HOME!!!!!!

I'M HOME!!!!

First of all, let me just say how sorry I am that I haven't blogged until now. I cannot believe that it is already January 2009! I feel like from the moment I stepped off of the plane at LAX I've just been in this whirlwhind and only now am I really getting my bearings.

But let's go back a bit.

December 16th I graduated!! I am now, without a doubt, a Graduate with a Masters Degree. :) It's such a good feeling. And like my grandma said, no one can EVER take that away from me. I will always have that degree and that knowledge that I did it.
The ceremony was held at the Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre and some of my friends were able to go: Esther, Sallie, Sharon, Chris and even Bec! She flew up from Melbourne that morning to make sure that she was there to see me walk across the stage in my "silly robe". :) It was great.



After graduation, we just hung out in the city, did some shopping etc. Then that night we met up with everyone else at a little restaurant in the Valley called Garuva. It was a cool little place that had each table sectioned off by curtains. The food wasn't the greatest, but the atmosphere (and company) was fantastic. :)


The next day (Dec 17) was a day of packing, hanging out with Alanah (who graduated as well), and stressing over the fact that I found out I did not, in fact, have a plane ticket to come home the next day as I had thought... It's a looooong story, but apparently I didn't receive an email from the booking agent requesting more information before he could purchase my ticket three months earlier.... so he never booked me on a flight. Thank goodness I called the airline two days before to make sure everything would still be on schedule. Long story short, I ended up paying a little bit more than I had originally intended and got on a direct flight from Brisbane to LA for the same day as planned.

Dec 18, 12:05pm Brisbane time I was in the air destined for Los Angeles.
Dec 18, 7:05am Los Angeles time I was on the ground.


Interestingly enough, I didn't feel any kind of jet lag. The next day I was at Disneyland :)



So now I'm back home.
Christmas and New Years FLEW by... and now we're in 2009... the year of exciting stuff. New job, new home, and a wedding...

But it still feels like I'm going back to Brisbane. And I miss my friends.

But it's good to be home.

Thank you all for your encouragement, prayer and support throughout this past year and a half. It has been such an amazing and unforgetable journey. I'm sad to see it done.


"There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning." - Louis L'amour

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Last year I made it home just in time for Thanksgiving and the start of all the great holidays. This year, however, I couldn't make it home. So instead of having Thanksgiving at home, I thought I'd bring Thanksgiving to Australia.... and Alanah let this happen by giving me her home to hold it in. :)

Thursday, November 27th, Chris (the other American) and I caught a train out to Wynnum to begin preparing our Thanksgiving Feast. It was great. We had the lot:

Alanah supplied the Turkey and the home to hold the "function" in.
Chris had the Mashed Potatoes covered.
I brought along the Candied Yams, Cranberry Sauce (my favorite!), Stuffing and Pumpkin Pie.
Alanah's friends...
Vic & Tim were in charge of corn.
Mel & Danny opted to bring a salad.
Soph & Lee handled the dinner rolls and some drinks.
and Alanah's sister Jamie and fiance Darren contributed the appetizers of cheese and crackers.

The night turned out perfectly. Dishes were finished relatively at the same time. Nothing burned. Everything tasted great. The company was warm and delightful. It was the best Australian American Thanksgiving I've ever had!!

Everyone was genuinely interested in hearing what Thanksgiving was all about, and were keen on joining in. They were most impressed by the Candied Yams and Pumpkin Pie - dishes they had never had before!! How deprived they are!! They said of the candied yams that it was the most bizarre, most interesting, most delicious thing they had ever eaten. It was described as "ice cream, but warm!". And the pumpkin pie, although the crust was a poor, rock-hard and slightly burned, example, was a hit, "the mix of spices is great". They all thought the combination of foods were perfect as well. :)

So the Australian American Thanksgiving was a success!! Hopefully some of them will continue the tradition.... being thankful for the founding of America so that hundreds of years later they could be introduced to an American than introduced them to such awesome food!!! :)

Prepping the food.

Chris carving the turkey.

Good company.

The table's set!

Such gooooooood food.

A weekend away in Coolangatta

This past Sunday morning Alanah and I jumped in the car and took a drive down the coast to Coolangatta for a few nights to get some sand, sun and surf. It was perfect!! Exactly what we were both hoping for. We got a room at a hotel/resort located right on the beach and stayed for two nights.


Sunday was a bit of a shopping day, with an hour or two spent on the beach building our buddy Wilber Crush.


Monday was ALL about the beach. Chris came down for the day and joined in on the fun in the sun. Alanah and I continued our sand crafting extravaganza by creating a life-size mermaid. I don't think she had a name.


