Sydney was "Wicked"

Getting on the plane to leave for sydney from cairns was really hard, it wasn't like i was going to come back there after i was finished in sydney like i had previously done 2 months before. Once i left, i was officially gone for awhile but hopefully not forever, you never know where God will lead you in Life....so i'm leaving the door open to possibly going back for a visit sometime later.

The Flight to sydney was pretty quick, they showed the movie 500 days of summer, which i had already seen in Sydney ironically enough. Movies always make a flight go quicker especially if they are any good. Luckily, we have been flying on Qantas for every flight and they by far are the best airline that australia has. even their meals are really good.
Once we got to sydney, we didn't have to mess with customs or security because it was a domestic flight so we just got our luggage and instead of taking the train into the city and walking a few blocks to our hotel for 30$ we opted to get in line for a taxi ( btw, i had never used a taxi before and prob wouldn't like to again if i can help it). we got a taxi and a driver who was from who-know's where but he did know were our hotel was and thats all that mattered. it was a little bit more expensive than taking the train in but a lot less hassle.... Unfortunately, less hassle almost always means more money! o well. Thank God for the blessing of having a little extra.

Our Hotel was the Travel Lodge which sounds kinda dodgy, but it was REALLY nice with a flat screen tv and a fridge and sink. to use the elevators you had to swipe your room card to activate the floor you want to go to....pretty high tech if you ask me.


Sydney was so different to cairns, people were still mostly friendly, but everyone was in so much of a hurry and there were just heaps more people bustling around. and i still get a kick out of crossing the street diagonally. We saw all the known sites and walked 11 miles the first full day...my feet did hurt in case you were wondering.
we went to the Aquarium which was cool, but not as impressive as i thought it'd be. we then made our way over to capital theater because i knew that Wicked the musical was showing and we happen to get box seat tickets for a matinee on saturday. That was probably the highlight of sydney, Wicked was so great and thats saying alot because i don't normally like musicals. We of course saw the bridge, and the Opera House. We took a ferry across that harbour to Luna Park which i really liked and we rode the ferris wheel which overlooked the harbor as well. Did some shopping of course, but by saturday night i was ready to move on to New Zealand,....
I've decided that i don't really enjoy big cities, i like the suburbs, and i don't really like feeling like im risking my life everytime i try crossing the road.


On an Interesting note, the Rocks is the historic part of sydney which is the part right near the bridge and opera house,and while walking through this portion, we came across a christmas tree that was rather oddly constructed. After closer investigation, we discovered that the christmas tree was made comepletely out of empty soda bottles....now thats some mixing of christmas cheer with and underlying goal of raising recycling awareness...

Australia is pretty "green" something i'll try to impart in my daily life back in the states.

Looking back while moving onward...

So seeing as my semester in cairns has ended, i've been traveling and that equals no constant source of internet, which entails little blog posting. So There is much to tell but i will break them up into separate posts.
This post will focus on Leaving Cairns...

After i stayed up all night waiting with steph until she had to leave for the airport, i was able to catch about 4hrs sleep until i had to get up and eat my last breakfast at the lodge, that may not seem like much, but i consistently had the same breakfast all semester and it never got old. after brekkie Tabby picked me up and we went to Port douglas to meet joel and others to hangout and celebrate his birthday. on our way back to cairns we just barely missed being hit by a rock slide. it was scary and i had never witnessed one let alone almost been crumbled beneath one.

That night we all celebrated at Joel's parents house which happened to be where i was staying the night before my mom came the next morning so it was really convenient.
I picked my mom up the next day and we checked into our hotel which happened to be located on the Esplanade which made it extra special. we went to church that night after an afternoon nap and she got to meet all my friends from church. On monday i took her to my favorite beach and let her soak up some aussie sun. we used the bus so she could see what i had to do during my time there, it was actually a good plan because she got to see the university as it was a stop on the way to the beach. Tuesday we went on the sky rail up to Keranda where she got to hold a koala and feed the kangaroos. It was a nice little trip because i had won a gift voucher for a free lift on the sky rail and had saved it all semester to use with her so it worked out perfectly. that night i went to my last nexus meeting which was kinda sad. everyone signed a card for me and they prayed for my safe journey home. I'm really blessed to have become apart of their group so easily. I'm definitely thankful this thanksgiving for that group and the spiritual growth i encountered.
Kevin gave us one last taxi ride to the airport which was prob the best way to end it. I'm anticipating keeping in touch with them as best i can, especially since becs and karl got engaged just before i left. i was glad i got to be there to hear the news and see the ring.

