Grand Finale

well, i've been home for almost a week now, but i am still in denial so i've been putting off writing my final entry. 

my last week in australia was amazing, and made me never want to leave. i had three finals, two that i had to go to and one that i took online. other than that i pretty much chilled with my friends pretty hard, savoring our last moments in the sun. we laid out on the balcony and tanned every day, went down to the pool, to the beach... the usual and all the things i am missing so terribly right now. 

on friday kathleen's parents came and on saturday they drove us to burleigh heads beach and then brought us over to their apartment in surfers for some good eats. i loved having family visits. saturday was my very last night in australia, and i had to be on the bus to the airport at 5:30 a.m. so obviously i decided to just stay up and go out instead of sleeping, as i would have plenty of time to sleep on the 13 hour plane ride home, and only one last night with my friends in oz. so we went out to fiddler's and then ruby tramp, a live music irish pub and then a nightclub; the usual night in surfers.. haha.

it was a terrific last night except for when i fell into a man hole. here is what happened: i walking and texting (don't do this at home) and my friend bill was trying to get my attention but i was not really paying attention. when i finally looked up at him, it was too late. i fell into a hole. it was painful, and probably ridiculously embarrassing, but i have some pretty bad ass bruises to show for it. ask to see them. i may show you. i had to force everyone to leave around 4:30 so i could get back to school and pack up and get on the bus. luckily one of the girls i with got kicked out around that time for dancing shoe-less on a table and trying to steal a picture off of the wall.  

so i said all my tearful (and by tearful, i mean i was crying on the inside) goodbyes and got on the bus, still in a state of toxic delirium.  i passed out, and arrived an hour later at the brisbane airport. luckily none of the girls i was flying with had gone out the night before so they could help me re pack my bags when they were over the weight limit and the lady wouldn't just let me pay for the extra weight. i was a messss...

however, my sunday travels were far from over. our flight to LAX was supposed to leave at 9:50 a.m. but got delayed until 11:30. we made it to LA 1 1/2 hours late and missed our connecting flight to chicago so we got put on standby, but sunday is a ridiculous day to try to get to chicago so we didn't get out of LAX until 2:00 p.m. (that's 5 hours later, in case you were confused by the time difference). however, when we got to chicago we found out that our original flight from chicago to green bay had already been cancelled because of the weather conditions so we wouldn't have made it out that night anyway. well, we had had enough traveling after 31 hours and just wanted to go home. so kathryn, alicia, and i took a 1 1/2 bus ride to milwaukee where my mom picked me up and drove me 4 hours home. 

that brings us to approximately 5 a.m. on monday. no worries though, i wasn't even a little tired as in my mind/body it was only 8p.m. (australian time). needless to say the jeglag has been killing me all week, and i've been really sick, hopefully not with the swine flu. i miss australia terribly already and am just trying not to think about it too much at this point. i am super excited to see all my friends in ripon this weekend, and to turn 21. honestly it's the only thing keeping me going...

peace & loves.

17 April

another crazy week and i have no idea where it has gone! last week was my last week of classes, which was exciting/bittersweet because it means i only have two weeks left here. i can't believe it. last friday was good friday which is apparently a very big deal here in oz because everything was closed. i kid you not, not even the food places on campus were open, we couldn't go to the gym or lay by the pool... it was ridiculous. the weather was not too nice either, so we were stuck inside most of the day watching movies and bumming around. 

however, casey and lauren and i got a little restless by dinner time and decided to go on an adventure to mudgeeraba. it is one of the buses that goes from campus, but i have only ever taken it as far as the robina towne centre or possibly the nerang rail (the train). we wanted to see a little bit of mudgeeraba, and hopefully grab a bite to eat whilst we were at it.  well, we arrived in mudgeeraba and discovered that it, too, was completely closed up and there was absolutely nothing for us to see/do/eat. however, we reached the end of the route so we had to get off. luckily, the mudgey bus turned into the seaworld bus so we got back on the bus and decided to go into surfers. it was a very long ride because when we finally got off the bus in surfers EVERYTHING was open! it was very exciting. our next task was to find mexican food, since we were all in the mood. not so easy, as the closest mexican restaurant is not really within walking distance of cavil ave. and kind of off of the main strip. so we ended up going to pancakes in paradise instead, which turned out to be a very nice idea. yum. then we got back on the bus and returned to bond.

