April 23, 2008 The Highest Point in Australia

We got up at around 6:30 again because we wanted to get an early start on climbing Mt. Kosciusko. It is the highest point in Australia. We originally were going to hike 21k but then we decided to pay the $30 for the chair lift and only walk 13 k. which was a Wonderful decision! We were so over hiking by the time 30 k was over however chair lifts are a little scarier when Snow isn’t covering all the rocks and going down was even worse! There is a reason you ski from the top instead of riding the chair lift up and down. It didn’t help that we had two people that were really afraid of heights. But it was so worth it. The view of the Snowy Mountains from the top was great. Our Aussie mates made sure we brought an Australian flag for the photos! We got done at the mountain and we headed back to Doughety which is a town of 52 people and we were going to the pub for dinner. Steve got the time mixed up in his head and thought it was 5:30 when we got there but it was only 4:30 so we went down to the Snowy River for a little while and then headed up to the pub and the group started drinking. The drivers weren’t so happy about not being able to drink when we had an hour to wait until we could even order dinner. So at 6 we order dinner and at 6:30 the cook comes out and tells us that everything is ready to go she is just waiting for the meat delivery so at this point we have been waiting for 2 hours so Steve decides he want’s to drink and I am now the Designated Driver. We finally get our meal at 7:30 and during this time we have been introduced to a couple of the locals and Sly who had the most to drink tells one of them that I am engaged to Steve and this guy goes out and tells all of the good ole boys so when Steve goes outside he was getting congratulated on his engagement and when he tries to correct them they were like Oh you haven’t told your mom yet we understand we won’t tell her, but congrats. And Diane is being hit on by a guy with a wooden leg, and Jacko the Shearer who isn’t ever sober is hitting on Angela ( obviously there is a shortage of Girls in this area) So we leave and I am driving home which was an experience driving on the other side of the road being careful not to hit any kangaroos and being told I should try and hit rabbits. And we get back to Steve’s Grandparents at 8:30 but it felt like 10 or 11 because we had been hiking all day.

April 21, 2008 & April 22, 2008

I woke up at 6:00 because I could here Steve’s family chatting and we were going to go riding at 7 before the camp kids got up. So we went out and it was super fun. We did some trotting ( I unknowingly did some cantering on accident) We saw Kangaroo’s hopping through the fields. We went back up to his Grandparents to see if our friends were suppose to be meeting had rung because there is no cell phone service out there and our friends were still hours away so we took out the Ute(pickup truck) to go Muster Sheep which was an experience. The Rams were head butting each other so we left them and got all the other sheep in the paddock and went back for them and Steve asked me to get out and open the gate as he rounded up the rams. And he did it just to get a good laugh because I go skipping across the field to get to the gate as he is running two rams at me and I was afraid they were going to come after me and he is just in the Ute laughing. But in the end they all end up in the pen and I wasn’t hurt :) We then headed back into town its 70 kilometers away to pick up our friends because they wouldn’t have been able to find his farm since it is like drive 30 k then turn right onto this dirt road for 10 k etc. with very little signage. So we picked them up and they followed us back out.
Steve and I headed out for his farm in the Snowy Mountains. We left at 5:30 am and drove for 6 hours. We spent the day visiting his family and catching up on local on goings etc. It was fun. We spent the afternoon at his Aunt Kerri’s Horse farm that had 30 little kids there for Horse camp. Then we headed back to his Gma and Gpa’s House for dinner and to watch the man from Snowy River.

April 20, 2008 Outback Dirt Stains

I woke up early by choice because my body doesn’t want to sleep in now. I had breakfast and was reading my Where is God when it hurts book and this gal sat by me and we started to talk and it turns out she lives like 500meters away from me. She lives in the dorm/college next to mine and before starting her undergrad she did a year at a Bible College in Ohio. She actually remembered me from soccer from a couple weeks before which probably isn’t my most loving, positive moment. But she didn’t hold it against me and we had a lovely conversation and I invited her to bible study at RMC so we will see if she shows up. Then I headed to the Alice Springs Airport to catch it’s one flight a day to Sydney. I got to Sydney at about 4:30 but it I didn’t actually get back to school until 7 because it took so long working out all the trains, luggage, busses, etc. So I got back and started my laundry right away and I had missed the beginning of church service so I got waited till the supper at the end and walked over and it was good to see everyone then I got my laundry out of the dryer and joined my friends to watch Australian Gladiators which is a weekly ritual, Church then Gladiators.

