the train station to the rafting stadium. Our rafting time is 3:30PM, but we need to be there at 3PM to check-in. We get off the train a little before 2PM and decide to grab some lunch first. The Penrith Mall happens to be right across the street from the train station. Kyle decides he wants to eat at this chicken place, Oporto. So we both had a chicken sandwich, chips (french fries), and solo - my absolute favorite soda in Australia.

At about 2:20ish we decided to start walking. Kyle estimated the walk to be about 2 miles. However, somewhere alone the line, probably when converting from kilometers to miles, the measurement got messed up. At about 2:40 Kyle tells me he thinks we are farther away then what we thought. Lucky us, in the 80 degree weather with no breeze or shade in sight, we had to start running. Let me tell you, the road never ends! We finally see the Penrith Rafting Stadium sign and assume we are there. No, there is another road into the stadium that keeps deceiving you. Finally, at about 3:10 we get there. We signed the safely waivers and quickly changed. Rafting Time!

We had a boat that seated 9 people - two rows of four and one in the front. When we got there, the water was completely calm. I assumed we weren't looking in the right area. Right before we hopped in the boat, the water started moving. The can control the intensity of the water and change the course around. Our first time around was rather boring. I was actually disappointed. Thankfully, our guide was just prepping us!

It took about 3 minutes to get the whole way around the stadium but it was nice to have a break between laps. We would paddle our boat onto a conveyor belt and ride to the top of the course and start again. I'm not sure if the water got sightly more intense the longer we were there, or if our guide was leading us into the trouble zones. Half-way through we started lossing passengers. Kyle and I both managed to stay a-float but once our boat started to tip I went for a ride. I made it to the edge and they picked me up. What I didn't realize is that where I was standing was about 2 feet deep, and right beyond that it dropped about 6 feet. As I stepped into the boat I fell back into the water and started floating away again. I managed to grab that back of the boat and pull myself back in.

The first time Kyle fell out of the boat didn't look too convincing. I think he was jealous everyone else was falling and kinda jumped at the chance to get wet. However, the second time he was definitely sucked out and took quite a long ride down stream. I had a good laugh watching the river carry him away :)

So, overall rafting was definitely work it! I think the Delaware River is next on my list...

After rafting we took the train back into the city. Our train ride was actually a little scary. Some man came and sat down in front of us. He sat there for about a minute and began pacing the train car. He would change seats, sit down, pace around some more, find another seat. After about 10minutes of pacing he decided he needed some money. So he walked around the train for awhile asking for money. He disappeared for awhile and went into another train car, but he always came back. Once he collected some money, he would throw it out the train car window. It was very strange.

When we got back into the city we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe in Sydney. Yum Yum!! Kyle and I bought fun t-shirts. The have a guitar made from the structure of the Sydney Opera House with the Harbour Bridge in the background. It's hard to describe, but I'll model it around when I get home :)

After dinner we called it a night and headed back to our hostel. Sleep would be much needed for the days ahead of us!

Ouch!

2006-09-21T19:16:00.000+10:00

Today I had a little accident. I hopped in the shower and the warm water gave me chills. I know it doesn't make sense, but it was so warm it made me cold. In attempt to become warm again, I curled up in a ball and sat underneath the water. After I felt warm and toasty again I decided to finish showering. As I stood up my left leg slipped and my leg got wedged under the faucet. When I stood up, I had a beautifully defined red circle on my thigh.

When I got out of the shower I told Kyle I had an accident in the bathroom. He assumed I had broken the shower and headed for the bathroom. I had to specify the accident was on my leg. Kyle came to the conclusion that it looked like a plateau on my leg. My leg had started to swell and I had a bump.

A few hours later I went to the bathroom and realized my plateau now had a black ring circling around it. Just in time for our trip, I have a fashionable bruise to go along with my swim suit.

However, as Kyle has learned, I love bruises. They are fascinating! Lucky for Kyle, the next week I'll be poking at it and showing him how cool it looks!

Spring Break #2 / 2006

2006-09-20T23:04:00.000+10:00

Spring Break #2 / 2006 (September 22nd-Octobter 1st)
Sydney, Alice Springs and Uluru

Not to be confused with Spring Break #1 / 2006 (March 3rd-12th 2006)
North Yorkshire and London, England

The Schedule You've Been Awaiting...
It's a little long, but you should see the our extensive list that includes public transport times and walking directions for any possible place we could become lost. There won't be time for getting lost...

Friday 22 September
4:45AM - Taxi Pick-up
6:30AM - Flight from Brisbane to Sydney
Check-in at the Jolly Swagman Hostel
Train to Penrith Station
Whitewater Rafting!
Train back into Sydney
Dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, Sydney!

Saturday 23 September
Walk to the Sydney Opera House
Tour of the Opera House
CruiseSmart Tour of the Sydney Harbour
Pirates of Penzence at the Sydney Opera House
Roller Skating in Centennial Park
Dinner at the Summit Restaurant (a 360 degree revolving restaurant with a gorgous view of Sydney!)
Luna Park (like Cooney Island)

Sunday 24 September
Sunrise at Bondi Beach
Train to the Blue Mountains
Fantastic Aussie Tour to the Jenolan Caves
Train back into Sydney
Sydney Tower and OzTrek (virtual 3D adventure!)