saturday was another not so exciting day, a lot of chillin pretty hard, but SUNDAY kathryn, casey, lauren and i rented a car and drove down to byron bay for the east coast blues & roots music festival featuring missy higgins, jason mraz, and ben harper! we only got tickets for monday since it was kind of expens, so on sunday we met up with my friend kathleen and her brother and his gf who came for a visit. we walked around town a little, grabbed a bite to eat at our hostel, and then casey and i played tour guide of our favorite place in australia! byron bill even re-entered our lives for a min.. hahaha...

monday it was POURING rain all day long so after breakfast we went on a quest for rain boots, which seemed to be what everyone else had deemed appropriate outwear for bluesfest, as it was being held in a mud pit because of all the rain. however, we couldn't find any cheap enough so we went with some cheap flip flops, which were immediately ditched as soon as we tried to trudge through calve-deep mud puddles. despite the monsoon, however, the festival was superrr fun. missy higgins was amazing, and jason mraz was good as well. ben harper was good, but i thought could have been better. he was being a little emo, and didn't play any of the songs i know and love by him. nonetheless, it was a pretty sweet time. we got back to our hostel around 1 a.m., climbed in the shower to scrape the mud off our bodies, and went straight to bed as all of us were dying of exhaustion by that point. 

the next morning we got brek at twisted sista, did a little walking around, chillin at the beach with about a million other people on tuesday afternoon. i am telling you, this place is legit. early afternoon we finally decided we had to head back to the gold coast because lauren's dad and brother were coming to visit and since lauren didn't have a phone he hadn't really been able to get a hold of her and may or may not have been a bit concerned about her whereabouts. i loveee meeting everybody's families, especially parents, because i forget how much i miss having real adults/parents around sometimes. sooo yesterday (thursday) a bunch of us went over to where lauren's fam was staying and we hung out at the beach while we waited for them to get back from skydiving in byron bay. we ate a ton of food, and just chilled in this super nice apt. in surfer's. good times.

the weather has been soooo much nicer lately, after having straight rain for almost two weeks. i guess it is nearing the rainy season, but supposedly it hasn't even been raining that much compared to how much it usually rains this time of year. whatevs, as long as i leave here tan i am a happy girl. =] tonight i think i am going to my first rugby game, which should be exciting, and tomorrow i am going to brisbane with casey. then i may have to buckle down slightly and make some sort of attempt to study for finals. we'll see...

9 April

it was sooo good to see my fam last weekend! they got here on friday afternoon, and casey and i took the bus into surfers to see them. turns out their hotel was actually on the other side of surfers, so it was a lonngggg ride, and we were def the only people left on the bus by the time we arrived at the sheraton mirage. it was all good though because they took us out to dinner for some seafood buffet. =) 

after din we left my fam to rest for the night, as they had been traveling for about two days, and the time difference and jet leg can really get a girl down the first day/night. casey and i decided that we would stop in surfers for a drink since we were already there, so we went to .o'malleys where, wouldn't you believe it, a cricket team was celebrating the end of their season. they came all the way from melbourne! we were like, omg we were just there last weekend and loveddd it. then of course they bought us lots of pitchers of beer, and you know you can't just leave when you're getting free drinks like that so we made it kind of a big night, especially for a friday. funnn.

saturday morning i got up and went back into surfers to show the fam around. i've never really walked around there in the daylight too much, so it was just as interesting for me as it was for them. we had some brekk and then walked around and did a little shopping and people watching. it was fun. then i thought that i would take them into broadbeach for some din, but when we got there it was not what we were expecting so we decided to go see if we could get into the benihana's back in surfers. fail. so we ended up walking back into surfers to go to a little italian place. it was delish though.  after din i quick went back to the hotel to change and clean myself up a little bit before heading BACK into surfers to meet up with some friends at waxy's for night two. =) i've never spent so much time in that place before..

sunday the fam came and picked me up at school and we headed over to byron, which is one thing i insisted they absolutely must do when they were here seeing as it is my fave place in the entire world. we got there just as it was starting to get real hot out, and i took them down to the market. then my dad and brother went to the beach and my mom and sis and i walked around town, doing more shopping and people watching. they tried some kebabs and were impressed, i think. we headed out just as it was starting to rain [again] and they came back to bond so i could give them a little tour of my place of residence.  we walked into market square to get some food, but since it was sunday everything was closing pretty early, so they decided to just go back to their hotel to get some eats. i stayed here to get some rest cause i was tireddd.

