Brisbane

Friday we left early and went to the John Deere in Brisbane. We were spoken to by one of the executives, along with the marketing managers and graduate program students. It was a really interesting program that was given. THe presentation was mainly for the marketing students but it was informational for everyone, and our group had some really great questions for them. The Gators (4 wheeler cars) driver is on the left side when their drivers of cars are on the the right side. They had never thought about it, never needed any legal restrictions nor ever had any problems with it. just thought that was interesting. After the presentation we drove around Brisbane and got some great views of the city and river. We checked into the hotel for a little relaxation time, aka nap time- for me. Then went to Scream World Theme Park. It is only opened at night 4 times a year and is called Scream World, when during the day it is Dream World. We had a lot of fun on some awesome Aussie roller coasters. The park closed by having a DJ at the front and a laser show.

Saturday we went to the Steve Irwin/Australia Zoo. This time we saw the Tiger talk/show, feed the elephants and saw the otter talk/feeding. We had a lot of fun with the group. That night we went out the Brisbane clubs and had a good time.
Sunday consisted of going to the local Brisbane markets, hanging out by the pool by the river/city, and shopping at the Gold Coast outlets.

Great weekend in Brisbane!!

Catching up

The weather has been in the 60s for the past 2 or so weeks, and rained for at least 3/4 of it. Needless to say, we have been spending a lot of time inside, working on homework, watching movies, and some playing cards.
Over the weekend, some of the group did their final Australia traveling- Melbourne (*pronounced Melbin), Uluru, and Cairns. About half the students were gone. On Friday, Jake and I went to use our Free dive from the Open Water scuba diving course. Because of the rain and stinky weather, the waves were so big we could not get the boat out safely. It really made me nervous but we were able to reschedule for Sunday.
Saturday we volunteered for the Lennox Rugby Tourney.
Sunday, we went for the dive and I was able to buy a underwater camera to get some of the marine life in action. AS soon as we got in the water we saw a huge sea turtle, and just sat by him for a few minutes. After a while we swam through a shark area, for about 10 minutes we were passing 1 or 2 sharks everywhere we went. Don't worry, they weren't huge. I got a lot of pictures of the turtle, sharks, fish and coral but my camera ran out JUST before we saw two HUGE sting rays swim by. I will get the camera developed soon.
When we came home there was a great sunset over Lake Ainsworth.
THe guys have really been into fishing out in the ocean, so Jake & Dr Avila go out and fish probably 2 or 3 nights per week. So I got a few pictures of him doing that!
This weekend we are going to Brisbane, we are going to go to John Deer to talk to the marketing department, Steve Irwin/Australia Zoo, Scream World (theme park), and the Gold Coast. We are all pretty excited to go but it just means that out time here is coming to an end...

Lennox Head Rugby Tourney

This past weekend, for the Events Management class we went to the Lennox Head Rugby Tourney. It was with men ranging from ages 35-70ish. It was much more laid back, an family oriented. For the guests, it was $20 entry fee, then all food and drink free. As volunteers, we began raffeling off 5 dishes of prawns (shrimp) to the guests. It really raised a lot of money for the committee. Then, we were handed a big board and plastic shot glasses to hand out shots of "port" (red wine) to the players at half time and at the end of each game. Alcohol is definitely a big part of the Aussie culture, they drink a lot of the time, and a lot. On the sidelines, they had beer cans and only but a few water bottles. The players were really fairly intoxicated and played rugby. When our advisors tell us to get involved in the community, volunteer, and learn the culture they don't expect to be fed large quantities of alcohol. In the States, when you volunteer a person would never dare touch a drop of alcohol. I guess this just shows how laid back and relaxed the Aussies really are.