Monday 25 September
Chinese Gardens
Powerhouse Museum
Sydney Aquarium
Pylon Lookout (on the Sydney Bridge...great for pictures!)
The Sydney Bridge Climb!!!
Opera House at Night

Tuesday 26 September
Flight from Sydney to Alice Springs
Check-in at Desert Rose Inn
Afternoon Free for exploring or perhaps resting :)

Wednesday 27 September
Day Tour of Alice Springs
John Flynn Memorial, Mt Gillen, Angkale Creek bed, Standley Chasm, Ellery Creek Big Hole, Ochre Pits, Ormiston Gorge, Glen Helen Gorge, Mt Sonder, Glen Helen River valley, Simpsons Gap

Thursday 28 September
guided Uluru base walk, Mala Walk, Multitjulu Waterhole, Aboriginal cave paintings, Uluru sunset
Camp at Yulara Resort Camping Ground

Friday 29 September
Uluru sunrise, Valley of the Winds, Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), Tales from the Dreamtime
Camp at Kings Creek Station

Saturday 30 September
Kings Canyon, Lost City, Ampitheatre, North Wall, South Wall, Garden of Eden, Camel Farm (Camel-back ride!)
Finish Tour back at Alice Springs

Sunday 1 October
Flight from Alice Springs to Brisbane
Home

More Pictures and Fun Details After our Trip!

Dell ≠ Satisfaction

2006-09-20T18:00:00.000+10:00

I Can't Get No, Sat-is-fact-ion! (courtesy of the Rolling Stones)

Dell and I are no longer friends. As you can tell by my lack of recent blog posts, I've been experiencing a few technical difficulties with my laptop.

Sunday before Church I was using my computer and it just shut off. I assumed it was just freaking out because I'd been using it all day, so I ignored it and went to church. We came home I turned it back on and within 30 minutes it shut itself off again. Not cool.

So I called Dad to wish him an early Happy 46th Birthday (he counts backwards now) and tell him my computer was dead. Apparently, he didn't actively listen to the message because he called me the next day to thank me for the Birthday Message and was clueless to anything wrong with my computer. Silly Daddy...

So, since Sunday Kyle and I have been playing computer hardware experts. At first we suspected it was a problem with the battery or the charger. When I plugged in my computer to charge it wouldn't register and would continue using the battery. So, with our electrician skills, we examined my battery charger and the cord. The tip of my charger that plugs into the computer was slightly exposed.

As of late Sunday night we established my battery charger and cord were rubbish! Luckily Chris' charger is compatible with my computer, so we continued our testing. Thinking we've fixed our problem I plug my computer in and it works...for about 20 minutes and poof. Gone.

It was my Aunt's fault. She imed me online and I walked over to my computer to talk to her. As soon as I touched my computer the screen went black. I used Kyle's computer to talk to her but I realized my computer was still signed on to AIM. I imed myself and of course, my computer didn't like that so then it shut itself off.

With much hassle we've come to our final conclusion. When the computer screen is touched or slightly moved, the screen goes black. The tinyest bump makes it angry. The computer doesn't shut off, the screen just goes black. Then, within a few minutes it will shut itself off.

Right now we are trying to reconfigure the battery but I'm highly skeptical that the battery has anything to do with it. I don't believe I want to buy a computer while I'm in Australia so it looks like I'll be bugging Kyle, Chris and Natalie a lot... If I buy a new computer now, I'd have to ship one over from the US. All the computers here would have different settings but we I'd get home I would be soo annoyed. I supposed I can live without a computer for 3 months. This will be quite a challenging experience. My prediction is that I'll become very bored and MAYBE do really productive things. I Hate TV. So it looks like I'm going to be swimming, practicing and reading a lot.

My rebellion against Dell has convinced me that when I return to the States, I'm going to invest in a Mac. Most of the music programs I use are made for Macs so it would make more sense.

Down with Dell!

The Pre-Historic Days

2006-09-12T22:09:00.000+10:00

From Kyle and Val: Goofy

Check out my new fun album, "Kyle and Val: Goofy," the pre-historic days before Australia.

I thought it was appropriate to make an album showing how much fun we have together, even when were aren't traveling around the world!!

They don't all display our most photogenic moments but they are my favorite pictures from the states!

Click the on the picture to the left to see more!

Bye Bye Hairs

2006-09-12T01:03:00.000+10:00

Today was a fun day :)

I've been working on a surprise Birthday project for my Dad. I won't say what in case he reads this, but usually he needs some prompting to remember (just like a client) haha. Anyhow, I finished it this morning and mailed it out.

Kyle and I went to Toowong to the Post Office and then K-mart. We bought hair clippers to cut Kyle's hair...this could be revenge for me but I wouldn't do that :) Then I finally got my hair cut. I was a little skeptical of getting my hair cut here but soo glad that I did. This morning when I got out of the shower we measured my hair while it was wet and it was half-way down my back or about three inches above my belly button...not cool. You could never tell my hair is that long because it curls about six inches higher but it was ridiculous. Anyhow, I had about an inch cut off and my hair looks about four inches shorter than it did yesterday. Curls are quite strange. You cut and inch and loose four inches. Anyhow, I'm happy and my hair will do as I tell it.

After I got my hair cut we went grocery shopping and came home. We ate lasagna for dinner and watched Australian Idol!! It's just like American Idol but I don't believe anyone here is as mean as Simon. Kyle's hooked and since we watch it so much I've decided to write my Australian Pop Culture Paper on Australian Idol. I thought I should turn my absorption of the tube into something productive. I don't have much patience with tv. I can't stay awake, I can't watch repeats, and I don't like sitting there like a vegetable.

On a side note: we watched Mr. & Mrs. Smith the other night with Nat and Chris. I stayed awake for almost the entire movie. I one part I did fall asleep, but in my dream I fell down the stairs and I woke up as I was falling. Kyle immediately noticed the twitch, but my eyes were open before he realized I was sleeping hahaha. I made a strong effort to stay awake the rest of the movie :)

Tonight Kyle and I danced around choreographing a dance for my clients this week. Thanks to Shannon we have lots of fun songs - Kyle has some of her music on his computer. We are using a song from Tarzan called Trashin' the Camp. It's a good dancing song. I believe my client's will enjoy it :-D

Tomorrow is busy day with class, but I wanted to share my simple, silly little day :)

Amen! Brizzy Broncos! Papa's Day!