monday i met the mom and sis at pac fair while my brother and dad stayed back at the hotel to lay by the pool. sydney was looking for a dress for senior tea, but apparently the mom and sis aren't loving aussie style so they didn't find much. oh wellll... then as dwe went back to the hotel to rest for a bit before din, then finally made it to benihana's which was delish. then i came back to get some sleeep. tuesday i had to get up real early to go see the fam off, which was sad to see them go already! but now they are up in port douglas doing some adventurngous things like rainforest and sailing trips. hopefully it is nice weather there! then they are heading to sydney this weekend and then going home! what a short trip.

i, on the other hand, only have two more weeks here so i intend to make them count!

the Great Ocean Road

soooo last weekend my friends and i decided that we were over the gold coast and wanted to go to melbourne for the weekend.  we also decided that while in melbourne, we wanted to take a road trip as none of us ever get to drive anymore, and hardly ever get to ride in cars anymore.  it's a weird thing to miss, but nonetheless... we wanted to rent a car, but you have to be 21 to do so. at first it was fine because there were 5 of us that were going to go, and two of those people are 21.  however, due to classes and other such work commitments (really?!) neither of them could go.  so here we were, tuesday afternoon, three 20-year-olds trying to figure out how we were going to get around this interesting ordeal we found ourselves in.  this is where the breezer comes in.

even with companies like wicked campers and stuff like that, you have to be at least 21 to hire out, and it has to be for at least 5 days.  however, there was one veryyy sketch place we found where you only had to be 18.  so of course we went with it, and soon enough casey, lauren and i found ourselves in melbourne on a friday afternoon, hiring out a campervan for the weekend.  casey and i got there first because lauren had to fly standby from brisbane, so we decided to go get the campervan and pick up some supplies while we waited for her.  so we got all the paperwork filled out, got all packed up into our campervan, and jumped in the front seat ready to go... and couldn't get it started.  embarrassed, we went back into the rental place and asked how we were supposed to get the vehicle started.  the woman replied, the clutch of course, it's on the far left-hand side.  the clutch?  that's correct.  the campervan is manual.  so casey and i got back out into the campervan and stared down where, sure enough, there was a stick shift and a clutch on the far left-hand side.  

obviously neither of us know how to drive manual, so we once again found ourselves in quite the interesting situation.  frantically, we started calling some friends to try and get ourselves a quick over-the-phone lesson on how to drive a manual.  finally matias answered his phone, and when we told him our situation, he warily began to explain how one drives a stick-shift.  mid-lesson, however, he stops and says, "listen you guys, i really don't think this is a good idea." not disagreeing, we decided to go back into the rental place and ask them to just take the campervan back and get a refund.  however, because it was so last-minute, it would have been considered a cancellation and we wouldn't have gotten a cent of our $400 back.  so a decision had to be made; either we were out $400 and were going to have to just figure out something else to do in melbourne for the weekend, or we were going to suck it up and casey was going to learn to drive a manual.

well, obviously we chose the second option, so we get back on the phone with matias, explain to him the situation, and he begrudgingly gives us a lesson on how to drive manual.  very very veryyyy nervously we finally decide casey is ready to exit the parking lot, and we drive out and into a larger car park next door, at the central west shopping centre, in the town of braybrook, the sketchiest suburb in all of melbourne, i am positive.  we spend the next three hours, still waiting for lauren, driving in circles around the car park in braybrook, practicing starting and stopping, slowing down, etc.  finally, lauren arrives, we tell her the situation, and she is extremely nervous, as we all were at this point, but of course goes with it.  feeling confident(-ish), we go to aldi for some supplies; bread, pb&j, some breakfast bubbles, milk, chips, cookies, and a few boxes of goon.

finally ready to head out on the road, we begin our journey toward our destination for the night: geelong. we arrive before dark, but not before realizing that although we have a bed to sleep in for the night, we have no where to park it.  there are no open caravan parks in geelong, but even if there were we would have to pay for them, and that kind of defeats the purpose of the campervan. sooo we drive drive around for a while, stall in the middle of an intersection, and halfway up at a hill at a stoplight, casey has a couple meltdowns... and then finally we find ourselves at a dead-end road on a cliff over looking the ocean, in the parking lot of a church.  perfect.  we park the breezer, get out to stretch our legs, bathroom break, and get started on the goon.  