April 19, 2008- Oh Wait... Some more Bush Walking

We got to sleep in this morning we didn’t get up until 7. We broke down camp and then headed to Kings Canyon we did our hike early before the sun was out in full force. The first bit of the hike is called Heart Attack hill because it is pretty much straight up vertically for about 15-20 min at a normal/quick speed. It took our group 20 min. but they allow for 30 min. Which was a nice lung stretcher then we spent the next couple hours walking along the top of the canyon and then we descended half way to a watering hole where we had morning tea. Then back to the top for the 5 k hike back to the car. Which really wasn’t that bad though you are so busy looking down making sure not to fall that you miss out on some of the cool sights all around you. At one point I was so focused on my steps that I didn’t see a tree branch across the trail and I smacked my head so hard it made a clunking sound and left a large knot on it for several days. We got back to the bus around lunch time and we headed to a picnic bay and made up taco’s for lunch then we got back in the bus for the 6 hour trip back to Alice Springs. Two girls had to switch groups to get back to Uluru so there was a spare seat so I had my own seat which was nice for the trip back and I slept, wrote in my journal and read. It was really neat while we were driving back we saw a small pack of Wild Brumbies (Horses) which pretty much made my outback experience. When we got back to Alice Springs we all were dropped off to shower which was much needed because we had been sleeping and doing everything in the dirt for the past 3 days. We met up for dinner all together which was nice but also kind of funny because Alice Springs isn’t safe to walk around at night by yourself especially me being a lone white American girl so I had to get a taxi to the restaurant so I paid $20 in taxi fares to go to a $5 meal which is funny but I was paying for the company not the food. J

April 18, 2008

We had another early wake up . Our guide woke us up at 5am I would have tried to sleep in more because I didn’t need an hour to get up but I was in the middle of our campsite in the open air so that wasn’t quite possible. We all made up camp quickly and then headed back to Uluru for sunrise. We walked around the base of Uluru while the sun was rising which was beautiful. The sun reflecting off the rock was spectacular. The Walk took about 2.5 hours to complete and then we headed to the Aboriginal Cultural center. Which I spent most of my time in the gift shop. It was just like every other museum. I like to look at the pictures but I have no desire to read every caption. Also a lot of the stuff I have already learned or it is so specific to their tribe I just wasn’t that interested in reading all the plaques. When we were done at Uluru at around 12 we headed back to camp made up lunch then we got back in the bus for a 4 hour drive to Kings Canyon. We stopped for Petrol and then we also stopped alongside the road and picked up fire wood.
When we got to King’s Canyon we drove straight to our campsite. The roads to get there were like the roads in Costa Rica. We were really in the Bush. We unloaded the firewood and started making our Bush Tucker (Dinner) We had potato’s, vegetables, chicken and bread, that were all made in Dutch ovens in the fire. So it took a long time but it was worth it for the experience. While we waited for Dessert to finish cooking we passed around a Didgeridoo and we all took turns trying to make noise with it. By my second turn I was able to get a sound out that at least sounded like a didgieriedoo and not just me buzzing my lips. When Dessert was ready we moved into the dinner tent to rip off a piece of meat from the Kangarro’s tail. Yep Kangaroo tail! Pretty much you kill a kangarro hack off their tail and then burn it in the fire to cook the meat and the hair burns off and you cut the charcoaled skin back. I tried a really little piece just for the experience but I was not a fan. Then we set up our Swags. This night everyone joined us under the stars. It was breathtaking looking at all the stars and it was a full moon.

April 17, 2008.