Last night with Steph and at the Lodge

so last night marked the last night at the lodge and the last night to hangout with Steph. We decided that it would be fun to go to the beach at night and have a few drinks with a friend from church. It was so cool to look at the stars and not be able to recognize any of the constellations because they are all backwards. It was fun just to chill and talk while reminiscing about the time we have had in australia. Then we came back and i still had to do laundry and pack which i did till 4am seeing as the was when steph was leaving for the airport. So today i am operating on 3hrs of sleep. Fun Stuff especially since it's Joel's 21st bday party tonight.

my mom is currently in transit to come to cairns and i am really looking forward to traveling with her and sharing some of this experience with someone else. i'm excited to show her where i have been living for the past 5months and im excited to explore sydney and NZ with her!

It was kinda sad saying goodbye to steph eventhough i will actually get to see her in Dec. we have become really great friends and i thank God for such a blessing,...not only did i make some really great christian aussie friends, but i also made a good christian american friend who so happens to have ties to Greensboro eventhough she lives in MAine, who knows maybe one day i will to go visit up there.


this picture sums up our friendship quite nicely~ we have had so many laugh, i will really miss our random moments of hysterical laughter in which neither of us know what we are laughing about! Good Times!

Pancakes Among a Sunrise

So today steph, her roommate, and I got up at 5 am and went to the beach to watch the sunrise. it was so beautiful eventhough it was extremely hard to wake up that early and it really affected me the rest of the day. we brought along some pancake mix and maple syrup and made pancakes on the bbq's at the park next to the beach. It was quite lovely and very scrumptious!


Watching the sunrise is such a remarkable thing, from the colors illuminated throughout the sky, to the quickness of its rising as well as, the power of heat that is felt as it ascends to trade spots with the moon. The australian sun is nothing to mess with. It will fry you if you are not careful and are amongst its powerful rays for too long, yes, i have had a few of these experiences. But nonetheless, it is still breathtaking to watch something that happens everyday and that most people are not up to witness. It just made we want to lift my hands and praise God for his remarkable creation and his unfailing Grace.


Also, at nexus this week, they through us a going away mini party. they gave steph and i a little package with some australian goodies which was so thoughtful. But best of all they made us the best "Australian Cake" EVER...it consisted of a tower of lemmingtons, with chocolate koalas, and timtams. So Creative and extremely yummy!
i was very much impressed but really sad to leave such caring people!

Maggie Island

So this past week i had my ecology exam which was actually really difficult but i made it through and im pretty sure i passed. On Wed. i left for maggie island which is 4hrs south of cairns. Unfortunately i was under the impression that it was going to be very luscious and tropical island like, but instead it was really dry and rocky. However, it was still really beautiful and really nice to just get away, especially after studying for that ecology exam. I can honestly say we didn't do much on the island which was the way i wanted it. i was perfectly content not having to do anything and just being lazy. we did find this cool trail that led up to this great peak on top of a boulder. so we trekked up that at sunset.

On Friday we went back into Townsville by ferry and spent the day walking around and we went to see 2012, which was an interesting movie. it was actually more graphic than i had anticipated, but nonetheless it was still entertaining and a good 3hrs spent out of the sun. That night we met up with some friends for dinner and they took us up to Castle Hill which is really more like a mountain that overlooks all of townsville (city on one side and all the suburbs on the other side)


Then we were able to meet up with another friend who had been in Cairns for several weeks earlier but had to finish her classes in Townsville, so it was really great to see her again. we had to get up at 5am to catch a 6:30flight back to cairns which was really quick thankfully. i did more on saturday by lunch than i had done in the past 3 days. Today (Sunday) Steph and i went to the beach and got a little toasted...which showed up later and people at church kept giving us a hard time about. The pastor surprised us when we arrived to church by telling us that he was going to call us up to the front so we can say something about our time in cairns and at the church and then he would pray for our return travels home. As sweet that was we were both not too excited to speak in front of everyone, But in my defense and as a surprise to myself, i didn't freak out like i would have thought i would, i more or less excepted it immediately and started preparing for what i was going to say. Steph on the other hand was really freaking out as she does not like public speaking either and i would probably classify it as more than me, since i can do it, i just dont like it. anyways, it went well and it gave me a chance to publicly thank Kevin and Krys for all the rides they had graciously given us throughout the whole semester. IT really wasn't that big of a deal and im wondering if i thought that because it was kinda sprung on us and i didn't have enough time to worry about it.
in other news, i have this last week left, my mom comes next sunday, and my last exam is friday! Its insane how this semester has come to an end so quickly! i am truly going to miss my cairns family!
I started listening to christmas music today which made me really want to bake cookies but alas i do not yet have the resources to do so yet! but soon enough!

Youthsurge and Rain!