by this time we were all absolutely exhausted by our travels we decide against making the trek back into town and have our very own bonding sess in bed.  did i mention that the back of the breezer is a cage? that's funny... the campervan is really only for two people, which is why it is so cheap, so there are no seats/seatbelts in the back, just the bed, which we folded up during the daytime for seating for lauren.  i, of course, had to sit up in the front with casey to navigate/keep her calm so lauren sat in the back, in the cage, like a locked-up feral child.  not a big deal, but pretty key looking back...  so anyway, we're chillin in bed, drinking our goon, when cars start randomly coming to park on cliff st. over looking the ocean.  who knew church parking lots also doubled as make-out points?  needless to say, we had some interesting visitors that friday night...

the next morning we woke up extremely early, as we were all a little bit anxious about the day ahead, and a little nervous that we had a ticket.  however, we did not so not to worry.  we had some breakfast bubbs & pbj for breakfast, then walked down the hill to a park where we got to wash ourselves a bit.  then we packed up the breezer and went back into the geelong to give ourselves a little walking tour.  we had some coffee at an adorable little cafe on the beach, went to cunningham pier, and then made a little trek to the national wool museum where we, luckily, met some kind old men who gave us the most amazing directions for the great ocean road, and to whom i will be eternally grateful, as we may not have made the journey without them.  after talking to them we were excited to get on our way, so we got back into the breezer and headed off for our next destination: queenscliff.

queenscliff is an adorable little colonial town consisting of all old people and war museums and memorials.  we walked around checking out all the history, which we don't get at all on the gold coast, the white picket fences, and B&B's... it was adorable.  we stopped at the courtyard, an adorable little cafe in a garden, for some sandwiches and coffee, and then back to the breezer and off we went... we drove through the bellarine, vineyard country overlooking port philip bay, through more adorable towns and scenic sights like point lonsdale, ocean grove, barwon heads... we got stuck in a little bit of traffic in torquay, a surfing town of the famous bells beach where surf brands like cult and rip curl originated. turns out the traffic was because of a bicycle race that was going on that saturday afternoon, so that was terrifying driving on coastal highway trying not to kill any cyclists. 

we continued on thorugh anglesea, aireys inlet, and somewhere between there and lorne we came across some remains of the victoria bushfires that have been raging on down there pretty much the entire time i've been in this country.  the fires were contained, but it was terrifying to see, and so sad. plus all the cyclists had to bike through that nasty smoke, which couldn't have been good for them.  our next stop was lorne, another surfside town that reminded me of coolangatta beach on the gold coast. lorne is the home of eskrine falls, which was our next stop.  however, to get to eskrine falls, you first have to drive up the steepest hill i have ever seen in my life, on which we stalled and began rolling backward into oncoming traffic. terrified, casey somehow got the car turned around and we rolled down the hill forward, at least.  after a small meltdown, we realized that matias had not covered driving uphill in his lesson, so we called our friend natalya, who freaked out and then explained that in order to drive uphill you have to be in the lowest gear possible. good to know. she also informed us that after we had talked to matias  and a few others the day before, everyone back at school was terrified for our lives and we needed to check in more often so they knew were still alive.  check.

okay, so we finally made it up the hill, however, when we got to great otway national park to turn down the road to eskrine falls we realized that we would be doing a little off-road down the second steepest hill i have ever seen in my life.  no big deal.  we made it to the falls; it was gorgeous, reminded me of fern gully.  made back up the hill no prob in first gear, and continued on our merry way along the great ocean road.

we didn't have any more stops to make before our final destination for the night, so we were pretty excited that we just go to drive for a little while and enjoy the scenery. little did we know that the entire drive from lorne to apollo bay would be ocean highway aka the hilliest, curviest, scariest roads in the entire world, over looking a cliff down to the ocean the entire way.  and of course, because that wasn't exciting enough, we got attacked by a biker gang heading up to queenscliff, more of the cyclists who were coming from god-knows-where... but we did pull over randomly on the side of the road for a quick breath and saw some wild koalas. don't exactly get to see that every day, eh?