2006-09-11T22:55:00.000+10:00

3 September 2006 - that's how they write the date in Australia ;)

Kyle and I woke up early and checked out a church in West End (it's across the river from where we live). It was very different to what we are used to, but I enjoyed it. They had a band which included a drummer, one main vocalist, two main altos, four back-up singers, a violinist, guitarist, and pianist. It was quite impressive. The church seemed to be geared toward college students. There were more pentecostal than what I'm used to, but I think beyond that the service was quite good. The preacher was very interesting. He won me over when in the middle of the service he ran over to the keyboard and rocked out a little. His point was that going to church shouldn't be a drag...it should be more like gettin' your groove on. I'll give that an amen. I'm going to advocate music again and say that's the key to gettin' your groove on. What's church without some good music? On a side note, I'm sorry to say but it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to lead the choir this Christmas, considering I won't be home until December 18th, and then I'll be flooded with much love and hopefully really good American food.
After Church, Natalie, Chris, Kyle and I went to see the Brisbane Broncos, part of the National Rugby League. We went having no idea how the game worked and left with a pretty good concept of the game.

There are two, 40-minute halves. It looked very similar to American football. I think they did more running around here though. There were a few cool parts...all the guys got into a circle and pushed each other around while trying to get the ball in the middle. I didn't quite understand the point of it but it was funny to watch. I'm sure Kyle explains the details much better, this is where I refer you to his blog :)

The game was at the Suncorp Stadium in Milton, a suburb of Brisbane. The stadium was fairly big, I'd say it had the seating capacity of about 50,000. We had great seats - near the end zone, the 23rd row I believe. We knew Becky and Kitty had tickets too, but we didn't book them together so I had no idea where they were sitting. On the way home we ran into them on the bus and realized they were in the next section over only 3 or 4 rows down! Bummer!

They had a fun mascot. He danced around and made me laugh. They also had a man on a horse that rode around the stadium carrying a Broncos flag. They sold plastic tubes that you blow up and hit together to make a loud sound...if you know what boomwackers are, they are like those! I was quite amused and almost bought some but boomwackers would be a better investment for the future.

During halftime four little league rugby teams came onto the field to compete. The were highly amusing to watch! I think I enjoyed watching team as much as the big league. hahaha :)

Kyle and I walked around the stadium to check it out. This is a strange comment - but they had a men's bathroom that said Urinals Only. That made me laugh...so we know if you are going to the other bathroom it's not going to be soo quick. Well, I suppose you could just want some privacy, too. They like things quick around here. They also had the quick beer pick-up line. Not that I drink beer, but they like to emphasize it's quick. Maybe it's so you don't miss the game... Anyhow, just a little tid bit.

After the game we came home and relaxed. I decided to call my Dad before he would leave for church to tell him Happy Father's Day. Father's Day in Australia is the first Sunday of September. He was quite confused, but I think he enjoyed his second Happy Father's Day wish of the year. Hey, how many Dad's got to celebrate twice this year? My Dad is a Lucky Man!

One last quick note - I missed the rubber ducky race!! As part of the Riverfestival going on, they had a race where you could buy a rubber duck and race him across the river with about 19,999 other rubber duckies!! The first duck across wins a car!! I could have sold the car and traveled some more - I'm sure family is thinking at this point they are glad I didn't get to race haha. Due to the Rugby Game, I missed the race. We had bought the tickets weeks ago and didn't know it was going to conflict with the ducky race or I would have definitely opted for the ducks!!

Riverfire

2006-09-04T14:04:00.000+10:00

Saturday started the beginning of the River Festival in Brisbane. There are special events for about the next two weeks along the river - the river runs through the center of the city. The kick off event was Riverfire. Riverfire is a firework show that is set off along the river and can be seen from many parts of the city. The main fireworks are set up along South Bank. South Bank has almost like a long boardwalk that follows the river. This is also where they have the lagoon, the weekend market, many many restaurants, and the cinema!

Kyle, Chris, Natalie and I left around 4PM Saturday afternoon. The quickest way to get into the city is the CityCat (the ferry). The closest stop to our apartment is Guyatt Park - about a 5 minute walk away. The ferry we intended to be on was full so we had to wait for the next ferry (about 15 minutes later). When we arrived at South Bank it was already very crowded. The entire boardwalk area was beginning to fill out as people claimed their spots for the fireworks.

We looked a little and ended up looking at the tanks and such the Army Reserves had on display. Take note of Kyle and the lovely tank that says "Can't Touch This."

As we were walking around, we realized there was an air show. There were planes doing fun tricks before the fireworks started. We watched for a few minutes and decided to find somewhere to sit and watch the fireworks. We ended up sitting for a little under two hours, but the wait was well worth it. Before the show, they had another air show. I believe it was a repeat of the previous but it was still fun to watch.

When the fireworks show started I was in awe. There were barges of fireworks set up along the river and they had more fireworks set off from the tops of the building throughout the city. So, image sitting on the river opposite in city in Pittsburgh. Keep in mind the river isn't quite as wide and is much, much cleaner. There were fireworks set up probably about a miles length up and down the river. In addition to all of those, there are fireworks coming from the buildings around the city and bridge farther down. The show starts with two fighter jets - one flies right above the river, the other goes above the city. They are both flying ridiculously fast. I'm not sure what to call it. Mr. Brady is going to be disgraced by my terminology :) I believe they used a turbo boost or something because you could hardly make out the shape of the jet and it had a glowing exhaust. It looked like a little rocket right as they launch them into space. You can see a little in the picture but not too much because it moved too fast.

Anyhow, the rest of the fireworks were amazing. They had them synchronized to music. In one of the songs every time it said "love" fireworks went off in the air in the shape of a heart. They also had a waterfall of fireworks coming off the bridge which looked pretty cool. It all ended with the fighter jets flying by again.

It was by far the best firework show I've ever seen. No doubt about it, it was definitely worth missing the fourth of July.

Make sure to check out my pictures - there are more fun ones there!