The remainder of the day was lunch at restaurant on the beach, a walk to the rock pools and some more sun. :)



Tuesday was a bit cloudy, so the beach wasn't as welcoming. So Alanah and I took our sweet time at a nice little cafe on the beach for breakfast. We jumped in the water for a bit, and then we were back to reality... but not without stopping at a petrol station on the way to pick up some essentials: Salt and Vinegar chips, Gummy worms, and Water. :)

SUCH a great weekend! Didn't want to leave!!

Mom And Dad Come To Australia!!!!!!!!!

The blog is finally here!!! :)

I've seriously been more busy this past week than I have all semester! Just trying to fit in as much as possible before I go home!

But here is the blog many of you have been waiting for.

November 4th I turned in my final paper... EVER!!! .....and now I wait. :) Hopefully I pass and hopefully I graduate. I've already paid for my gown rental, so I'm counting on passing!

November 5th, Wednesday afternoon I flew down to Sydney to meet mom and dad who had arrived in Australia earlier that morning!! :) It was great!!! I flew in, grabbed the train, walked to the hotel room, knocked on the door... and there they were!! Tears were shed, hugs were exchanged, it was great!! So the next few days was getting to enjoy Sydney (for the last time) with my parents (for the first time). We took the beloved bus tour, and did all the good ol' stops. We took an excursion through The Rocks. And Dad and I even did the Bridge Climb!!! Mom was content with walking up the Pylon and video taping us.

November 8th, a Saturday, we continued our journey by hopping onto a plane to Cairns - northern Queensland - where we were welcomed with a gloriously sticky heat. :) But, no worries, we found our apartment located directly on the Esplanade (or... the 'nard) and turned on the air con. The following day was a ride-de-force up to the Daintree Rainforest. The trip felt like a ride out of Disneyland.... a close cousin to the jerky Indiana Jones ride. At times the "big rig" rode so close to the edge of the hill, you felt as though you were going to just roll right off. But of course, you'd be fine, because the vehicle you were in was impenetrable. Thrilling! Scary! Exhilarating! The trip took us up the coast, over a river via a cable drawn ferry boat, through treacherous crocodile-infested wetlands.... okay, not really, but could have been... We stopped off at the beginning of the Rainforest and took a stroll, finding spiders, gripping vines, birds, wasps and so much more, then continued up to Emergen Creek and took a quick dip in the creek, followed by Afternoon Tea. The trip then proceeded to return down, where we stopped for a late lunch and were able to also feed Kangaroos and Wallabies and view the feeding of a crocodile. The rest of the trip allowed us a nap as we journeyed back into town.

We took the next day off to kind of relax and recoop. But Tuesday, November 11th we were off again, this time to the Reef on a Reef Crusie. Morning tea welcomed us during our hour and a half ride out to the Reef. And then we docked up against a pontoon. First things first, we jumped into the glass-bottomed boat and took a tour around the Reef, discovering turtles, Parrot Fish, giant Clams, coral and NEMO!! After the glass-bottomed boat, we quickly put on our incredibly good-looking, tight, bright Red, lycra suits and jumped into the water to get an up-close and personal look of the Reef. Took a little lunch break, then jumped back in again until it was time to leave. :( Fortunately, our departure was postponed so we were able to enjoy the water (from a inside the boat) for longer!! Unfortunately, it was a little over an hour, and a line and gotten twisted in the propeller.. but we got free drinks and food because of it!! Poor new guy. :( But we made it back to the mainland... safe and sound.

The next day, November 12th, we were on a plane again (two separate planes actually) back to Brisbane where we toured the city, had some dinner with friends and took the train down to the Gold Coast on a quick day trip.

But November 16th, Mom and Dad were back on another plane... this time destined for Los Angeles. :( Tears were shed, hugs were exchanged. And they were off..... but we had such a great time......

I apologize. I don't have any actual real footage because I'm unable to transfer footage from the video camera to my computer at this time.



It was easier to let them go, knowing that I would see them again in just over 4 weeks.

And here we are..... 21 days away from my return to the States!!!!!!!!

Just this past weekend I was able to go down the coast to Coolangatta with Alanah. Great fun... look forward to some pictures from that trip.

And tomorrow is Thanksgiving!!!!!!! And I will be celebrating it with a bunch of my Aussie friends... look forward to a blog on that as well. :)

Hope everyone is well!!!!

October Celebrations

Only two more days until I turn my paper in!!! I turned in a rough draft of it on Thursday and got good comments from my advisor. So, just a few more revisions and off it goes! Then it's party time!!!

This past week has actually been quite eventful. Heaps of birthday celebrations and also Halloween.