well, needless to say we finally made it to apollo bay, and were faced yet again with the ordeal of finding a free, probably illegal, but sketchy enough place to sleep that we wouldn't get fined or murdered. we pulled into a "caravan park" which eerily resembled a trailer park, but we were too sketched out to do anything else so lauren went in to talk to them about prices and such.  she came back out to converse with us, but by the time we went back to book a spot, they had just given away the last one. sooo they directed us to a campground, which turned out to be half the price and sooo much better. and it just so happened to work out apollo bay music festival was going on that very weekend, so we picked the most bumpin' night of the year to spend the night. perfect.  we had to scale this giant hill to get into the actual town, but it was so well worth it, so much fun.  partying on the gold coast is a blast, usually, but there are so many american and tourists that it can get kinda old pretty fast.  it was fun for once to be the only americans at this australian bar.  so much fun.

the next morning we got up and had the standard breakfast bubbs & pbj breakfast, and then had to gas up at the petrol station, get some coffee, and we were off to our next destination: bimbi park and the camp otway lightstation.  we saw some more wild koalas, but we had to pay to go to the lighstation, so we snuck in the back way up the great ocean walk.  we still got to see the lighthouse and the cape otway, so all people trying to rip off innocent tourists can suck it.  our next stop was the otway treetop walk, about 30 minutes out of our way. however, when we got there we had to pay as well! so we just enjoyed some iced coffees at the otway treetop cafe, and then went back on our merry way.

next stop, princetown and the twelve apostles.  however, when we arrived in princetown we were a little surprised that all the town consisted of was a convenience store/petrol station/cafe.  we went in to get some snacks, and asked if we were in the right place. we were not, we had to drive a little bit further down the road, thank goodness because the twelve apostles was our last and biggest stop of the trip and it had been talked up so much that i would have been incredibly disappointed in what princetown had to offer us.  eventually, after stalling on a blind corner into oncoming traffic, we made it to the twelve apostles, which was gorgeous, and filled with asian tour groups, always a treat. 

after the twelve apostles, it was time to head to port campbell, the port campbell national park, and off of the great ocean road, back up toward geelong.  i must say, it was not such an exciting drive through the farmland/countryside of victoria, but we sang some taylor swift and play a rousing game of sex, drugs and rock n roll which kept us busy for a while. not to mention the twelve maps i had on my lap to ensure i was navigating us in the correct direction.  after a few hours we finally made it to the town of colac where, coincidentally, some of the fellows we had met the night before in apollo bay were from.  we made a pit stop at macca's for a snack and then continued on to geelong.

by the time we reached geelong we gassed up again and realized that we still had an hour or so of sunlight, so we decided to continue on to melbourne, our final final destination. however, we once again had nowhere to sleep so by the time we did some scary scary driving around the cbd of melbourne (did i mention it was scary?) we accidentally pulled over into the parking lot of a beach in st. kilda where, wouldn't luck just have it, there about five other campervans just parked in various spots.  we went over to talk to a few of them to ask about the situation, and they said they had been sleeping there for a couple nights already and hadn't gotten fines or had to pay anything so, perfect!  we pulled up and joined our homeless friends.  indeed, we may have just made a lifestyle choice.

the next morning we woke up on the beach, again, washed ourselves, had some brekky, and took a little walk along the beach to a cafe, and to decide what we were going to do with ourselves for the rest of the day.  we decided to take the campervan back to braybrook, and then take a bus back into the city to do a little exploring until our flight at 6:30. when we make it to the city we decide to walk to lygon st., as that is where our study abroad advisor told us we absolutely must go when in melbourne.  let me just say, i was not impressed. however, we did have some delish lunch, which, after pbj, chips, and breakfast bubbles for three days, probably anything would have been more appetizing.  

for our next and final adventure of the weekend, casey insisted that we find the dan o'connell (her dad's name) hotel on canning st. so we walked for about 700 miles, asked all kinds of people, and thought for a very long time that this was a very made up place. however, we did find it, and then needed very badly to take the tram back into the cbd, as lauren had left her mobile at the pharmacy we stopped at when we first arrived to town to get directions. 

when we finally made it back, we stopped at a cafe across the street for some beverages, and then headed to the train station where we had to catch a skybus back to the airport. sat at the airport just long enough to become exhausted, drank the rest of our leftover goon, hopped on the plane, and home we went back to the gold coast. what an adventureee