Down With Love

2006-08-31T23:29:00.000+10:00

Last evening, Kyle and I decided to watch a movie, "Down With Love." After much hassle, we finally have a blockbuster card!!! Just a side note - to rent a movie in another country you need a passport, government issued form of id, Australian phone number, and some proof of your address..for a single rental.

Anyhow, I was sitting at one end of the couch and Kyle was on the other. I said, "Kyle, come here. I want to talk to you." Kyle jumps up and comes flying towards me backwards and knocks his head off my mouth, cutting the inside of my lip. After I all the trauma, I had forgotten what I wanted to tell him in the first place.

This morning I woke up and noticed that my lip wasn't quite its normal size. As a result of love, I now have a fat lip.

I'm not going to let him live this down, however aside from his random attack he's quite thoughtful.

After class yesterday I went to practice and meet with Kitty to talk about our music therapy session. I told Kyle that I was going to go to the grocery store since he had class. Kyle's class got out early and he realized that I forgot my keys. As I'm walking home in the rain with my backpack (full of books and food) and a shopping bag over each shoulder, I see some crazy man running in the rain. It was Kyle - running in the rain to meet me at the grocery store.

a typical week

2006-08-26T19:43:00.000+10:00

Monday : rest and relaxation

Tuesday : 10-11 AM Australian Pop Culture Lecture
11-12 PM Lunch with Kyle, Kitty and Becky
12-2 PM Australian Pop Culture Movie Screenings
2-3 PM Australia Pop Culture Tutorial
3-4 PM Piano Practice Time
4-6 PM Developmental Psychology Lecture

Wednesday : 11-1 PM Music Therapy Applications
1PM-? Piano Practice Time

Thursday : 12-2 PM Developmental Psychology Tutorial
2PM - ? Piano Practice Time

Friday : Work - Music Therapy Practical Experience
8:49 AM CityCat (ferry) departs Guyatt Park
9:24 AM Catch connecting train to Yeerongpilly
10-11 AM Assist Kitty in Group Music Therapy Session
11-11:30 AM Lead Individual Music Therapy Session
11:30-? Paperwork
? - 12:15 PM Lunch
12:15 - 1:30 PM Drive to next facility
1-1:45 PM Lead Group Music Therapy Session
1:45-2:15 PM Paperwork
2:15-2:45 PM Meeting with Supervisor
2:45-3:15 PM More Paperwork
3:15 PM Depart for Train Station
3:32 PM Train to Roma Street
4:24 PM Catch CityCat back to Guyatt Park
4:30 PM Arrive back at home

Friday Funness

2006-08-26T01:51:00.000+10:00

I woke up this morning and the sun seemed rather bright. Brighter than it should be at 7AM. I roll over and what time is it? 8:32. I need to catch the ferry to my clinical in 10 minutes and I've just rolled out of bed. Needless to say, I missed that ferry. Ran to catch the 9:00 ferry. Missed not only the first train I should have been on but the second as well. Kitty and I arrive at our clinical at 10:12, a whole 3 minutes before the session begins.

Needless to say, the rest of my day actually went quite well. I had my first individual session today which went extremely well :) I also had my afternoon group session which was also very pleasing, so from a therapeutic standpoint, my day was splendid. My supervisor made a comment that I have a great personality for a music therapist and my confidence shows within the sessions. Yay :) The clinical are a nice reminder why we work to the point of mental and physical exhaustion for this career - it actually is quite rewarding at the end of the day.

After our session, Kitty and I met Becky and Kyle at the ferry station. We went to South Bank and enjoyed our wonderful company. We had dinner at this cute little Italian restaurant that Kyle I and scoped out a few weeks ago. Yummy. We ordered two heaping plates of potato wedges. They had a scoop of sour cream on top (by the way, the sour cream is way better here) and a little side of what they called "sweet chili sauce," which was also rather yummy and in no way reminded my of chili. Then we had pizza! Kyle and I had the "Aussie Pizza," with cheese, tomato sauce and ham. It has become one of our favorites. Becky and Kitty went for the traditional Cheese or "Marghreta Pizza," which also looked quite appetizing.

After dinner we wondered around a little. They have a market set up on the weekends so we walked around and successfully avoided being sucked into buying anything.

Becky took us to a cute little cafe on the street and we had drinks before we came home. Kitty and Kyle (Kyle and Kitty, Kitty and Kyle, don't their names sound nice together...) both had hot cocoa. Becky had a Hot Mocha which had a ton of yummy sweet stuff at the bottom that I enjoyed! Sugar is the way to my heart. I had a Mellowchino. Doesn't the name just intrigue you? It was a cappuccino with marshmallows. We ended up talking at the little cafe awhile and then heading back down by the river to wait for the ferry.

Today's reflections:
Kyle is amazing. Today (and last Friday) he went grocery shopping while I went to work. We made a list together and he does the shopping. He is also getting good at cooking, too. I can leave him alone in the kitchen making dinner and still have tasty meals. And, the other night he made a cake by himself. I helped him make the icing but soon he won't be needing my help :)

AND...not to forget!

We are in AUSTRALIA!!! As we were sitting by the water looking at the beautiful city, we realized this is amazing and we are going to experience some painful culture shock when we get to the States. The city is gorgeous at night and each day is like a whole new day of lollipops and gummi bears. Life doesn't get any better than this :-D

On that note, goodnight.

Sleepover

2006-08-22T14:10:00.000+10:00

Saturday we decided to have a party! Kitty and Becky came over in the afternoon and we sun bathed by the pool for while. Kyle and Kitty were afraid of getting bitten by ants, so they ended up standing in the water. It's still a little chilly for swimming but sitting in the sun feels wonderful. Not too hot, not too cold.

We decided to have an all American Dinner, so we changed and headed to the wonderful Coles supermarket. We made Cheeseburgers, Ball Park Hot Dogs (we finally found real hot dogs!), and baked beans. Our dinner was amazing!