It all started last week Friday (Oct 24) with Chris's birthday. Chris is a friend that I met at Vanguard when I was still doing my Undergrad degree in Costa Mesa. He's now studying his Master's degree at University of Queensland (UQ). For his birthday, Alanah and I treated him with a ride on The Brisbane Wheel, the city's newest "tourist" addition, a ride up the Brisbane River on the City Cat, dinner at a little Italian place north of the city, and then dessert at a fancy little dessert restaurant in the Valley. It was a fun night.

The next day I got to put on a dress and heels, wear my pearls, and join a bunch of girls from church for High Tea and Jason Alexander's in the city for Sallie's birthday. It was really nice. They didn't seem to have our reservation (even after Sallie called them a few times during the week), but it actually turned out perfectly. Not only did they set up a table for us on the second floor, overlooking the River, we were the only people up there! Furthermore, we got COMPLIMENTARY champagne for having to wait for them to set up the table! It was great! The tea was really nice. With light classical music playing in the background, we chose our individual teas from a long list of varieties. Then they brought out tiered trays of finger sandwiches, scones with jam and cream, and individual desserts. It was delicious!! And a wonderful afternoon just being a girl. After Tea we decided to go see a showing of 'The Women' - it seemed appropriate for the day we were having. :)

Tuesday, although I didn't really celebrate anything, it's still a day that deserves noting. During my shift at work I decided to clean a serrated knife with a paper towel (who hasn't done that before?). I didn't think anything of it..... until, for some reason, the knife turned a certain way and a cut through my right, ring finger. After hopping up and down for a second in writhing pain I ran to the sink and covered it in a paper towel. Because it was a workplace incident I had to report it to Security, Health and Saftey, my Manager, my Supervisor, and HR. AND... I had to see a doctor. So that night, Alanah, being the best friend that she is, took me to a Clinic after her shift. I saw the Nurse and Doctor and they decided that I did NOT need stitches (YAY!) but it would be safe to get a Tetanus shot (it's only safe... seeing as how it wasn't my knife). So the Doctor cleaned and glued up my cut, and the Nurse shot me up with something. :) After a few days, my finger is starting to look like it's healing properly. I just hope it closes up enough before my parents and I get to Cairns.... sand, salt water.... not the greatest combined with open wounds. Here's a picture I took of it while we were at the Clinic... it's probably not as cool as I've made it out to be... but it's relatively the size of my pinky fingernail... I sliced it from the bottom up and it wasn't just a cut, it was a slice, the knife was moving in a downward motion while it was slicing through my finger. If I had kept cutting I would have sliced off the entire chunk. :) Sorry... not for the faint of heart. Actually, I did almost faint when First Aid was initially bandaging me up.


Moving along...

This past Friday was Halloween!! And seeing as how I didn't really celebrate it at all last year (because Australia just doesn't do that), I decided I wanted to do something. So Alanah and I went to Movie World (Warner Bros teeny tiny version of Universal Studios). We got all dressed up and headed on down the the Gold Coast (where the park is located). Gates opened at 5:45 and closed at 9pm (don't ask why... I was bummed that it closed so early too), and we got there at 6:30..... left with enough time to stand in lines for two rides: Superman Escape (awesome) and Scooby Doo (okay). We also grabbed some ice cream and walked around the park.. which took us probably all of 10mins. :) But it was fun. If anything, it was fun to just see everybody dressed up... and get a bit of Halloween.

I took pictures during all of the celebrations, and compiled a little video.... so here you go... some visual stimulation for your brain after reading all of that boring stuff:


Next blog will be about my parents!!!!!
:) [wish i could make that smile bigger!!]

Delayed........ to pass the time....

Hi everyone!

Sorry I haven't been blogging. It's been a pretty busy month. Almost finished with Uni though... and then it'll be blogs GALORE!! :) I've got about a week and a half left until my paper is complete - or at least turned in - and the same amount of time until my parents come!!!! eeeeeeeeeek!!! :) So excited.

Okay... so for some reason, way back in August I didn't blog about my trip to the Ekka. The Ekka is basically a Fair (like the OC Fair) that Brisbane holds every year. I honestly have no idea why I didn't write about it. I know I had a video, and the sound wasn't working for some unknown reason, so I didn't want to put it up, but I still don't understand why I didn't at least put pictures up. So basically.... this is that blog... two months later. It's not all the pictures, but it's some of the good ones. :) I went with my flatmate, Vidya (Indonesian) and we met up with her friend Willy for a little bit (he's the guy in the video). The video is of a ride that Willy and I went on (Vidya was too afraid to go on it). It was pretty much awesome. I cried... screamed... and just about peed my pants. FYI... while you're watching, you might want to make sure your sound is down a fair bit... it is a bit loud. :)











Well.... that's all... just wanted to give you something to look at... and let you know that I AM alive! :) I have quite a few things I'd like to blog about (one being Church Youth Camp that was this past weekend), but just haven't gotten to it yet.