16 March

another week already... well, i recovered from mardi gras just in time to celebrate my friend's 21st birthday on tuesday night.  he lives in my corridor so we had the biggest party the AC:CR has ever seen!  it was insanely hot, and i spent most of the party with my head out the window while everyone else played circle of death and peer pong (with water, so as not to make a mess...).  finally we moved the party over to varsity tavern, a short walk from campus, to continue the celebration of matias's day of birth.

i think i told you about the rest of my "spring break" activities already so moving on to this past weekend... it was finally SUNNY!  on saturday kathryn and i sat down by the pool the wholeee dayyy, it was so fabulous.  the only bummer was that there was a brewery tour going on the same day that BASIC was hosting (beer appreciation and social intercourse club) because it was supposed to be rainy weather all weekend.  i really wanted to go, but couldn't risk missing out on the first sunny day in so many days!  luckily, sunday was sunny too!  kathryn and i went to burleigh beach, my second favorite only to main beach in byron bay, to do a little shopping and more basking in the sun.  i bought a really sweet dress from my new favorite store/art gallery called inverse.  this lady that works at a restaurant down the street makes these dresses from vintage scarves that she collects on her travels, so they're all one of a kind.  so coool.

today is ANOTHER sunny day, but i had to do some work as i put it all off this weekend to lay out in the sun.  i'm pretty behind in my lab assignments, so i'm probably going to be spending a couple of hours in the library/lab =(.  tomorrow night is a st. patrick's day celebration, so i have to get everything done by then! xx

13 March

i looked at all the pics from crush party and for the first time have been just the slightest bit homesick... i absolutely looovee it here, but i miss you girls more than you'll ever know.  that being said...

since we don't have spring break here at bond uni, we declared this week (and by this week, i mean since last thursday night when we left for sydney) our spring break.  i skipped all of my classes (some on purpose, others because i was still asleep/in bed) except for one where they take attendance...  instead of going to class i did massive amounts of spring break activities.  on wednesday i went to broadbeach to hang out with my friend, lauren's, sister who came to visit for her actual spring break, and her friend.  we went out to surfers, but wednesday night is not a big party night so we ended up at this bar called the avenue with a bunch of creepy old men.  very wisconsin-esque.  

it was fun though, and i ended up sleeping at the apartment lauren's sister was renting for the week.  i slept on the little couch and lauren, who is a good six inches shorter, got to sprawl out on the big couch.  needless to say, i got a fabulous night's sleep. casey brought a sheet from her bed here at school to sleep on the floor, so kathleen and her snuggled under that.  the next morning we all awoke in a shambles, borrowed some swimsuits/cover-ups/sunscreen, etc. from lauren's sister and friend and went to the beach on the first "nice" day they've had all spring break.  kind of sad, but it's been raining a lot lately so we jumped at the chance to go lay out for a while, even though it was kind of chilly and overcast.

we took the sheet that casey had brought for her night's sleep on the floor and all laied on that because none of us had towels.  when we finally got too cold to lay there anymore, we went back to the apartment to sit in the hot tub for a while.  there was a really hilarious small child that came and hung out with us while her parents watched on suspiciously...  so we left the hot tub and came back to school for our 77th night of spring break-ing in a row.  maybe not that many, but it seems like it, it's been a long couple of weeks.

anyway, that is all for now.  today was a chill day.  i walked three miles to burleigh waters with kathryn to look for her keys that she lost when she was on a run the other day.  we didn't find it, but it was a nice little stroll. then we watched a lot of hours of sex & the city and movies.  it's been very rainy lately, i hope the weather gets better soon so i can play outside again.

Mardi Gras

oooh i should have written a post sooner, as memories already fade fast about my past weekend.  well, i will do my best to fill you in on all the happenings.

we left the gold coast at 8:00pm on thursday night and hopped on a coach bus for what we were told would be a 10 hour drive.  as if 10 hours isn't bad enough, it was a lie.  more like 12 1/2.  the bus had to stop every 2 1/2 - 3 hours for the bus drivers to switch off, and bathroom breaks for the 200+ students i was traveling with.  i took some dramamine and slept most of the way, but of course sleeping on a bus is not a great sleep and i was exhausted when we arrived in sydney on friday morning around 9 am.  we got to grab some brekky, move our stuff into one of two rooms, and change our clothes, wash our faces, etc. very quickly before our tour guides took us on a walk around the city.