For dessert we make a lovely Vanilla Cake with chocolate chips baked inside and peanut butter icing on top. We've learned to be creative with our cooking. Luckily I remembered how to make homemade icing from watching my Aunt. Unfortunately the cake isle doesn't sell Betty Crocker or the little dough boy.

We made Kyle watch Ferris Buller's Day off because he's never seen it. Such a classic :) That was followed by another movie...Weekend at Bernie's.

My absolute favorite part of the evening was the Tim Tam Explosions. Tim Tams are cookies. They are chocolate with a little bit of crunchy chocolate inside. You can buy ones that are different flavors inside but I've only had the original. So, to have a Tim Tam explosion you bit of two corners opposite of each other on the cookie. You put one end of the cookie into a hot beverage (hot cocoa - the best :) coffee or tea). Out of the other end you start sucking up some of the hot cocoa. Once you get some hot cocoa through the cookie, pop the cookie in your mouth. The cookie is sooooooooo yummy. It's all warm and melts into chocolate goodness. We ate the entire pack of cookies, need I say more?

After our Tim Tam explosion we walked Becky home. She couldn't spend the night, but we still had Kitty captive. Kyle bought a tent on Ebay for us to take camping so we decided to set it up when we got back and see what it looked it. The tent was quick and easy to set up. Soon we were piled inside attempting to tell ghost stories in the dark. My ghost story failed miserably. Kyle refused to make up a story, but Kitty has quite a demented mind. She made up the freaky ghost story about a little girl...I won't go into details. Kyle almost made me have a heart attack - he kicked the side of the tent and scared both Kitty and I. It was fun but I'm not the bravest soul.

We decided to watch a family movie before bed - Hook. This was a safe option after Kitty's story. I think it took me about 2 minutes into the movie before I was sound asleep. I think Kyle turned to movie off after about 45minutes or so when Kitty started to fall asleep, too.

In the morning we made pancakes together and cleaned up or mess. It was a silly night but it's been a long time since I've had a sleepover...well worth it :)

Therapizing

2006-08-22T10:56:00.000+10:00

I've become significantly better at playing the guitar. I didn't have much of a choice. My clinical placement is at a center for adults with developmental disabilities. Unlike my other placements, we don't have a ton of instruments and supplies. The therapist I'm working under is privately contracted and brings all of her own instruments. She's opted to leave the piano at home. Can you blame her? So the guitar is my new best friend. I would actually prefer the guitar with this population but this forces me to use it all the time.

Kitty and I catch the ferry into the city and then catch a train to Yeerongpilly (isn't that a fun name). In the morning Kitty has her own group session. I'm in the session but I'm just there to hand out instruments and such. This coming Friday after the group session I'll be starting my own one-on-one session with one of the clients. I can't say too much about my clients due to confidentiality but I can tell you about the music :)

Kitty and I have lunch and then we travel to a different facility for the afternoon. This is where I have my own group session. This week we wrote a song - Sweet Home Australia, to the tune of Sweet Home Alabama. I wrote the first verse to give them an idea of how the song would sound then they helped me write a chorus and another verse. It ended up being a great hit :) They requested that we sing it again next week. And of course I'm going to advocate for music therapy and say that it was more than just writing a song. We work on specific objectives to achieve with the clients while writing the song. One being creative expression - the ability for the clients to express original ideas. When writing the song I ask questions to cognitively stimulate their minds in hopes of them sharing their unique ideas. Sometimes I need to use additional prompting to meet the objective. We've also worked on impulse control. The clients were asked to listen to each others' ideas one at a time and wait to speak until they were asked. Confidence and self expression is big with this group, too. They took turns singing the chorus in duets and the other group members had to be respectful and listen and wait for their turn. I know some of these sound like simple little tasks, but for someone with a developmental disability these tasks can be very challenging.

My second activity was a drumming activity. I gave each of the clients and instrument and told them to place it under their chair. (This is quite a hard task for them. It's like giving a child candy and telling them they have to put it under the chair for 10 minutes before they can have it.) I had a jembe drum and I taught them a simple rhythm pattern (slow, slow, fast, fast, fast) to clap. I reinforced the rhythm by having them practice before we turned on the music and allowing a few individuals to clap solo. This also once again requires impulse control not to clap along and patience. Then we started the music. I played on the drum to carry the rhythm pattern and they were to play along. After awhile I would change the pattern and do the whole process over again. After clapping we tried playing the rhythms with instruments. This was a little more difficult as some of the instruments don't have a distinctive beat. That's one of the problems with not having a good supply of instruments. One thing I'm learning while I'm here is how much we take for granted at Etown. We have an amazing clinic with every instrument imaginable. And we are also missing our professor. She's not an easy professor, but we are beginning to see why she pushed us so much. Maybe we'll complain less about the work load......haha maybe :) Anyhow, we did the drumming activity with instruments in the same pattern we did the clapping. Afterwards I continued to play the drum and asked the clients to take turns playing a solo on their instrument. And then we ended the experience by all playing together. They are a really fun group to work with but I'm sure will give me a few challenges along the way.

After my session Friday I realized that I really need to start my musical instrument collection. I made a list of the instruments that I would ideally like to effectively run a group session of about 8 clients. So, what my family doesn't know yet is they are all getting a list of instruments that I would like for the upcoming holidays (my return...that's a holiday, Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day, my Birthday). I've created a list with the stores where they can be purchased, the item number, quantity needed, and preference as to what is most important :) My time to collect instruments is getting short - I have less than 2 years before graduation!!

Ekka!!

2006-08-20T18:23:00.000+10:00

Kyle, Kitty and I went to a huge state fair last Monday in Brisbane. It's called Ekka, short for Exhibition. Australians love to abbreviate everything.

Anyhow, Kyle wrote an extensive blog about Ekka, so I'm going to recommend you read his as well. It will be far more detailed than mine.