Please keep me in your prayers... that the rest of the paper will just flow out of my mind effortlessly.

Love and miss you all!

53 more days left!!!

Where did September go???

I CANNOT believe that it's going to be October next week. Seriously, it feels like Alison and Rob were just here. To be honest, it feels like Bryan was just here, and that was 2 months ago. CRAZY!

Spring has arrived in Brisbane! The sun is out. It's warming up and the skirts and tank tops are seeing the light of day! :) It's weird huh? I was just reading Holly's blog and she was beautifully describing the essence of Fall.... and it made me jealous. But then I saw the weather forecast for SoCal for the week.... 100??? And then I didn't feel so jealous anymore. :) Just don't be asking me how things are going in Brisbane in late November/early December when the humidity skyrockets and we're pushing the high 30s (celsius).

It is currently 1am (and now Mom is shaking her head at her computer). I worked tonight and drank a little too much caffeine, so I'm waiting for it to wear off. Still not tired though. Might have to force myself to sleep soon. :)

The girls (my honorary Australian bridesmaids - Sharon, Esther and Sally) and I went to try on some more wedding dresses today!!! :) It was soooo much fun. I can't wait to come home and try on dresses that I'll actually be able to think about buying!! And to do it with my US bridesmaids!!! The browsing outing didn't really do me much good though. If anything it only further confused me as far as what I'm hoping for in "the" dress. I tried on 10 dresses today, two of which I reeeeally loved. The only problem was that the two that I reeeeally loved were... well... they were reeeeally different. Nothing in common what-so-ever actually. So how do I choose?? How do I know what I want? When what I think I want one minute is something completely different than what I think I want the next minute?? (Are you confused yet? Because I most certainly am.) So... the search continues.

More in Andie's Australian news:

I was walking through Big-W last week. What's Big-W? Well... think Walmart... they're EXACTLY the same. Anyways... walking through Big-W/Walmart when I stumbled upon a newly altered aisle...



So Christmas is on it's way!!! :)

No other real news.
No real progress on the paper. :(
The pressure's starting to take its toll though.

There's a light at the end of the tunnel that's called home... in 2 and a half months. But there's this huge rock wall blocking the way that's called my paper.

Can't go over it. Can't go under it. Oh no! I've got to go through it!


I think I should go to bed now....

:)

love you all!!

100 More Days!!!

Can you believe that I have only 100 more days until I will be back in the States?! I can't. Where in the world did this year go??? I have 8 more weeks of Uni left and then Mom and Dad come out the visit. And then it's one more month, graduation and off I go. CRAZY!

I still have A TON of work left to do though. I sat down tonight and started working on my gigantic paper again, and it's starting to really stress me out. It just seems soooo big, so all over the place, and I don't know how I'm going to fill up all the pages...... cohesively.

My mind is so switched to "Senioritis" mode and needs to get back to studying and focus hard for 56 more days (wow... that's not that long).

So 100 more days. :)
With so much to do.
But I'm ready for home.



PS... here's a little extra footage from when Alison and Rob were here. :)

Riverfire Weekend!!

Most of you should remember Riverfire from last year's blog and video.

Well, apparently it made such an impression on Alison that she wanted to come and visit just to see it! And who am I to pass up an opportunity to have visitors!!! So Friday morning I went to the train station to pick her up. I saw her step off the train with video camera in hand. Hamming it up for the camera, I skipped, clapped and smiled toward her. For a second my eyes wandered behind her and there, standing as tall as ever, was Rob!!!!!! I screamed, "Holy crap!", dropped my purse and ran. The family decided it would be fun to surprise me with not only Alison visiting, but Rob as well!!! It was an awesome surprise! I wish I had the video to share with you, but we unfortunately didn't have the appropriate cable to transfer the video to my computer. But we did take pictures... lots and lots of pictures.

Their trip was only a total of 4 days, so we had to cram a lot of stuff into as little time as possible.

Friday was basically recovering from the flight, taking naps, eating and going seeing 'Tropic Thunder' in Gold Class (gotta love those reclining chairs).