So friday, cairns presi hosted Youthsurge which is like a mini conference for highschool students in the city. Kids from all the different churches gathered for a bbq and then participated in the conference. I went mainly because i had no other plans and alot of the people from the Nexus were helping out. I actually asked to be the official photographer of the evening so i really enjoyed having that responsibility even though i was only asked to take "Crowd shots" due to liability issues but nonetheless it was still fun. The speaker was really cool. He is from an italian family and was raised in sydney. I spoke with him for a little before the worship portion started and he said that he has been to the States 6 times but at first he thought i was australian which was a great compliment...guess im catching onto the accent more than i thought :) anyways, his name is Ross, and he married a gal named Rachel and he commented on the fact that everywhere in the states people would compare them to "Friends" which i thought was funny. He even gave me a shout out during his message when explaining that story, which was pleasant surprise (i felt cool and important) Besides that the message was really good and there were even several youth that committed their lives that night which was the most spectacular thing of all.


This weekend has been mostly rainy, with spots of sunshine. i slept alot on saturday because i had to stay up till 4am and register for classes back at winthrop and with the time difference that was what it worked out to...as always, registering was a pain and i didn't get everything i needed ...i really need to take economics but they only had two sections open which were already closed by the time i got to register...bummer so instead i think i am going to take Biological Psychology which really doesn't help me credit wise but i think it should be an interesting class and possibly useful.

Last night i went to a party with some friends from church and that was really fun, i am going to miss hanging out with everyone on any given whim. Today i woke up to Torrential rain downpour which i found quite nice surprisingly, it poured for like 2hrs straight and the street looked like it was going to flood...oddly enough i just couldnt stop listening/watching the rain....its been so long since i've seen such a downpour. Normally rain makes me sleeping and lazy but this kinda modivated me, i just kept my window opened and listened to rain while listening to a christian mix i made and studied for ecology. It has been a good sunday morning and tonight is CafeNite church so i am looking to forward to that as well especially, since its nexus' turn to serve.
Its about 3 weeks till i come home....and im not sure what to think about that!?

Spontaneity is the spice to life

Today could have been an average ordinary thursday, but with some quick decisions, it turned out to be quite lovely!

I jumped on the opportunity to go bowling which was the first time in a really long time...i broke 100 for 2 of the 3 games and had some strikes in there :)
Its funny how this opportunity came about however, I was just on facebook chatting with people and started talking to a aussie friend and he was signing off because he said he was about to go bowling, so some might say i invited myself But, he did actually offer the invitation and offered to pick me up, so it was all good. Then, this afternoon, i found out about some pick-up bball that was happenning later on and decided that it had been too long since i have played, especially in the "game" mode...so i went and turned out to be what i expected, which was a big group of guys and me...Daunting to some but i prefer it that way.
I'm not going to say i wasn't rusty because none of my shots started falling in until the 3rd game but once i found my rhythm again,....well, they were impressed :)
Also, my coach would have been proud because i made almost all my free throws which decided teams. Muscle memory is an interesting thing and I love that i still have it after all these years.
Unfortunately, i collided with another guy and got this Huge hematoma (massive bruise) right on my shin ...it swelled up so much but being the girl and not wanting to prove that point i just ran off the pain....only to be paying for it tonight but thats the price that must be paid to run with boys!
And another sad fact...i have been going to the gym pretty much everyday for the whole semester, and i am more sore from these 4games of basketball than i have ever been from any of those workouts!

This afternoon really made me miss my days in high school and being apart of a team. Those were the good ol days! Im hoping i can play intramurals back at winthrop next semester but we'll see.
Well, until later...im taking some advil and going to bed! i hope i can move tomorrow hahaha

Halloween in OZ

This past weekend was halloween, and though australians don't really celebrate halloween we decided to dressup anyway, and go salsa dancing which was quite fun!
We went over to a friends house and rummaged through her dress up clothes and got creative. im not really sure what i was officially but i was between a disco ball and a 80's pageant queen. nevertheless, we kinda looked ridiculous. but fortunately there were others in town who dressed up as well, so we weren't the only ones. after salsa lessons we went back to the house and decided to watch Friday the 13th, the old version which was kinda funny because of how bad the acting was and how you could predict everything that was going to happen....when the music started getting creepy we just started commenting "dead" which made it even more comical instead of scary.
On sunday, i went to church which was really great and then we went out to eat after wards, we ended up at this place called Hogs Breath Cafe...i really enjoyed it, Mostly because it really reminded me of home. I would equate it to like a "Hams" or maybe even an applebees. Anyways it was really good and not too expensive, which is really important right now since money is starting to get really tight!....i have to say it fun to spend money but its hard when there is not inflow of it and only outflow.