2011 NSW Country Rugby Tournament

The weekend of the 26th & 27th the Events Management class went to the 2011 NSW Country Rugby Tournament in Lismore, about an hour away from Lennox. We volunteered by selling programs, sweeping out the player changing rooms, and setting up for the Player, employee, and guest dinner. Between doing those duties, we were able to just watch the games. Saturday night we went to the dinner with the 400 rugby players (only being about 15 females in the whole dinner). We have never been starred at so much before in my life. It was an interesting dinner with all of our girls wanting to meet and hang out with so many guys ageing from 18-25. That night the girls all went out to the clubs with the guys. It was an interesting night for them.
On Sunday, we sold the programs again, and also conducted surveys about the event to make the event better in the future. It was hard trying to get people to take a 20 question survey while they are watching the games, especially if their son was playing. Overall, we had a pretty good time watching the games and the girls had a good time meeting rugby players.
It was great coming back to camp though, our home away from home.

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

Last Friday we went to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. When we first arrived we were allowed to hold a pa of food for the colorful lorikeets. They swarmed us, sat on our heads, shoulders, arms, and all around the pan. It was absolutely amazing! We then watched the eel and pelican feeding. I never knew that eels were blind, and can only smell. The feeder had to stomp on the ground to bring attraction then hold the food in front of them. We were also able to watch an aboriginal song/dance type ceremony. We watched reptile show, then we able to hold a snake take a picture with a possum. We also held a baby salt water crocodile! It is not as fun as i thought it was going to be! So weird! We fed some kangaroo's and walked around before going to be High Rope course called the Green Challenge. There were 3 levels of courses, one after the next but we could get down if we wanted. I couldn't wait for this, and most were pretty surprised that I was. Other students were calling out to make sure I was okay because I am no typically into the outdoor activities, but there were no bugs, water, and I was in control of myself! Jake doesn't do well with heights so he got down after the 2nd course but I did it until the end! I The whole day was sooooo much fun!

Other stuff!

Since spring break..
Two of the students performed at the local pub, one singing and the other drumming. It was a lot of fun to watch and cheer on. We have some really talented people on this trip.
Last license place! We finally captured the Southern Territory license plate! Now have all 5, we'll see if we can find any Tasmania & New Zealand!
Lastly, Jake had his underwater camera developed from when we snorkeled and dove at the Great barrier Reef by Hamilton island. We captured some great pictures of coral, fish, and large clams.

Spring Break with M & D- Lennox Head & Byron Bay

We decided not to stay in Brisbane for another night because Iw as just too excited to show them where I was living, Lennox and some places in Byron Bay.
We first brough them back to "camp", showed them around the cottages, the path out to the ocean, Lake Ainsworth/tea tree lake.
Then we also took them to Byron Bay. Jake and I received our Open water certification in scuba diving from SunDive in Byron, so we took them out on a snorkeling trip to the Julian Rocks were there's tons of coral, and full of marine animal life. We also took them to the Lighthouse- because mom loves light houses. The light house area is also the most easterly point in NSW, so we walked part of that! From the lighthouse view you can see the Julain Rocks, and Byron town very well. if you look down into the ocean and the close to shore you can see turtles, sharks, sting rays and even dolphins! We saw turtles and dolphins on that particular day. It was a lot of fun showing them our "stomping" ground for the past 2 months.

We had a great time with Mom & Dad, even though it rained. It was so good to get away and be with them and tell them some of our stories and things that we have learned and done. So great to see them!

(Love you M & D, thanks for everything!

)

Spring Break with M & D- Brisbane/Australia Zoo (Steve Irwin)

Landing in Brisbane on St. Patricks day, we saw all sorts of festivities. we checked into the hotel (not a hostel!!) and checked out our amazing view from the 27th floor. We went to Pigs & Whistles, a pub, for dinner. It was delicious!
The next day we went to the Steve Irwin Zoo/ Australia Zoo. It was sooooo cool! The zoo's exhibits were enormous, which I really liked. I don't know if anyone ever feels bad for animals at zoo's when they see them living in the tiniest place for the rest of their lives, but it was not at all like this here. The elephants had a place the size of a football fieid, then sleeping quarters, and uninhabited land to play on, along with walks throughout the zoo. the zoo keepers were so involved with the animals, knew their history and personalities, you could tell the animals were really cared for at the zoo. it was so great to see!

After the zoo we headed to Lennox and Byron.

