1) never leave Jess, Debbie, and I in the apartment to all write papers when Jess starts playing Christmas music on her laptop.
2) never send Brett, John, Katie, Bree, and myself to pick out a movie. Even between the 5 of us, we can't find a single video in Blockbuster to rent.
3) never place me in an Australian trivia competition. I would lose.
To start with the first bullet...just a reminder of how lucky I am to have the roommates I do. :) Jess, who has been listening to Christmas music for the past month, decided to play us her favorite Christmas song: White Christmas. I'm usually not one to listen to Christmas music until December, but this of course is a special occasion that I could not pass up because Debbie started "harmonizing" aka making up her own backup vocals to Bing Crosby followed by standing up in her underwear in the middle of the living room doing motions to the words. Soon, the three of us were singing and dancing to Rockin Around the Christmas Tree and laughing so hard I had stitches. Remember, that we have floor to ceiling windows in our apartment...if there was anyone in the park across the river or on a boat, they must've thought that we were either crazy or just a really funny side show to their evening. Potentially both. Times like that really make me enjoy staying in at night; laughing that hard has to be good for you.
bullet number two...last night, Bree pulled up in front of my building with the other three inside to head over to Jonathan Potts' (Pottsy) house for some food and games. We stopped to order pizza, and while it was baking, we ran over to Blockbuster to rent a movie. We spent an hour trying to pick out a movie. What did we finally end up with? Pods, popcorn, and our pizza. No movie. It's kind of impressive actually, that 5 people can spend that much time in a movie store and not find a single film to rent. Pottsy was a little confused and slightly annoyed we showed up an hour late to his place with luke warm pizza and no movie. haha. No movie needed! What could provide many more hours of entertainment and much more thinking than a movie?? None other than a 10 year old Australian edition of Trivial Pursuit!
bullet number three...three and a half hours, 200 roll agains, and a bag of pods later, my team won the last pie piece and triumphantly took the title of Trivial Pursuit masters for the night. Being a religion major and an American, I could tell you information about Israel and Colin Powell, but when that silly game asked questions about what state held the highest percentage of the people in the 1992 strike, I slowly turned my dumb expression to John, my Ozzie team member, and just let him "far out" and "bugger" his way into his answer. Those phrases were uttered many a time by John, especially in the circumstances where 1990's Australian Politics was the category.
So the past two night have been great, and although I have been sitting here (attempting) to finish this silly religion paper all evening, there have been some great chats and hilarious jokes passed between Debbie and me. I have loved the past few months here, and I know it's going to be a very sad departing come November 18th. but not to dwell on that now! I have 4 more weeks in this grand country, and they are not going to be spent sulking about my departure! So look forward to my next few posts of my last weeks in Australia and my adventure in New Zealand to follow!
7.10.07
Bucko, you were so wrong.
One last night in the Beach House after we got back to Cairns went by quickly, and we checked out early to take our stuff to Gilligans and go shopping. Okay, Gilligans is apparently the number 1 hostel in Australia. Not #5 to Beach House. It's the nicest place I have stayed yet here, and it definitely made my last night in Cairns enjoyable. Jess, Deb, and I spent the day wandering around the City Center peeking in the various shops, cafes, and gelati stores. I eventually ended up at the pool back at the hostel for the last couple hours of sunlight, and Debbie left to spend the night with her friend and her friend's mom up on one of the Northern Beaches. Jess and I made dinner in the kitchen on our level and shared a bottle of wine on our balcony with Michael Buble seranading us as we talked. There were some guys in the room next door that hopped on the roof and came to chat for a while with us. They go to Colgate back in the states and are studying down at Wollongong for the semester. Soon enough, Jess and I were being summoned by the other Butler kids to come out for the night, so we said bye to our new friends and went downstairs to the bar. It was a great night had by all, including some table top dancing by Jess haha. classic.
The next morning Jess and I spent in a cute cafe on the water sipping coffee, eating muffins, and, well, recovering haha. Now, let me tell you about iced coffees here in Australia. What do you think of when you think "iced coffee"? You probably envision a plastic cup with your chilled coffee, ice cubes, and milk or cream if you desire. Ha, such a silly drink. Yea, the Australians are serious about their iced coffee. Two espresso shots blended with cream and ice with a scoop of actual ice cream on top followed by whipped cream and chocolate shavings. That's three types of cream you got goin on there. That's not a coffee. It's a freakin dessert. And it was the best thing I've ever had. If there was a Tim Tam sticking out of it, I'd have been in heaven haha. Needless to say, I'm hunting those down in cafes in Brisbane now; especially now that it's spring and hot. We went out for lunch after that, and then wandered some more, but this time, we were in search of gelati. Yes, I ate extremely healthy food on this trip :P.