I don’t actually know what time I got up today. I thought I got up at 5am to be ready in time but I think it was actually 4:30 because I had changed time zones and not realized it. I am so lucky It was earlier instead of later because that would have been horrible to miss my trip because it was a 3 day safari. We drove for 5 hours out to the Olga’s and we were in the middle of the outback. Almost exactly in the middle of Australia it was really neat but also really sparse. I sat next to a nice lady named Julie who was around mom and dad’s age and this was the first vacation that her and her husband Tony had taken together with out kids since having them. (She had a daughter my age) We had some lovely conversation plus I slept a lot. We got to The Olgas and did a 7 k bush walk which was pretty cool then we headed to Uluru/Ayers Rock ( Aboriginal/European Name) technically it is Uluru because the Australian Government gave it back to the Aboriginals in the 90’s so now it is owned by the Aborginals but is on a 100 year lease to the parks department and they work together managing it. We went and watched it at Sunset which was pretty neat and we had some Champagne. After that we headed to our campsite and made dinner then we all hung out by the fire and set up our Swags. About 6 of us slept in our swags by the fire while everyone else slept inside. I’ll give you one guess what I chose J The Swags were like big canvas sleeping bags that you put your sleeping bag inside of . But it protects you from the dirt and it has a mattress it was quite lovely and the stars were amazing.

April 16, 2008, How Santa Visits Australia

I parted ways with Angela and Dianne today. They left at 4am to catch their flight to Brisbane where they were going to see stuff I had already seen and hang out with one of Angela’s friends from U of Washington. I slept in because my flight didn’t leave for Alice Springs until 11:30. I stopped at a used book store to find a book that could keep me occupied on the plane and if the tour I was traveling with wasn’t to exciting. So I bought Phillip Yancey’s “Where is God when it Hurts?” Together with “Disappointment with God”, when I got to Alice Springs it was just like the movies. It is a small town in the middle of the outback. Everything is rock and red dirt. I spent the afternoon in “town” and I went into every single shop I believe. I was looking for some cool souvenirs. I found a couple. I went back to the hostel and read my book because I found it really interesting. I had wanted some light reading but none of it sounded vaguely interesting where as Phillip Yancey’s book was deeper then I wanted to go on my trip but it was so interesting and started so many conversations it was really neat. I headed to bed early again because I had another 6 am pick up.

April 15, 2008 White Water Rafting on the Tully

Today was a 6:40 am pick up. Raging Thunder had the bus outside of Gilligan’s ready to go. We had to drive two hours to the Tully River in Tully. But it is one of the best rapids to raft for beginners in the world and it was so much fun. Our raft had the three of us Americans, 3 Scottish guys of similar age and one girl from the Netherlands and our raft guide Gareth has been all over the world guiding and he had lots of really interesting stories. Because we were all fit and adventurous we got to do more then the other rafts. Gareth’s goal was to flip the raft which he almost succeeded. He got us hung up on a rock on purpose and everyone fell out except for him and I but then I knew the raft was going to flip so I jumped out but my body got caught under the raft and it was wrapped around the rock and the water kept pushing me so I couldn’t get out. I’m still not sure how I got out but I believe I had my eyes open because I remember seeing it and using my feet to push myself in the current to get away from the raft and rock. And I came up and the other guides are doing a count and I hear them say your good we count 6 and Garreth saying but I have 7. Then he spotted me and we had seven. It was fun. He later told me that I didn’t look to happy when I came out. But it was super fun! I don’t know if I would do that exact scenario again but it was worth it. We got to jump off a rock a couple meters in the air into the water and swim some rapids then we headed back to Cairns. We got back to Cairns and played some cards and then went to bed early because we all had to fly the next day and rafting had worn us out.