Saturday we were off to the city to take in some sights. We started with a big breakfast at the Pancake Cafe, followed it up with a walk through the Queen Street Mall - where Rob was able to take his picture with a Koala as everyone before him did. Unfortunately we were unable to go to Lone Pine in our short time.... so... well.... at least he got a picture! We continued by taking a ride on the City Cat to South Bank. The plan was to walk around South Bank for awhile and then find a seat for Riverfire. However, we quickly realized that we had to get our seat as soon as possible. So we landed ashore and found a prime spot on the river. Three hours and six more people later, Riverfire began!!! It was great! Alison and Rob said that it was the best part of the trip! :)

That night, after grabbing some dinner, we headed Eastward to Alanah's house in Wynnum to spend the night. It was a GORGEOUS house on the bay. And it was nice for Alison and Rob to sleep in real beds. :)

Sunday morning we drove down to Manly to eat some breakfast before our excursion Southward to the Gold Coast. The rest of the day was laying on the beach, watching kite surfers, walking around the Esplanade of Surfers Paradise. eating dinner at Hogs Breath, and hanging out in our beautiful, ocean-view hotel room. :)

Monday morning we grabbed a coffee and a bite to eat at the nearby Zaraffas (delicious), and then began our trip to Byron Bay. The morning started off cloudy, but as the day progressed it tured out to be quite lovely. We first went up the hill to the Lighthouse, where we spotted a few whales, a pod of dolphins and even a stingray from a distance. We then wandered down to the beach where we played around with sand crabs and I desperately tried to get on the live webview of the coast so mom, who I was talking to on the phone, could see us. But we never could figure it out. :( After some lunch, gelato and a little CD shopping, we were on our way back to Brisbane.

That night we went to the Belgian Beer Cafe and met up with a friend from Vanguard, James, to have a night of good beer and good conversation.

Tuesday morning we were up bright at early to pack and be on our way to the train station.... where Alison and Rob got back on a train to the airport. :(

Such a quick trip!!!!!
But soooooo much fun.

Here's a slideshow of all the pictures we took over the weekend.
Don't blink, cause it goes quick... just a taste of how the weekend was: chaotic, jammed pack, but fun.



Who's next??? :)

The Gala Ball

Hello all!!

This past Friday night I was honored to attend The Gala Ball at Christian City Church with Alanah. :)
It gave us a reason to get all dolled up and go dancing... and it was a lot of fun!

The Ball was held as a fundraiser (Raise & Build) for the church, definitely for a good cause.
So I got to hang out with Alanah, her best friend Victoria, Vic's boyfriend Tim and their buddy from Sydney, Rob all night.
We got our groove on out on the dance floor, played a bit of pool, and laughed a lot. Good times.

Mental Challenge.

It's not my own video... but I thought it was applicable to my current state. :)


New REAL blog coming soon.

Look Mom! I'm blogging!!! :)

Such delay! I know!
Not a whole lot has been happening. But I do have a few pictures that I can share with you.

This past Friday night my flatmates and I gathered 'round the TV to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. We mainly just wanted to see the performances and the lighting of the torch... but seeing as how the lighting of the torch wasn't until the END of the ceremonies we ended up sitting through the entirety of the countries introductions. We made it fun by bringing out flags and cheering for our own country when the finally walked out. It was fun. :)





Sunday night I was able to attend a different church with one of the girls from my work, Alenah. The church is located in West End - close to where I work in South Bank and is called Christian City Church. It was nice. There was a lot of prophecies being given over people, so it was interesting. Different than what I'm used to, but inspiring. Afterward we went to this little Indian Tea and Coffee shop called Batavia. It was great! They give you your tea, coffee, shake on a little platter, separated so that you can pour it all together yourself. Alenah's friend, Victoria, got an Iced Tea. It came on a platter with a large, chilled soda glass, the tea in a jug, honey water in a small cup, sugar water in another, and lemon and mint leaves in another. Alenah got a Chai Latte - all she had to do was mix a jug of the hot Chai mix and hot milk into a large mug. Dale, another friend from church, got an Iced Chocolate - this came with a chilled soda glass with 3 scoops of vanilla ice cream, a jug of hot chocolate syrup, and a jug of cold milk. He then had to mix it all together. Looked good. MINE was a Chai Gatto Latto. I got a mug of ice cream with what looked like cinnamon mix sprinkled on top, and a mug of hot Chai on the side that I then poured over the ice cream. It was SOOOO good. :) Definitely going back again.




Let's see... other things that have been happening......

- Been working a lot.
- Been trying to get my paper started, but am having some serious motivational difficulties.
- I saw a silent film at the Brisbane City Hall. It was crazy! A lady played the music to it non-stop for 2 hours and was practically perfect! It was incredible. The event was part of the Brisbane International Film Festival.


- There's a new ferris wheel that's going in at South Bank. Drove past it Sunday and the buckets for the people are up - so it should be up and running soon.