Well, we found some great gelati at this cute little place owned by an older couple. I had the best hazelnut and chocolate gelati while Jess savoured the mint chocolate chip. Lets just say it was the perfect last purchase in Cairns before we had to go back to Gilligans to claim our bags and hail a cab to the airport. The flight home was not as exciting as the one down with my little friend Curt, but I doodled in my moleskine and made a few playlists on my ipod. One of Debbie's friends from Oz was really really nice and came to pick us up from the airport rather than us trying to take the train back to Toowong and then walk the rest of the way home. Dean, Debbie's friend, is also a hopeless romantic with a great sense of humor. He tried to make our trip home like a limo service, complete with crackers and spread and champagne. I thought it was hilarious. There was candy hidden in the esky as well and we dug into that instead.
Now it's a week later. This week got off to a rocky start with papers and news and stress, but it's smoothed out since then for the most part. This weekend has been great. Wednesday I went out with a bunch of frisbee goers to the Regatta, which was the best night out I've had in a while. Great company, great conversation, some good laughs. Thursday I caught a movie with Katie and Sarah, again two girls I play frisbee with. Friday was my day to myself. I needed to clear my head and get out of the apartment. I grabbed my ipod, moleskin, camera, and purse, and I caught the next City Cat to South Bank. I mozied along the boardwalk taking in the sights and sounds of this great city. I found a life drawing drop-in class that I will be attending on Tuesday. I searched the market. I ate some good sushi and people watched from my table. As the sun started to set, I grabbed the City Cat across the river and walked around the CBD for a while before heading back to the apartment. It was a great day.
Yesterday I spent with John and Katie over at John's house in Yuronga. After the 45 minute walk there, we jumped straight into his pool for a swim then dried off and caught a lift over to Kulgun Park north of the city where there was a outdoor showing of Hitchcock's Rear Window. A picnic dinner in the park, watching the clouds make images, a great movie with suspense, stargazing afterwards. Yes, a great night. The three of us went back to John's for the night to watch the footy world cup quarter finals. England beat Australia in a close match. They pulled ahead in the 2nd half and that was the end. We ended the night with some stand up comedy before hitting the sack. Katie and I got to sleep in a soft fluffy queen size bed for the night over at John's place. It was sooo comfortable haha. Brekkie this morning and then Katie and I headed home. Now I'm here. Writing this blog. Yep.
Actually, I'm getting ready to leave to go to the market in the CBD on the river followed by church at the anglican cathedral i found a few weeks ago. :) Just another great weekend in Brissie.
The next morning Jess and I spent in a cute cafe on the water sipping coffee, eating muffins, and, well, recovering haha. Now, let me tell you about iced coffees here in Australia. What do you think of when you think "iced coffee"? You probably envision a plastic cup with your chilled coffee, ice cubes, and milk or cream if you desire. Ha, such a silly drink. Yea, the Australians are serious about their iced coffee. Two espresso shots blended with cream and ice with a scoop of actual ice cream on top followed by whipped cream and chocolate shavings. That's three types of cream you got goin on there. That's not a coffee. It's a freakin dessert. And it was the best thing I've ever had. If there was a Tim Tam sticking out of it, I'd have been in heaven haha. Needless to say, I'm hunting those down in cafes in Brisbane now; especially now that it's spring and hot. We went out for lunch after that, and then wandered some more, but this time, we were in search of gelati. Yes, I ate extremely healthy food on this trip :P.
Well, we found some great gelati at this cute little place owned by an older couple. I had the best hazelnut and chocolate gelati while Jess savoured the mint chocolate chip. Lets just say it was the perfect last purchase in Cairns before we had to go back to Gilligans to claim our bags and hail a cab to the airport. The flight home was not as exciting as the one down with my little friend Curt, but I doodled in my moleskine and made a few playlists on my ipod. One of Debbie's friends from Oz was really really nice and came to pick us up from the airport rather than us trying to take the train back to Toowong and then walk the rest of the way home. Dean, Debbie's friend, is also a hopeless romantic with a great sense of humor. He tried to make our trip home like a limo service, complete with crackers and spread and champagne. I thought it was hilarious. There was candy hidden in the esky as well and we dug into that instead.
Now it's a week later. This week got off to a rocky start with papers and news and stress, but it's smoothed out since then for the most part. This weekend has been great. Wednesday I went out with a bunch of frisbee goers to the Regatta, which was the best night out I've had in a while. Great company, great conversation, some good laughs. Thursday I caught a movie with Katie and Sarah, again two girls I play frisbee with. Friday was my day to myself. I needed to clear my head and get out of the apartment. I grabbed my ipod, moleskin, camera, and purse, and I caught the next City Cat to South Bank. I mozied along the boardwalk taking in the sights and sounds of this great city. I found a life drawing drop-in class that I will be attending on Tuesday. I searched the market. I ate some good sushi and people watched from my table. As the sun started to set, I grabbed the City Cat across the river and walked around the CBD for a while before heading back to the apartment. It was a great day.