April 14, 2008 Scuba Diving on the Great Barrier Reef

We woke up at 6:30 to make our 7:40 boat departure. It was wonderful we spent the entire day on the water. The only thing better then spending the day on the water is spending the day in the mountains in the snow. I love it. The boat wasn’t crowded because we were at the beginning of the season which was nice. We went out to the reef which was beautiful but it was a windy day so the swell was pretty high it was between 1 -2 meters and that made for some really choppy riding which thus made for some sick people. Sadly I was one of those people. I haven’t lost my stomach in 4 years and of course it had to happen on a boat right before I was going to go diving. So I lost it then 10 minutes later I was in the water diving because I was bound and determined that being sick wasn’t going to ruin my day. Angela and Diane and I all went diving which was so much fun. It was just the three of us and a instructor. The reef was so much better and bigger here than it was in the Whitsunday’s when I went diving with Jennifer. It was spectacular. We came up and everyone had some lunch (minus me I wasn’t ready for it) and we headed to a different spot on the reef and I went diving again the other girls went snorkeling. I have so many photos from the photographer on the boat which is where this one came from.

April 13, 2008

Angela and I had a very leisurely day. We got up when we wanted got some breakfast then we headed back down to the esplanade to have a nap in the sun. It was great. When we were done lounging we did some more window shopping and then we met up with Diane because she had gotten back from skydiving. Neither of us was keen on joining her in throwing our bodies out of a plane. We went out to dinner and then headed to Gilligan’s Bar which is supposedly a big thing. However when we got there no one was there which was kind of nice because it was just the three of us dancing. By the end of the evening there were more people but by then it was the shady people so we headed outside where Angela was hit on by some townie which was pretty funny. Then yet again we had to head to bed early because the next day was another early day.

April 12, 2008 Break... Here we come!

I woke up at 5:30 for our 6 Am taxi which made for a short night because I didn’t go to bed until 2 am. Then Angela, Diana and I headed for the Sydney Airport and we caught our flight to Cairns which is in the Northern part of the east coast of Australia. It was super warm when we got off the plane which was so nice. We dropped off our backpacks at Gilligans the Hostel we were staying at then we changed into shorts and went to a nice café for lunch. After lunch we walked around a Saturday market and I did some shopping then we headed down to the Esplanade where they had more vendors of fruit, jewelry, clothes, art etc. set up. We bought some McDonalds Soft serve which is $.50 a cone which is pretty sweet and we hung out and just looked in all of the souvenir shops. For dinner we went to a Mexican Restaurant which we were all excited about because we hadn’t had real Mexican for 3 months. This was close to real Mexican food but not quite there. Then we had dessert and Gelato went back to Gilligan’s our Hostel and played cards. We were going to go to the bar but then we decided we didn’t want to stay up that late because Dianne had to be up early the next morning to go skydiving.

April 26th -Back from a Brilliant Break!

Just wanted to let you all know that I am alive :) and I had a WONDERFUL Mid-Semester Break!
I don't have my internet at School until Monday. So I am going to be working on updating the Blog so I can get you all caught up to today for the Photo A Day. I also should probably try and get to some homework done but pictures are just way more fun :)

April 16th The Outback

Today I parted ways with my traveling companions and headed to the Outback. Tomorrow I join up with my Travel Group where we are going to backpack/Camp in here for 4 days. We are going to visit Uluru/Ayers Rock, Kings canyon and other outback sights. SO I am off. I am having a Wonderful Holiday!

Yesterday we wen't Diving which was amazing. I got to go down twice which was pretty spectacular. I got to see so much of the Great Barrier Reef. Today we went White Water Rafting which was also spectacular! We had a great day on the river. I will give you more of an update and photos when I get back to real Internet!

April 13,2008 Cairns

We made it to cairns it was very uneventful I slept the whole flight because we had to catch our taxi and I had gotten to bed at 2am so I was tired. We got to Cairns and spent the afternoon shopping and walking around and figuring out our tours etc. for the rest of the week.
Overall there isn't much to do in Cairns as a whole other than shop. It was Saturday so there was quite a few weekend markets that were fun to see.
We had a very leisurly night.
Today (14th) Angela and I are hanging out at the Beach while Diane goes Skydiving (we weren't keen on throwing our bodies out of a plane) and then tomorrow we are going diving/snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef all day and then the next day we are putting in a full day of White Water Rafting which I am pretty stoked about!

Just a Heads Up!

