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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It's been a while..

So I have a lot to catch up here- our trip to Sydney, Spring Break with Mom and Dad, Currumbin Zoo, and NSW Rugby Championship.
I'll start with the Sydney tour. Our director , Dr Avila, could not come with us but one of our professor and bus driver could. Both had lived in Sydney for a good period of their lives, so were pretty excited to show us around the town.
We left late Thursday night and drove through the night, arriving at 6am in Sydney. We stopped at McDonalds for breaky then drove the to North end of the Harbour Bridge to walk across at 8am. It was amazing, and we had an awesome view of the opera House and the whole harbour. At 10.15 we had a 1 hour guided tour of the Opera House, we learned a lot. From the pictures I thought the Opera house was covered in a metal material but it is actually tile, like the size of bathroom tile! We had lunch then took a ferry down the harbour to the Tarongo Zoo. The Zoo was really cool, had so many different animals with great views of the city. We spent about 5 hours there before checking into our hostel and then going on a bus tour of the city. For dinner we went to Harry's, a famous restaurant out of a trailer that celebrities have gotten meat pies from.
THe next day, Saturday, we had an early breakfast at the hostel and took off to the Blue Mountains. Some people compare the mountains to the Grand Canyon but with trees. There is also the Three Sisters, which comes from an Aboriginal myth. The picture is posted. After touring the mountains for a few hours we went to Bondi Beach then later on went out to the Gay/Lesbian Mardi Gras. It was very interesting and fun to see. The city of Sydney were filled with colorful people but it was surprisingly interesting how fast the streets were cleaned up. Groups of us went out to different clubs and has some fun.
On Sunday we walked around town and were shown some of the different buildings and statues. I love how Sydney has kept the buildings and sites were restored, all of them. We went to Manly Beach as well, but it was a bit cold and rainy so we just shopped around in local stores. We had some free time before we left, and so a small group of us went to the Sydney Aquarium. it was absolutely amazing, the exhibits were unbelievable. There were enormous tanks that were 2 stores high, so we could look in from the top and then walk through tunnels around the bottom. The largest aquariums were here and were beautiful! After a few hours walking around and looking we went to dinner at Darling harbour at a place called Plate. it was really good! We loaded the bus soon after to drive through the night back to Lennox.
BUSY WEEKEND! I a not a big city person but I loved Sydney.

More DogRace Pictures

DogRace Pictures

Dograces

Yesterday started with Marketing class! Our classes are 3 hours but once a week- it makes the class seem like it goes all day long compared to 1 hour classes at home. But I really enjoy the class so that helps!

Side note story:
During our break for class a few of us went to the restroom, as soon as I got into mine I realized there was a quite large spider on the wall. To make a long story short, it started crawling towards me- I screamed the guys opened the door and stepped on it- aka saved my life!!!

In the afternoon we were supposed to volunteer at the local business stores doing misc things for them. The Mayor had emailed them letting them know that this was going to happen but the businesses must not check their emails or have anything for 30 students to do. Instead, another student, Chelsea,and I went into town and started picking weeds and trash from the flower pots. We had a lot of fun together doing that and enjoyed an In The Pink ice cream afterwords. (Best ice cream ever!)

At 5:30 we left for the DogRaces with our Events Management teacher. Students that weren't from the class even came too. He taught us how to follow the TV screens of info. We all put in $5 and bet on dogs, students even started betting individually with their own money. We watched 8 of the 10 the races & even got to pet one of the dogs. It was really cool and our group had a lot of fun! I had fun until the point that I went to use the restroom and realized after locking the stall that there was a frog jumping around. I about died. There was NO way I was going to be using the restroom with him in there! I finally got the courage to unlock the door and take a run for it- made it safely. The animals are after me here... and I'm not enjoying that!