Yesterday I spent with John and Katie over at John's house in Yuronga. After the 45 minute walk there, we jumped straight into his pool for a swim then dried off and caught a lift over to Kulgun Park north of the city where there was a outdoor showing of Hitchcock's Rear Window. A picnic dinner in the park, watching the clouds make images, a great movie with suspense, stargazing afterwards. Yes, a great night. The three of us went back to John's for the night to watch the footy world cup quarter finals. England beat Australia in a close match. They pulled ahead in the 2nd half and that was the end. We ended the night with some stand up comedy before hitting the sack. Katie and I got to sleep in a soft fluffy queen size bed for the night over at John's place. It was sooo comfortable haha. Brekkie this morning and then Katie and I headed home. Now I'm here. Writing this blog. Yep.
Actually, I'm getting ready to leave to go to the market in the CBD on the river followed by church at the anglican cathedral i found a few weeks ago. :) Just another great weekend in Brissie.
1.10.07
Cape Tribulation...why so depressing?? you're beautiful!
Yea, my roommate, Debbie, pointed out the depressing name and was just like "but you're so pretty! don't be so sad and troubled!" I thought it was funny.
Anyways, so to continue on my spring break adventures...
We checked out of Bucko's Dream Hostel early Sunday morning to take our bus tour up the coast to Cape Tribulation. Our tour guide, Cindi, was probably the best tour guide I'd had for anything. First of all, she nicknamed be kel right away and frequently referred to me as beautiful. That never hurt anyone, haha.
We drove all the way to Cape Tribulation on the coast. It was gorgeous. Long stretches of beach with miles of water to the right and steep hills of tropical green trees to the left. Huge rocks on some of the shore and campgrounds along the way. We stopped on the way up for a walk through the bush. A magnificent 150 million year old forest surrounded me. The huge bright green umbrella tree leaves gave me shelter while the butress roots gave me trouble walking, but they were so cool. Hundreds of mangroves all over the place, and so many ants all over the place. Ha, our guide said that if you licked one, they secreted a sour, tangy liquid. Naturally, we all scamper over to a tree where a nest of the green ants were to each grab one of the poor little guys. Yes, it was sour. kinda like a sour patch kid? That was an experience.
We only drove a little further to reach our destination after that. The Cape Trib Beach House came into view, and I was so excited when we saw our 4 person room in the middle of the rainforest. Just a two minute walk down the way and the trees opened up to the beach. Soft sand wriggled into the spaces between my toes, and the ocean was the perfect temperature (no swimming too far out though...crocs!) Debbie, Jess, and I took a walk down the beach that took up the afternoon. Dinner at the outdoor kitchen was had with a visit by a wild boar. Sweet. We stayed up laughing at the dinner table then watched the Holiday on my computer (LOVE that movie haha). Time for bed, diving in the morning!
I got up for the sunrise the next morning at 5. Sunrises over the ocean are magical. Give me a sunrise at the beach and a sunset over the mountains. ahh, life is beautiful. So I'm taking these pictures of the sun, the clouds, the little sailboat going out early, the waves crashing into me...I was a happy camper. Until on my way back to the room, I turn my camera on to review my pictures and on the screen flashes up three words. "Memory card error." Three worst words put together I could've heard this trip. I had already taken 200 pictures. I had 4 more days to go. This does not put me on the right foot to start off the day...I tried not to worry about it, and left it in the room for the day. i grab my towel, mask, dive card, dive log, and some anti fog goo for the day. oh, and of course sunscreen, but that's kinda a given down here. I was so excited about going out to see the reef. so we get on the boat, and all the certified divers have to fill out med forms. then one of the guys glances at my form, looks at my dive card, whispers to another crewmen, then says "i'm sorry, love, but you're not going to be able to dive." i think my heart dropped to my feet. basically the one thing i had been looking forward to the entire trip was scuba diving the great barrier reef. i can't do it? why? asthema. but i've dived in queensland before? i'm sorry, i can't let you.
okay, no more dwelling on that. i couldn't dive, but it ended up being great. the divers said the winter water was still cold, there were too many divers to be comfortable, and the snorkeling was better. and i can't say i was disappointed with the snorkeling. it was low tide, meaning that all the reef was at the surface and eye level. 8 different species of parrotfish (my favorite! you can hear them crunching at the coral), bright blue star fish everywhere, gigantic sea cucumbers, hundreds of types and colors of coral, blue spotted sting rays, sea turtles, rainbow colored wrasses. i was more than happy with the diversity of the reef. so after a rocky start, the day ended wonderfully with a sunset as we came back over the rainforest mountains. our last night was spent around the table outside the kitchen at the hostel talking and laughing followed by an early bed time.
the next day we spent the morning on the beach after checking out. 1 o'clock came around and we hopped back on the tour bus with cindi who gave us each a pat on the back as we climbed on. we stopped at mossman gorge for a swim and port douglas for shopping on the way back. we only stayed 30 minutes at each place and i wish we could've stayed longer because they were both so uniquely beautiful. i was so sad to leave the rainforest. i could have easily spent the entire trip up there. i also could have stayed a night or two in port douglas. it was a cute little community that was so different than everything i've found here. so we got back to cairns for one last night in the stinky beach house hostel (do you feel the love?), and were ready to move out the next morning to gilligans.
part three. coming to kelly's blog later this week. don't miss it!