We caught the CityCat (the Ferry) into the city and then caught a connected bus to the Ekka grounds. We wandered around before lunch looking at all the little shops set up. Woolworths (a grocery store chain) had a huge area with tons of different foods. Most of the places gave free samples, so we tried lots of food - fresh pineapple, watermelon, milk, cold cappuccino and hot cappuccino, chocolate, yogurt, nuts, salsa, Aussie BBQ chips (yummy!), nougats, and I'm sure I'm forgetting more...

For lunch we decided to try Dagwood Dogs. They look like corn dogs but the breading tastes a little different - it's more doughy. We also shared a cup of chips :)

After lunch we watched a food eating contest. There were five contestants. They were each given a bottle of Strawberry Milk and a Meat Pie. However, they were not told that the meat pie was full of chili. Another tid bit of information, chili is not beans, chili means chili peppers. Before they started they were looking for volunteers, I almost jumped at the opportunity though I had just eaten lunch. After watching the contestants painfully eating the hot meat pie I was rather glad I had just stuffed my stomach with a yummy Dagwood Dog.

We eventually made our way to the showbag pavilion. The pavilion had hundreds of showbags with different themes - cartoons characters (the Wiggles, Scooby-Doo, Sponge Bob), Coca Cola, local radio stations, candy themes (Willy Wonka, Cadbury), and tons of others. The bag was filled with goodies and offered at a price lower than the retail value. After much debate, Kyle and I decided to share a Willy Wonka Candy Showbag. The bag came with a crazy hat, original gobstoppers, chewy gobstoppers, nerds, nerds on a rope, taffy, a chocolate wonka bar and more fun candy.

Kyle and I decided it would be fun to get a silhouette done together. We were reading articles about the Silhouette man while he was being interviewed by the newspaper. Before I knew it, I was sitting in the chair getting my picture taken for the newspaper. They used Kyle and I's silhouette to display the man's work. It was quite interesting. Now Kyle and I have managed to make Australia news :)

In the afternoon we went on an extensive hat search. Kitty found a fun reversible pink and blue hat and Kyle found a fun cowboy hat. I was wearing my crazy Wonka hat but I decided to get something that I could wear on our trip to the outback so I got a fun pink hat.

One of my favorite parts of the day was the mini circus. They had a 30minute show with a clown, dogs doing tricks, a lady on a trapeze, a man juggling and two sisters doing tricks on a horse. I was quite impressed with the little circus under the big top :)

We finished the evening in the Energex Stadium watching some fun shows. Kyle bought us two bucket of Fairy Floss (cotton candy) to take to the show. He knows the way to my heart - sugar. There was a country singer on a horse, a whiptacular show (a group of people making fun sounds with whips), a buffalo show, trucks racing and my two favorites - a woman shot out of a cannon across the stadium and motorcross racers who did tricks in the air.

The night ended with an awesome firework display. Kyle and I called it our 4th of July since we missed it this year.

It was a long but excited day. Kyle, Kitty and I brought home Ekka shirts to help us remember our lovely day along with some Fairy Floss we didn't finish. I sure you were probably concerned about the well-being of our teeth :)

Things I DON'T Miss

2006-08-13T00:03:00.000+10:00

Paper Money. (Australian Money is plastic and just so much more fun!)

My Cell Phone.

My 20 credit load and 12 class semesters at Etown.

Paying for Gas.

Pennsylvania Weather.

My smelly Aunt.

Things I Miss

2006-08-12T23:44:00.000+10:00

Donuts. Powdered Donuts with Peanut Butter Filling. Yum.

Pizza. Greasy, American Pizza.

Applesauce.

Stores open past 6PM, or 5:30PM on the weekends.

Cars driving on the right side of the road.

When Ketchup is called Ketchup, Not Tomato Sauce.

Fahrenheit.

Grandma.

You.

Pictures!

2006-08-10T20:53:00.000+10:00

Check out my pictures from Australia!!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/ValerieSRhodes

Yay!

2006-08-09T20:36:00.000+10:00

Today in class I was staring at my feet as they were talking about the Australia Music Therapy Association Code of Ethics. I've already read all about the American Music Therapy Association Code of Ethics.

Anyhow..my feet looked slightly darker. I couldn't tell. The lighting wasn't the best.

So I was just sitting here and I'm not wearing any shoes. I look down and I thought I have dirt on my foot. No dirt!!! I tried washing it off. It's a tan line from my flip flops!!! Yay!! I'm not white!

Australia Zoo and Noosa

2006-08-09T17:02:00.000+10:00

This weekend was quite spontaneous. Kyle woke me up Saturday morning at 6:18AM (I'm not sure why the odd number) and asked me if I wanted to go to the zoo. I was up for an adventure so I got up, showered, packed us a lunch, and finished getting ready. In order to catch the train to the zoo, we needed to catch the ferry to get across the river to the train station. Kyle was in charge of watching the clock. He tells me we need to leave, so I grab my stuff and head to the door. Just as we are leaving he says to grab my swim suit - there is a beach directly east of the zoo. We hussle down the stairs and outside and he tells me to start running. I asked why, and he says, "the ferry leaves in 4 minutes." So, we ran. I think it's about a 1/3 of a mile....I really don't know. Kyle has on a backpack and is carrying my breakfast in one hand (a chocolate chip cookie...nutritious right?) and a handful of change in his other hand. We make it to the station just as the ferry pulls up. Had we not caught the ferry, our weekend adventure wouldn't have happened, as the next train to the zoo wouldn't leave for another hour or so and would give us little time at the zoo.

We arrived at the train station with a few minutes to spare (about 3 minutes). We hopped on the train and had time to relax for the next hour train ride. We we arrived at the station, the zoo had a shuttle that picked you up and drove you right to the zoo so that was quite convienent. As we are getting off the bus the driver annouces the times the bus will be making shuttles back to the station. Our game plan was to leave the zoo at 3:10 and catch the 3:30 train. The next shuttle left the zoo at 4:30 (closing time) and the next train departed at 6:30, two hours later. We really didn't want to spend 2 hours at this little train station.