- Alison's going to be here in 3 weeks!!!!!!!!!! She'll be here for Riverfire!!! :) SOOOOOO excited for more company.
- My parent's bought their plane tickets yesterday... so they're definitely coming!!

That's pretty much it. :)
Sorry I've been slacking on the posts. I'll try to keep them more regular. That way I make sure that I'm doing something exciting every week so I'll have something to write about. :)

Hope everyone's well!
Remember... you can write me back too and let me know how you're all doing! :)

Dresses and Spring Rolls :)

This week has been a bit more eventful than the last two. :) YAY!

Classes have begun, and the campus is buzzing with people. I don't have any classes, but I did meet with my advisor today about my Research Paper. And he informed me that my paper does NOT have to 12,000 - 15,000 words! :) Nope! It only has to be 8,000-12,000!!! He's looking for something around 10,000 words. Soooo much better than 12-15. So I'm feeling better about it. This week is all about finding a solid topic and writing up a proposal to show to my advisor next week. So lots of reading coming up this week.

Sunday was a great day. Sharon and I got to go into the city and begin "the dress" hunting. :) It was SO much fun. I felt like a princess! And I decided that I'm going to take full advantage of this situation and try on as many dresses as possible. However extreme they are, however poofy they are, however expensive they are (and I have already)... because I only get to do this once. And I love the feeling of trying on these dresses. I seriously felt like a Disney princess in one of the dresses. Big, poofy, taffeta and organza up the wazoo. It was fantastic. Who wishes we could get to dress up like that AT LEAST once a year?? Who wants it to be more like 5 or 6 times a year?? Anyone want it every day??? :)



After trying on dresses we went up to Portside Wharf to check out the Chocolate and Coffee Affair that they were having next to the river. There were booths set up all along the water with... well... chocolate and coffee. We just caught the last half hour, but we were able to get some free iced coffee and snag a few chocolate covered strawberries (which were not free unfortunately... but $.50 was worth it). It was a really fun day.



Tonight my new flatmate Vu (Vietnamese) and his friends made us all dinner. It was authentic Vietnamese spring rolls. They cooked (boiled) pork and beef and what we did was add it to rice paper with lettuce and a slice of cucumber. Once rolled, we dipped the spring roll in a type of fish sauce with chile and garlic. It was actually really good! :) We finished off the meal with an apple each. Quite a meal... and GREAT company. I took video of Vu explaining how to wrap the spring roll, but for some reason it's not transferring to my computer with audio. So pictures of the night will have to suffice for now. I'll work on it again tomorrow and see if I can get it working.





Hope you all have a great rest of the day!

Just keep swimming..... just keep swimming....

The original title of this post was going to be something along the lines of "Keep on truckin'" or "Moving right along"... but in keeping with the theme of Australia I've chose a line from Disney's 'Finding Nemo' to explain this post...

Sorry for the lack of posts.... but I honestly don't have anything to write about.
This past week and a half has been pretty uneventful. With the exception of seeing the newest Batman flick (twice) and working (about 20 hours last week and 9 hours so far this week - which is an incredible amount compared to what they normally give me) life has been pretty boring. I haven't even gone shopping (!), in hopes of not spending any money (not like I really even have money to spend.... kinda spent it all when Bryan was here).

So all in all... this past week has been that of recuperation: physically, emotionally, financially.

I've spent a lot of my time sitting in front of my computer, looking through websites and pictures trying to envision what I want my dream wedding to be like... and I think I've found a few ideas. But most of it, pretty much all the BIG stuff, is going to wait until I get home in December. Basically, the engagement happened, and Bryan and I are stoked, but it'll pretty much seem like we got engaged all over again when I get home... cause that's when all the REAL fun begins (ie: announcements, parties, planning!!).

Next week is the beginning of the next (and final) semester.
I have no classes to attend, but I do have a HUGE paper to pour all of my energy into. I'm to meet up with my advisor next week to go through all the criteria and completion dates and to hopefully muster up some kind of idea of what I'm supposed to write about. :)

Hope everyone is well.
I leave you with a few pictures from the past week...

Sunset taken from the walk to work across the busway...


Taken while on the phone with Bryan, just before work...


What I get to look at every single day!!! This is possibly my favorite view of it...


Although... this one's not so bad either :) (THANK YOU BRYAN!)

Australia says goodbye Bryan...

Bryan left this morning. And today was the longest day I've had in over a month.
But having him here was incredible. And I wouldn't have changed it for the world.
Only five months left!!!

:)

The picture above was taken at Surfers Paradise this past weekend. Esther was kind enough to drive us down on Saturday. We got to walk up and down the endless beach, window shop on the Esplanade, and found the Gold Coast Hard Rock Cafe and took in a nice dinner. A good night.