Anyways, so to continue on my spring break adventures...
We checked out of Bucko's Dream Hostel early Sunday morning to take our bus tour up the coast to Cape Tribulation. Our tour guide, Cindi, was probably the best tour guide I'd had for anything. First of all, she nicknamed be kel right away and frequently referred to me as beautiful. That never hurt anyone, haha.
We drove all the way to Cape Tribulation on the coast. It was gorgeous. Long stretches of beach with miles of water to the right and steep hills of tropical green trees to the left. Huge rocks on some of the shore and campgrounds along the way. We stopped on the way up for a walk through the bush. A magnificent 150 million year old forest surrounded me. The huge bright green umbrella tree leaves gave me shelter while the butress roots gave me trouble walking, but they were so cool. Hundreds of mangroves all over the place, and so many ants all over the place. Ha, our guide said that if you licked one, they secreted a sour, tangy liquid. Naturally, we all scamper over to a tree where a nest of the green ants were to each grab one of the poor little guys. Yes, it was sour. kinda like a sour patch kid? That was an experience.
We only drove a little further to reach our destination after that. The Cape Trib Beach House came into view, and I was so excited when we saw our 4 person room in the middle of the rainforest. Just a two minute walk down the way and the trees opened up to the beach. Soft sand wriggled into the spaces between my toes, and the ocean was the perfect temperature (no swimming too far out though...crocs!) Debbie, Jess, and I took a walk down the beach that took up the afternoon. Dinner at the outdoor kitchen was had with a visit by a wild boar. Sweet. We stayed up laughing at the dinner table then watched the Holiday on my computer (LOVE that movie haha). Time for bed, diving in the morning!
I got up for the sunrise the next morning at 5. Sunrises over the ocean are magical. Give me a sunrise at the beach and a sunset over the mountains. ahh, life is beautiful. So I'm taking these pictures of the sun, the clouds, the little sailboat going out early, the waves crashing into me...I was a happy camper. Until on my way back to the room, I turn my camera on to review my pictures and on the screen flashes up three words. "Memory card error." Three worst words put together I could've heard this trip. I had already taken 200 pictures. I had 4 more days to go. This does not put me on the right foot to start off the day...I tried not to worry about it, and left it in the room for the day. i grab my towel, mask, dive card, dive log, and some anti fog goo for the day. oh, and of course sunscreen, but that's kinda a given down here. I was so excited about going out to see the reef. so we get on the boat, and all the certified divers have to fill out med forms. then one of the guys glances at my form, looks at my dive card, whispers to another crewmen, then says "i'm sorry, love, but you're not going to be able to dive." i think my heart dropped to my feet. basically the one thing i had been looking forward to the entire trip was scuba diving the great barrier reef. i can't do it? why? asthema. but i've dived in queensland before? i'm sorry, i can't let you.
okay, no more dwelling on that. i couldn't dive, but it ended up being great. the divers said the winter water was still cold, there were too many divers to be comfortable, and the snorkeling was better. and i can't say i was disappointed with the snorkeling. it was low tide, meaning that all the reef was at the surface and eye level. 8 different species of parrotfish (my favorite! you can hear them crunching at the coral), bright blue star fish everywhere, gigantic sea cucumbers, hundreds of types and colors of coral, blue spotted sting rays, sea turtles, rainbow colored wrasses. i was more than happy with the diversity of the reef. so after a rocky start, the day ended wonderfully with a sunset as we came back over the rainforest mountains. our last night was spent around the table outside the kitchen at the hostel talking and laughing followed by an early bed time.
the next day we spent the morning on the beach after checking out. 1 o'clock came around and we hopped back on the tour bus with cindi who gave us each a pat on the back as we climbed on. we stopped at mossman gorge for a swim and port douglas for shopping on the way back. we only stayed 30 minutes at each place and i wish we could've stayed longer because they were both so uniquely beautiful. i was so sad to leave the rainforest. i could have easily spent the entire trip up there. i also could have stayed a night or two in port douglas. it was a cute little community that was so different than everything i've found here. so we got back to cairns for one last night in the stinky beach house hostel (do you feel the love?), and were ready to move out the next morning to gilligans.
part three. coming to kelly's blog later this week. don't miss it!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