We got into the Zoo around 9:30AM and began looking around. I believe we saw the Sea Otters first. We saw a little talk about the Tortosies and then walked around a little longer. At 11 we went to the Crocoseum for a series of animal shows - snake show, tiger show (my favorite!), bird show, and the famous Croc show. We were really hoping to see Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter, but unfortunately it wasn't our lucky day. If you weren't already aware, Steve Irwin owns the Australia Zoo.

After the shows we saw a little camel and fox talk, saw dingos, tazmania devils, and koalas. Kyle and I had our picture taken together with a Koala. Kyle and I both wanted to hold it, however I had to hold it because I'm shorter. If Kyle would have held it, the Koala would have blocked my head in the picture. So just before we go up to have our picture taken, they decide to switch koalas. They bring out the new koala, who happens to be pooping. Yes, the koala pooped on my hand. We had a quick picture, and then I washed my hands with HEAPS of soap! If only Kyle were short.

After the Koala picture we went and saw the Elephants. They had an elephant feeding but we were late and missed it! :( Kyle loved the kangaroos. We spent a lot of time chilling with the roos. Kyle took a lot of pictures. The kangaroos are acutally really friendly (in the zoo anyway). I ended up lounging on the ground for a few minutes while Kyle went photo crazy.

After the Kangaroos we saw the Cheetahs and headed to the food court to grab a snack before we left. We had missed the 3:10 bus so headed out to catch the 4:30 bus. We were eariler and found a line of courtesy buses. There happened to be one headed to Noosa. So Kyle and I thought Noosa sounded fun, and that solved the problem of having to wait at the train station.

The bus ended up an hour later in Noosa, another hour north of Brisbane. Fortunately, we arrived a few minutes before 5PM and we went straight to the information center. We realized that at this hour, the chances of finding a bus station, getting to the train station, and catching a train back to Brisbane would be highly unlikely so we needed to find somewhere to stay for the night. As soon as we were inside the information center, they closed the doors. We barely made it, once again. The lady recommending Koalas Hostel for a cheap nights lodging.

We headed to Koalas, just a short walk from the beach. Luckly, they had one twin share room left. Our other option would have been a room with 7 bunk beds and 5 strangers. We opted to pay $10 more and ensure our safety. Our room was small and attached to one of the bigger rooms with 7 bunks. We had to share the bathroom but we didn't really have anything to clean ourselves with so that wasn't much of a problem.

We picked up toothpaste (and used our fingers as a brush) and bought one bottle of contact solution. The solution came with one free case so Kyle put his contacts in the lids and I put mine in the base. We added lots of solution and hoped they wouldn't be dry by morning. Luckily, we were safe!

That evening we went down to the beach and walked around. We had dinner at Burger Urge. We both had cheeseburgers and chips (french fries). Kyle had pepsi and I had a soda called solo, it tasted like Mountain Dew.

For desert we had ice cream from New Zealands Natural. It was soo yummy. I had a scoop of Crazy Monkey Ice Cream (like a banana split) and Cookies and Cream. I believe Kyle had Orange Chocolate Chip (which tasted like an orange creamsicle).

We wandered around a little more and called it a night. We slept in the clothes we wore and prayed that we'd wake up in the morning. Thankfully, the French people next door were a little noisy in the morning.

Sunday morning I headed to the bathroom to that care of my personal hygiene. Brushing my teeth with my finger was so refreshing. As I'm washing my face with water I notice the bottle of French face wash sitting on the sink. I was desperate. My face felt dirty. Luckly with those French classes in high school I was able to identify the words "face" and "wash" on the bottle. So, I borrowed a little dot of face wash. I was quite refreshing. Had the French girls been there, I would have thanked them.

Kyle and I checked out of the hostel around 9:30 and headed to the beach. We had breakfast at Jaspers. Kyle and I both ordered Pancakes with cinnamon butter, strawberries, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It was amazing! I had a hot chocolate with marshmellows and Kyle had cranberry juice, the healthly, but not nearly the yummy, fun choice.

We spent a few hours relaxing on the beach. The weather was really nice and sunny. Kyle and I got in the water for a little. The water is soo clear compared to the beaches back home. I feel asleep on my stomach for a little while and the back of my legs got slightly burnt :(

Around 2PM Kyle and I decided to walk through the Noosa National Park. First we had American Naked Hot Dogs from a German Ice Cream Shop. I was quite excited that they advertised the hot dogs as American. Hot dogs are one of my least favorite foods, but typically American. All the good American food just isn't the same here. The hot dog wasn't too bad, but still had a weird foreign taste.

Kyle and I made our way through the park to a place called Dolphin Point. We climbed down a little hill and sat on some big rocks and watched the waves. Apparently, you can sometimes see dolphins and whales. We hung out there for a little while and walked back to the beach.

We had dinner at Subway. Of course, more American food. Then we grabbed another ice cream cone from New Zealand's Natural and sat on the beach with our treat.

Around 6PM we headed to the bus station and took the bus to the train station. Overall it took us almost 3 hours to get back to Brisbane (we had some down time at the train station). We were much farther north than what we realized. We strolled back into our apartment a little after 9 PM. The first thing I did was shower.

We definately want to go back again. It really isn't that easy to get there with the public transport system. Hopefully next time it will be a little more structured :)

I'm in Noosa!

2006-08-05T18:30:00.000+10:00

Kyle and I decided this morning to go to the Australia Zoo! After the zoo, we didn't feel like waiting at the train stain for an hour for the next train, so we hopped on a free courtesy bus to Noosa. It's on the Sunshine Coast! So, for tonight and tomorrow, I will be relaxing on the gorgeous beaches of the Pacific Ocean.

More details and photos to come ;)

I'm attempting to catch up...