Spring Break with M & D- Hamilton Island

From Sydney, we flew to Hamilton Island, about half way between Brisbane and Cairns, just hours north on the Eastern coast. We flew onto a tiny trap and into a tiny airport that was basically outside. We checked into our resort and noticed that our room had an amazing view. There were only shuttles and golf carts that were for transportation in the island, so we took a shuttle around the island to check out where things were. The island was so small that the shuttle around the whole island was only about 30 mins. It rained the majority of the time that we were in the island. But we still managed to keep busy. We would shop at the local stores, and walk around.
On one of the days we took a ferry boat out to FantaSea to snorkel and scuba dive. Jake and I dove while M & D snorkeled. We snorkeled with M & D 2 more times after our dive. We had a lto of fun, and the boat provided lunch and all the gear for the water. This was one of our days that did NOT rain.
Another day we decided to do a, what we thought to be a short and sweet hike to the point. It ended up being a 4ish hour hike both up and back down. It was quite intense because it was so hot and a lot of uphill slopes. M & D did great for not being in great hiking shape.
One of the nights before we left, we took a shuttle up to the best place to watch the sunset. We talked with locals that had taken many trips to the States, finding it interesting how much they would see in such short periods of time.
The day that we left we went to the breakfast center where you could hold koalas and snakes. Mom was SOOO excited to hold a koala and didn't want to let him go. Dad worked up the courage to beat his great fear and hold a snake. the picture attached is one of the ones of him smiling. I think he was a bit proud of himself for holding it.

This island was beautiful. The same person owned almost all the stores and restuarants. we talked to one of the oce cream employee's and she was a Kiwi (New Zealander), she had completed university and was just making good money before her real job. The minimum wage on the island was $23 per hour!! Crazy salary! Even the minimum wage in Australia is about $14. I definitely wouldn't mind either of those salaries as a beginner.
even though it rained, we had fun just relaxing and handing out with one another.

Spring Break with M & D- Sydney

Jake & I left Friday late morning to Ballina to fly to Sydney to meet M & D. Now one thing that we have learned about Australia is that they don't have stores open the long ours that we do. A typical store is at least 8-5 and grocery stores are until like 9ish. Here, stores close in the late afternoon or open late. Now when we went to the Ballina airport, not a huge town, they did not open until noon. it was crazy, our flight was at 3ish and the airport did not really start moving and getting busy until noon or 1! Also I have never walked out the the airplane and boarded from the blacktop.
The flight was good, we found M & D easily in the airport. Then went to the hotel and settled in, then went to dinner and walked around. Now because I am behind on blogging I don't remember every step we took.
We went to the Blue Mountains and the Three Sisters. We did a little walking around on the trails, took the skyview ride to oversee the mountains, a waterfall, and other minor things. The tour to the Blue Mountains also included going to Featherdale Wildlife Park. We were able to see a joey and his momma. He was so tiny, and so quick. Then we were able to pet and see tons of Koalas. THe best part was being able to feed the kangaroo's, they were so friendly and let you get close enough to hand feed and pet them. That night we went to dinner at a place classes The Rocks on the harbour by the Opera House & Bridge, we had a great dinner and then dessert at a famous pancake place!

The next day we flew to Hamilton Island!

Other

There are a few pictures from Between Sydney & Spring Break.
Mom on the phone with me, with the babies lovin her.
Prnaks- our group is all about pranks. There have been cereal boxes of crabs & todd dropped in cottages, ketchup bottles exploded in fridges, flour on ceiling fans, freezing of boxers, moving of ALL furniture into rooms while clothes are all thrown in living rooms, etc. Now we wake up to all the tables & chairs in front of the doors to every cabin. One cabin left their door unlocked and all their living room furniture was moved out to the grass in front of the house.
Over the time here, I have learned that our student are incredibly talented. Singing, dancing, music, everything. The 4th picture is of a drawing that one of our guys drew on the corn hole board, we all signed it to represent BSU 2011 students in Australia.
The last picture is of me playing volleyball. Every week we have volleyball tournaments. Different students are chosen for teams and play Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday afternoons. It's a time when everyone is out of their cottages, watching or playing the volleyball games.

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