Yesterday we were able to attend church together one more time, which is always such a blessing. And afterwards a couple from church invited us over for some lunch, which was really nice. The evening consisted of laundry, packing and a few tears. And then this morning we were off for the airport. He seemed to get through okay... I saw him go into the security area, but that was it. Though I haven't received a call from him asking me to come back to the airport to pick him up. :) So I'm assuming he made it on the plane okay. He should be flying right now as I write, with another 8-9 hours to go until he's back in California.

:(

Kinda really sucks.
Just have to stay busy.
Back to work again tomorrow.

More Whitsundays!

So you got to see Bryan and my first adventure while in the Whitsundays.... but it only got better from there.

We FINALLY got our luggage around 10pm on our second night (Thursday, July 3) - this was the same day as the Seaflight cruise. So we finally got clothes, toothbrushes etc :) We were thrilled, to say the least.

Friday, July 4: A "free day" - nothing planned for the itinerary. So we took a walk along the Boardwalk to Able Point Marina and on towards... well... I forget the name of the beach... but it was a nice long walk. Pretty sure it was about 3km... Bryan might have to correct me on that. After getting back to Airlie Beach we decided to take in a little bit of sun by the lagoon (which I, regrettably, did not take pictures of). That night, so that we could celebrate the 4th of the July properly, we found the closest thing to American as we could and ate dinner at a Tex-Mex restaurant :) where I finally found a descent margarita. :) We also discovered that Absinthe was on the menu, and - seeing as how it's illegal in the States - thought it'd be something worth trying. Fearful of its potency, however, we split the shot in half :)

Saturday, July 5: Today we boarded the Camira, a smaller, sailing catamaran destined for snorkeling and Whitehaven Beach. It was a nice, relaxing trip. The wind kicked up a bit, but this was more than welcomed by the crew. The cruise included snorkeling, buffet lunch, morning and afternoon tea and also an "open bar" that consisted of two brews of Aussie beer and a Chardonnay. This became interesting as the ship had a large group of men that seemed to be enjoying themselves more than others. But it was all good fun. None got too out of hand. In fact, they happily welcomed Bryan in a game of cricket once we arrived at Whitehaven Beach. It was hilarious! They kept calling him "USA" whilst trying to teach him the ways of cricket. Although, I'm pretty sure he has yet to really understand the game. Whitehaven was BEAUTIFUL. The beach consists of 98% pure silica sand. It's protected from the currents from the ocean bringing in any other material, keeping it white, powdery and beautiful. We were able to come back to it during our final outing. Tonight we transferred to an Island Lodge on Long Island (within the Whitsunday Islands). Again, we were less than satisfied with our living arrangements, but made due with what we were given.

Sunday, July 6: Now on Long Island and with another free day, we decided to go for a morning Bush Walk with the hotel activities staff. Nothing spectacular, but nice to get out and see a little more of the island. Following this we took in the sun at the beach, and I gained enough courage to jump into the water and do a little waterskiing with the watersports crew that was stationed with the hotel. I fell.... a lot.... but it was still really nice to get back onto the ski after two years.

Monday, July 7: Our final outing... Ocean Rafting. Today got cloudy and was even more windy... but it made for an exciting ride on the water. :) We returned to another section of Whitehaven Beach called the Hill Inlet.... you'll see the pictures for this... where the sand bars just run into each other and the water curves back into the mountains. After the lookout, we ate lunch on the beach. This sand was even whiter than the sand from the previous Whitehaven beach!! It was beautiful!!! After jetting out on the water again, we found a prime snorkeling spot where we were able to see more Reef and an abundance of beautiful fish. Unfortunately I don't have the pictures of this yet - as we haven't developed our underwater pictures yet... but I'll get them up as soon as I can.

Tuesday, July 8: After a delicious buffet breakfast at the Long Island Resort, we were off, back to Brisbane.


The trip was amazing!! I would go back in a flash and would recommend it to everyone!

Click on the picture below to go to slideshow of all the pictures from the trip.

The Whitsundays (July 2-3)

Bryan and I are back from our trip to the Whitsundays... and, man, it was an amazing experience. However, getting there was another story. Let me begin...

We had booked a "Lite Saver Package" with an Australian domestic airline called JetStar. This meant that we couldn't check any baggage, but only carry on. So all morning when we were packing we were trying to figure out what we COULD bring and what we COULDN'T (what with the strict airline regulations). So we packed light in our carryon luggage packing only a few things - sunscreen, lotion, shaving gel - with our fingers crossed, praying that they'd make it through so we wouldn't have to spend the extra money.