2006-08-01T23:38:00.000+10:00

I must apologize for the abrupt conclusion of my last blog. I had all intentions of finishing but two weeks passed and I failed to add anything, so last night I gave up and posted what I had before. I guess my purposed of this email is to briefly summarize what should have been posted between my last blog and today, August 1st.

So Kyle and I flew from Baltimore to LA. My experience on airplanes has been exclusive to my flight to and from England last Spring so I was quite boggled when I flew Southwest Airlines to California. After we boarded I realized that I didn't have my own personal tv, blanket, pillow, headset, or any of the fun little things they give you on international flights. Nonetheless, I survived the flight...mostly by entertaining Kyle.

When we arrived in CA, Kyle's Uncle and cousin Connor where they to pick us up. And to my luck, they helped carry my heaps of luggage. Kyle's Aunt and Uncle offered to let us stay at their home in CA for a night, so we spent Saturday night at the Kealey Residence. It was such a nice break to our chain of flights, not to mention Kyle got to visit with his family and we had a blast. Caitlin, Kyle's cousin, had a made us a banner that was hanging outside on the garage door that said good luck. It was quite exciting to have our own sign. Saturday before dinner we went to the beach and I saw the Pacific ocean for the first time! Only a few days later I'd be swimming in the Pacific Ocean on the opposite side :) As you can see by Kyle and I's faces the water was a little chilly. We also got a few other pictures I thought were worthy of display...

Saturday after the beach we stopped for dinner at "In-n-Out Burger." It's a cool little burger shop. Kyle had told me about it before but the experience is priceless...not to mention Caitlin and I got cool hats! I believe I had a cheeseburger with french fries (or should I say chips now?) and a drink. It was quite yummy!

Saturday night we relaxed and watched a movie. Mr. Kealey had us doing a science experiment in the kitchen right before bed with "bendable" metal.

Sunday we had dinner at "Islands," before Kyle and I headed out to the airport. It was a fun little hawaiian restaurant. I had a huge teryiaki chicken sandwich! It was a nice last meal to have before leaving the states.

Saying goodbye to Kyle's family was sad. I believe it was slightly more intense than my family..however I believe they are still in the denial stage :) I feared Kyle's Aunt would make me cry. But I survived the goodbyes and made it to the airport. Oo did I mention we left we a goodie bag!! Which came in handy much later when I was dying for some real food, or at least food I could identify. Those raisenettes saved me.

More fun stories about the airport!!! When we got there we had to wait in a huge line...that moved soooo slow. And wouldn't you know, I really have to go to the bathroom. So Kyle suggests that he wait in line and I sneak out to use the bathroom, after all the line isn't moving. So I hurry my way to the bathroom and as I make my way down the escalator, I see Kyle....next in line. So I booked my way though the airport and hopped back in line just in time to check-in.

If anyone had talked to me a few weeks before my departure, you would know that I had a fiasco with my passport and VISA. But after much time and effort I finally had everything set. As the lady at the check-in desk looks at my passport, she tells me that there is no VISA (electronically) attached to it. I starred at her blankly, and as Kyle began to see me get angry, he decided to talk to the lady for me. She magically got me a new VISA. I didn't ask any questions. All I knew is that I had a VISA, so that's all that matters.

After they weigh of baggage and place the tags on it, they give it all back to you. It was rather strange. So then we had to take our luggage to the lugguage security line. Yet another line! My luggage doesn't have my name on it. For some reason, all of the luggage said Brady. I was slightly my name, but I figured even with Kyle's name it's going to the same place. As the man checked our luggage he assumed Kyle and I were married or brother and sister or something and kept referring to us as the Brady family. It was rather humorous.

So finally we get rid of the luggage and head through security ourselves. The rest of our time in the LA airport was rather uneventful.

Unfortunately, it is time for bed. I will attempt to add some more fun-ness tomorrow. We have soo many cool pictures I want to add, too!!

Goodnight for now.

I'm here!

2006-07-13T15:45:00.000+10:00

13 days, 5 airports, 2 hotels, 1 hostel later, I've finally arrived at our apartment! I'm not sure where to begin, but I'm sure this blog is going to be rather long so perhaps you may want to grab a snack or cup of coffee before you start reading :)

I left began my adventure June 30th as we headed to Baltimore the night before my flight. Dad and I went out to the mall and had dinner at Damon's. There was a Cold Stone Creamery near the mall so I took Dad to try my absolute favorite Ice Cream Shop. There is one in Lancaster that we frequently visit when I'm at school in Etown. Anyhow, I believe I got Dad hooked.

We headed back to the hotel and I got ready for bed. I slept rather well, with the exception of the hotel alarm going off at 3AM. I got up around 6AM, showered, and started getting ready. I woke Dad up at 7:15, because he said he only needed 15 minutes to get ready. Granted that is true, be he failed to mention it takes him another 15 minutes to eat breakfast. So I hussled him to finish his lovely breakfast so we could get to the airport. I had a chain of flights to catch; I didn't want to start by missing the first.

I arrived at BWI Airport a little after 8AM. I had more luggage than I could handle. In attempt to check in to get my boarding pass and such, I was shuffled between lines. The man at the airport assumed I was a minor and put me in the wrong line. After checking my bags, it was time to head threw security so it was time to say goodbye to Dad. Of course, he was full of lovely advice, such as don't miss me, don't cry, and watch out for all those deadly snakes, spiders, and jellyfish. I reminded him to have a Christmas Tree for me by the time I get home. Once again, I'm ready to go through security when the lady tells me I need an adult to accompany me. I know I look young, but could it not be possible that I'm at least 18 years old...considering I'm now 20.

I safely made it through security. Unlike the British, they had no desire to search me by hand. Kyle was coming in on a connecting flight, so I headed to his landing terminal. I watched his plane land, followed by many many people getting off the plane. No Kyle. So I stood there anxiously waiting. Finally, after several rushes of people, Kyle slowly strolls off the plane at the end of the line.