For those of you that judge whether I am still alive or not by my blog updating do not fret! I will be traveling for the next 2 weeks! (Yea) I will spend half of this week in Cairns, diving, snorkeling, river rafting etc. Then I fly to Alice Springs to do an outback safari and see Ayers Rock.
I will try and update if I get a chance but who knows!
So if you don't get a chance to update , You will just get to look at 2 weeks worth of photos the next time it is updated!!
Love you All

April 11, 2008 Packing up & Dinner

I woke up to my phone ringing and I had a lovely chat with mom, then it was go time. I finished my essay and then started packing up my room. We have to move out for every break if we don’t want to pay because they rent out rooms while we are gone. So that adds a little stress and then I went out to dinner with a bunch of friends from RMC to celebrate Julia’s 30th Birthday. Not that you would know she is 30 (She is the one on the far left). So that was a blast and the food was AMAZING! So nice to not be eating just rice and chicken. I got back and hung out with them for awhile but then I had to be responsible and finish packing up my room and packing for Mid-Semester Break. The taxi comes to pick us up at 6 am tomorrow!! So know I am off to bed to get a couple hours sleep.

April 10, 2008

I got all of my assignments done which is nice and relieving. I had the mixed Bible Study which was really great. I am learning so much here it is really exciting. After Bible Study I went with Julia to the Uni Bar which was 100% lame but we had a really good conversation so that was worth getting all dressed up for. Overall it was just a wonderful day of really great conversations!

April 9, 2008

I woke up early again! I don’t know what to do with myself. I had a paper to finish so I got that done and then I had two classes. I almost didn’t get my paper handed in on time because I messed up the time in my head. But I realized fifteen minutes before the deadline that it was almost 4 so I got out up out of class and ran to the computer lab. As I left my last class that got out at 6pm the sun had almost set completely which makes me sad. I hate Fall Back! I had girls bible study tonight which is always a good time. Tonight we celebrated birthdays. The three girls pictured all had momentous Birthdays 30, 20, and 18 (which means she can drink in Australia) Then I had a delightful conversation with the Pastor of the Church connected with RMC how I should come back here to do seminary and be his student minister for two years. Now I am back in my room trying to finish my last paper before Spring /Mid-Semester Break starts.

April 8, 2008

I woke up again at 7:50 with out an alarm clock. What is the world coming to when I am getting up easily? This could be a nice change if it stays. I had a full day of class and then Netball. Netball was good tonight we played really well and we won so that is always nice. I am just finishing a paper that is due tomorrow and then I need to start the one that is due on Friday.

April 7,2008 You never know what color it will be!

This morning started off with running through the rain to get to prayer meeting which prayer was nice just not the rain. After class a couple girlfriends died my hair blonde. This time it is really blonde and for those of you that wonder if my hair can take much more I to am asking that question. So when either I get sick of this or I have roots showing I am going to dye it back to my natural color. The dyeing process has been fun. But I think I like what God gave me best.:)

The picture doesn't really do it justice. It is really blonde. I will try and do the natural light one tomorrow. It just gets dark so early here now :( after dinner it is dark.

April 6, 2008 - Prince Henry Cliff Walk

Today we toured the cliffs of the Blue Mountains. So yet again we spent the morning hiking and climbing more stairs. I am so over stairs right about now! But it was a great experience and I got some sweet photos. We did the Prince Henry Cliff Walk that over looks the entire valley/canyon. We saw the Three Sisters which are three rock formations that have been eroded over thousands of years and are pretty famous. We rode the steepest train in the world, which is a vertical drop of 206 meters in 415 meters with a 52 degree incline. It was very impressive. It was originally built to hall coal out. After lunch we headed back into the city back to Uni. I got back just in time to get changed for a worship team practice. Which was interesting because I only knew 2 out of the 5 songs and had only ever played one of them before it was pretty crazy but It ended up going much better than I thought it would which is really nice.