we were exhausted, but the walk was still pretty sweet.  we got to walk through hyde park, the royal botanical gardens, up the steps of the opera house, and on top of the harbour bridge which was terrifying, not only because i am afraid of heights but also because it was a windy windy day way up there and i was pretty convinced i was going to fall off into the ocean and wash up somewhere in melbourne.  it did not happen, don't be alarmed.  

we stopped at a food court at a mall to get some lunch.  i ate at healthy choices, which they have  at pretty much every mall around here.  they make fresh sandwiches and salads and stuff and are way more delicious and healthy than... say... macca's or something.  hehe, macca's is what they call mcdonald's here, fyi. =]

after the walk was complete we got to move into our rooms in the hostel, which, turns out, my room was one of the rooms where people were keeping their stuff for the morning, so i was trying to take a quick blink and there were people walking in and out all over the place trying to get their stuff situated.  finally we got showered and dressed up and ready for the activities for the night aka booze cruise in the harbour.  the entire time we just floated back and forth under the harbour bridge and past the opera house and all the beautiful city lights and had to keep telling myself, girl you are in sydney, australia because it was just so unbelievable.

the next day was an optional "hike" in the blue mountains, about an 1 1/2 bus ride away from our hostel in downtown chinatown.  my friends and i opted out of the hike and decided to take a walk around darling harbour.  on the way there we stopped at paddy's market to find some supplies (aka bright green afro wig) for mardi gras.  then we accidentally wandered through festival indonesia which was interesting.  we stopped for a bit to listen to some legit indonesian music and check out some of the snacks they had set up, although did not actually try any of them.  we went further down the boardwalk and had a drink for lunch, ran into some friends who were also in sydney for the weekend, and basically just had a very chill, relaxing afternoon in preparation for the night ahead.

well, if you haven't seen the pics on facebook i suggest you look at them because there is really no way that i can do the things that i saw justice in writing.  and those pictures aren't even the half of it - i can only capture so much, i am only one person.  we had dinner at the gaf, a bar right off of oxford street where the parade was held.  so we got to eat dinner and have drinks while the parade raged on only feet away from us.  it was absolute insanity.  it was difficult to see a lot of the parade because there were so many people lined up on the street and there weren't as many floats as just men in butt-less chaps dancing down the street.  did i mention mardi gras in sydney is also the gay and lesbian pride parade?  right.  that may or may not change things.  

after some dinner and drinks we walked around a bit to try to get a better view, and then stopped at another bar to rest.  we met some nice australian boys from sydney who said they would be happy to take us to a club, wallaby, in darling harbour.  they promised it was just a short walk.  they are liars.  i still do not believe that they are even from sydney because they had no idea how to get to darling harbour, and the walk felt like it took hours.  and to make things even more ridiculous, one of them thought he needed to take a bathroom break behind a bush, and almost got us all arrested by the rangers. ughhh.  well, needless to say we made it to the club and ended up having a very fun and exciting time.  dancing the night away and such. you get the idea.

the next morning we got up bright and early to pack up the buses, grab some brekky, and head off for a cliff walk along the beaches.  we saw tamarama, bronte, bondi... i apologize i can't remember them all but they were beautiful.  it was kind of an overcast day so the air was nice and cool, and i got some pretty fabulous pictures overlooking the ocean.  well, by the time we got to our final destination, bondi beach, famous for, among other things, the reality tv show bondi rescue, which one of our tour guides is actually on.  so, turns out i met a famous australian reality tv star.  too bad i've never seen the show, or any show for that matter as i do not have a tv.

sadly, it began to rain shortly after we arrived to the beach so we took a short walk around the boardwalk, went to a market which was cool and i could have spent hours at if not for the rain, so we ended up going to hotel bondi, where we had a few drinks and sat for six hours watching and trying to figure out the cricket game that was happening on the tv in the bar.  cricket is a very confusing sport, which is why i think it has never became popular in the states.  not to mention it is the most boring to ever to watch.  it's kind of like baseball, but even baseball seems exciting compared to cricket.  anyway, that was quite the long afternoon, but we had some dinner and around 7:30 hopped on the bus for the 12 hour bus ride home.

we arrived home around 6:30 on monday morning and i lugged my suitcases up into my room, into my bed, and crashed, still wearing my bathing suit full of sand and cover up.  i woke several hours later spooning my suitcase in a puddle of sand.  there is no other way the weekend could have ended.  it was fabulous.  i love sydney and want to move there forever.  the end.