We got to the airport, no problem.
We checked in at a computer kiosk, no problem.
We got through security, no problem (except Bryan had to go through twice due to the shaving gel, but it made it through perfectly fine).
We were an hour and fifteen minutes early for our flight.
No problems.
The plane was late, but we got through and boarded, no problem.
We put our carryon luggage in the overhead compartments, no problem..... or so we thought.

As soon as we sat down, and I buckled my seat-belt, one of the stewardesses walked up to us and said that our luggage was too big. What? I've flown with JetStar before, I've carried on this luggage with them before, what's the problem? Apparently it was too big because the luggage had been extended, according to the stewardess. Okay... well... mine wasn't extended, and Bryan could smoosh his down. That wasn't good enough for them, and now the luggage was too heavy, exceeding the 10kg weight limit. How did she know?? She proceeded to remove our luggage from the overhead compartment, asked us for our boarding passes and my phone number. Said she'd talk to another stewardess and come back to us. She brought it to the back of the plane. Then brought it to the front of the plane. I assumed she'd hold it up there for us while we flew... you know... in the section they hold strollers, or wheelchairs or something like that. A minute later a huge man in a neon yellow vest with reflectors on the sides walks up to us and hands us two small tickets that say "RUSH" on them and asks us where we're staying, then tells us we'll receive our luggage tomorrow. WHAT?! Apparently the luggage compartment was already locked, so they couldn't store it in there, and it was too big for the overhead compartment even though I've flown with it as carryon before and it was standard carryon size. Stupid. After freaking out completely, I realized we couldn't walk around in tennishoes and jeans all day tomorrow, so I ran up to the front and grabbed a few things out of the luggage (not even thinking about bathingsuits). What was also wonderful was that we would be out on the water all of the next day with a Reef Tour that we had already booked. So when we arrived in Airlie Beach - which is the city on the mainland that we stayed at for the first three days of our time in the Whitsundays - we had to purchase bathing suits, a beach towel and a few other necessities. So... the first night was interesting, to say the least, and we spent more money than we had anticipated. What more is that we had to pay $25 for our luggage to be transferred to the place we were staying... oh... and it didn't get there until about 10pm the next day (July 3). But the Reef Tour was amazing... and the luggage thing was the only real hitch we had in the trip.

So we'll focus on the good from now on.

Our first trip was aboard the Seaflight - a large tri-level catamaran that went out to Knuckle Reef, a section of the Outer Great Barrier Reef. Our destination was a large pontoon boat situation right on the reef where we could snorkel, view fish from an underwater observatory, ride in a glass-bottom boat, and enjoy the sun on the sun deck. We also got morning and afternoon tea as well as a full buffet lunch. It was going to be a great trip. Little did we know, there was even more that awaited us out on the water...........





more to come...

Koalas... Emus... Kangaroos.... Oh My!

Today was Bryan's turn to experience Lone Pine in all it's splendor. And what a wonderful day it turned out to be... with so many unexpected surprises!

We got to the park and upon arrival Bryan's energy kicked into high gear and he was super excited for it all. Every time we saw a new animal he just beamed. :) We saw dingos, pythons, kookooburras, bats, sheep dogs, kangaroos, wombats, emus (ugly creatures), baby chicks, ginormous pigs, miniature horses, dixie chicks (yeah... that's really their names, they're furry chickens), sea eagles, owls, wallabies, lizards, crocodiles and of course... koalas. :) Bryan loved the koalas. And what was awesome was at the end of the day, just before we were going to leave, we got to see a baby koala come out of its mother's pouch. It was the cutest thing!!! It crawled all over her mom and then when it was done and all her energy was spent, it just crawled back on inside the pouch. Amazing!! We also got to see a baby joey inside her kangaroo mom and got to see her pretty much jump right out. What was hilarious was the joey was so big!! You wouldn't have expected it to be inside her mom's pouch.

We also got to see the sheep dog show - which I just think is amazing. The dogs are so well trained and it's so cool seeing them in action, steering sheep wherever they want them to go.

In addition to the sheep dog show, we saw the Birds of Prey flight show. That was fun, except one of the birds decided he didn't want to fly... so that was kind of a bummer.

All in all, it was a really good day.
And Bryan got his picture with the Koala. You'll see the picture that was taken from my camera in the photo bucket pictures, but here is the actual picture

(he also has a website! - http://www.koala.net/photo/0107026693en.htm)

The following link will take you to the photo bucket pictures:
LONE PINE PICTURES

Tomorrow we're headed for the Whitsundays. I don't know if I'll be bringing my computer, if I do it's more than likely I won't have internet, so we'll just have to post pictures when we get back.

Have a wonderful week!!!! :)