April 5, 2008 IFSA-Butler Adventure Weekend

It was an early morning. Actually the earliest I have been up since being at Uni here. We got up at 7 for breakfast at 7:15 after, Breky my group headed off to go rock climbing. We got out little briefing then we started our little hike to the climbing spot. It was pretty steep going down which made us a tad nervous about the climb up. When we got there it was great because they had 8 stations set up so everyone got to go a lot and they also had climbing shoes which were great. It made climbing so much easier. Once we got done climbing we did the hike out which was pretty intense everyone was breathing really heavy. Then we went back to the retreat center had lunch and then we headed out for our Adventure Hike which was REALLY intense! We hiked Australia’s “Grand Canyon” We descended around 1,000 vertical feet to the canyon. Thus we had to climb out of the valley/canyon. It was crazy!! It was almost straight stairs all the way out. I read that it is around 300 stairs to the top but that is just the one straight up section there was around another 15-20 min of walking up with random stairs. By the end everyone just wanted to lay down. But we got to the look out which made the hike worth it. (However we could have just driven there) After dinner we had Trivia Night and my team didn’t do quite as well as we had hoped. We weren’t up on our Australian celebrities. However we kicked everyone’s butt at Aussie slang which to me is more impressive.

April 4, 2008 Gone Climbing

I started out the morning by cleaning my room and doing laundry then I packed for the weekend in the Blue Mountains. I met up with the other Macquarie Uni. IFSA-Butler students on campus and then we rode the bus to Katoomba which is in the Blue Mountains it was about 2 hours. There were 20 of us in a charter bus we had plenty of room. We arrived at the Christian Retreat Center where we were staying for the weekend. We had a low key evening. As soon as we got there I put on my sweatshirt and my north face because it was so much colder then had hot chocolate while waiting for dinner. I met 4 nice girls in line for dinner and I spent the evening playing Yahtzee and Scategories with them. The picture is of our room. We had 10 beds and 3 girls so we all huddled near the measly little heater. Really Crazy is this guy walked in and I thought I recognized him but then convinced myself there was no way I knew him and it turns out I did know him. We went to High School together! Small World!

April 3, 2008

I spent the afternoon doing work outside on my computer which was lovely but sadly it was very chilly because it is beginning to turn into autumn. These birds surrounded me which I was not a fan of. They have really long beaks and were quite large. I had to keep a watchful eye out the whole time. We had a really great Bible study tonight. It is funny because the girls bible study is more how can we apply this to how we are living, how can we help each other and Thursday is mixed gender and is lead by Johnny and it is so deep, academic, and historical it is great it is like the polar opposites between nights. The background knowledge this group has blows my mind. I learn more and am forced to think more in this bible study then in any class I have ever taken.

April 2, 2008 It's Haircut time!

I started out the morning doing homework and then I was off to the mall for a hair cut. I just walked in and was like that place looks upstanding and sat down. I had no idea what I was going to get, but in the end I am very happy with the result. I showed her 5 photos and said I wanted a low maintenance mixture of them all. This is what I got. I really do like it. It is a little trendier then I normally go but I am trying to go there :) I then had class which was ok, it was class. In Soc. We debated the affects of our changing society on family and the nuclear family. Which went ok; one of the guys on my side of the debate who had been at the Uni Bar before class randomly started bashing Christians and how narrow minded they are and all this crap… I applied what I have been learning in Australia. Political correctness isn’t always correct. So I very kindly but firmly told him that we were debating the nuclear family not Christianity and he didn’t want to get into that conversation right now. It was exciting that I stood up to him but also ticked me off because his ranting about how narrow minded Christians are just proved how he is so “open” minded he is extremely narrow minded himself.

April 1, 2008 Class and Netball

Class, more class, and more class… Its like Macquarie thinks I am here to go to class. So by the time I got back to RMC it was dinner time. After dinner we had netball. It was a good time though sadly we didn’t come out victorious. I did learn something I think… not that it is relevant to my life but I did learn about whether the 1975 constitutional crisis was constitutional or not. It is where the Governor General (He is like our president except appointed by the Queen) used his power (normally he is just a ceremonial figure head) to throw out the entire government and appoint the opposition. In the end his reasons weren’t really constitutional but it did work out for the best in hind sight…. Who knew…