Enjoy life, one wave at a time

I officially have been in Australia for over three months. Which means I have less than two months left! Here are some of my recent adventures...

I LOVE SURFING. My roommate Kate and I have bee trying to wake up early (6:30 am) in order to catch some waves before she goes to work/before I start my day. Starting the day off in the water trying to surf is an amazing way to start the day! You feel so refreshed and calm, I simply love it. Kate has been letting me use her board (the one on the far left) and giving me some tips. I am no pro by any means but I am enjoying just getting a paddle in and standing up for a few seconds at a time. With more practice I hope to get a bit better. Maybe I'll be an Aussie surfer chick after all ;)

Left to right: Kate, Eva, and I

Our flat once again decided to have a party. It is always quite fun because of flat is usually filled with internationals of all ages hanging with each other.

Roomie Kate and I

Washington state represent! Rimma is from WWU as well :)

Hat party?

Left to right (Leonie (German), Eva (German), Ella (Aussie), me (American duhh)

We decided that while we were in Australia that we had to pet kangaroos at least once. Although we (I speak for Eva and I) do not prefer to do "touristy" things we decided to give this a whirl. It was actually quite nice to pet the kangaroos. They reminded me of giant rabbits. 

Trying to give one a high five...I think he thought he was cooler than me...

Eva relates to Koalas very well

The pelican invasion

Bush walk in Port Stephens

Wine tasting with the girls before going to the sand dunes. Yes, I know I look a bit creepy...

"Johnny, can I drive?" Johnny is my landlord/friend/craziest guy you will ever meet who took a a few of us 4wding/sand boarding on the sand dunes in Stockton not too far from where we live. It was a blast!  

Jump for joy

Sand boarding is SO FUN

Album cover worthy

Can't believe this is in Newcastle!

Running the dunes

Courtesy of Johnny bravo tours (my landlord wants to start his own touring company)

In addition to these fun things I have been playing soccer, basketball, cooking with friends, biking, going to class and keeping up with uni work, etc. Last night I even took a ride on a friend's motorbike. Don't worry mom, we were safe..well, relatively ;) I am currently doing a 10 day yoga session with another girl from Washington at a yoga loft near my flat that overlooks the water. Last session the instructor emphasized and encouraged us to step out of our comfort zone. It was exactly what I needed to hear as I approach the end of my time here and am about to travel Asia. So in other words everyone...do something that is out of your comfort zone this week! I challenge you ;)

On that note....I am going to start the challenge off by writing these three essays...while it is not completely out of my comfort zone, it's not exactly incredibly "fun". ;) Although they should be quite interesting. Here is what I will be writing about
1) Political Economy of Heroin (the research has been quite fascinating)
2) Women's relationship to the environment
3) Looking at an Indigenous culture and comparing the way they interact with nature with how the Western world does. I am hoping to examine a group in Indonesia so I can learn a bit more about the country before traveling there.

Anyways! For those of you in school, keep studying hard, Thanksgiving is right around the corner (which I will be miss..sad day.. ). Those of you working...keep working hard, enjoying all that life has to offer and try to spice things up each and every day....and those babies out there..well..just keep eating and behaving for your awesome parents (emphasis on my nephews and niece). Okay, that's all for my "pep talk" and Hannah's daily advice.

Blog soon to come! Love you all! xoxo

“Are you sure you're there for school?”

Hello friends and family! Long time, no post! I have just spent much time traveling the east coast of Australia (as many of you have already read on the previous blog) and am only now getting a chance to post some photos.

My vacation (holiday they would call it here) was incredible! Traveling basically the entire east coast of Australia in a camper van in a group of 8 (two vans); camping, exploring, hiking, swimming, traveling on beautiful islands, beaches, rain forests, waterfalls, caves, star gazing, snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef, sailing, wild animals, laughing, dancing and loving life. Australia is truly a beautiful country with SO many hidden treasures. I am feeling so grateful for all of the amazing experiences I had! So many of the sights I saw literally looked as if it was a movie or a picture…it was so naturally beautiful that it simply did not seem real (snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef I especially felt this!!).

Between all of the cameras we probably took about 3,000 photos…..unfortunately (slash lucky for you all) I do not have the time/energy to show them all… therefore I will show a bit to give you a sense of the trip and then when I return home I can give you all personal slideshows ;) 

Here are the Juicy vans we drove. You can sleep four in the van (including the 'penthouse') although the van I traveled with took two tents which were often more comfortable.

Part of the crew in our first day in Cairns

Nick with his Aussie/crocodile hunter looking hat he loved

The first waterfalls we spent the day at. SO many beautiful waterfalls in Cairns area along with rain forests

Stumbled upon musicians playing near another waterfall

Barron Falls national park

My favorite waterfall of the trip! Many of the waterfalls reminded me of my trip through the Grand Canyon

Juicy vans intact with tents ;)

Josephine Falls: Natural waterfall slide (that's me sliding down with hands up)

Fig tree: So many of these in the Northern area of the coast

Mission Beach stop before Magnetic Island

Lunch at Mission beach

Magnetic Island: We spent two days/nights here hiking, camping and exploring the beautiful island

My van crew: Ryan, Frank, Eva and I. We're very serious people... 

Feeding wild parrots: There were over 50

Baby and momma possum putting on a show for us at a hostel on Magnetic

Wild Wallabies on Magnetic Island

Ryan up close and personal with one. We actually fed them out of our hands pieces of potato

 Our trip was completely planned by and for us. Although we had certain destinations that we wanted to see, we were also rather spontaneous gaining insight and recommendations from people we came across along the way. Throughout the three weeks we only went on one actual ‘tour’ which was on a sailing tour through the well-known Whitsunday islands. Our captain Neil led throughout the islands where we were able to swim and snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef, spend time on a beach called Whitehaven known for the white sand and aqua blue water, and socialize with other internationals on the boat. Before snorkeling Neil told us of how many Aboriginals often speak of the ‘tourists’ snorkeling saying, “They look but they do not see.” I like to think that maybe I really saw a bit.

There were 17 people on the boat, all from different parts of the world

Whitehaven beach: absolutely beautiful

The entire group

The colors were astounding! 

Checking out some caves

So many jelly fish on the beaches

Rainbow beach colored sands: 72 different colors of sand

Glass house mountains near Brisbane

Hiking the mountains

Sunset at the top

Camping adventures

So green! As you can imagine most of our trip was VERY hot! Many days we would wake up and already be sweating (luckily we spent most of our trip in the water of the many beaches we encountered). As we made our way South though, the temperature slowly began to decrease. We picked possibly the best time to travel this area because it was not TOO hot, as it will be very soon seeing as summer is on it's way.

Some of the last days spent in a city called Byron Bay. The BEST ice cream ever

Leonie and Eva boarding the plane back to Sydney

After this trip, basically living as minimally as possible (although I could improve of course!) it has encouraged me to continue to travel (as afford-ably as possible too)! Therefore, I have decided (for those who do not know) to travel some of the Southeastern Asian countries before I head back to the States. I will be spending time in Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Spring break I traveled with seven others….this time I will be on my own. I am truly looking forward to the experience.

I simply cannot believe how fast time has gone by since being here. I have two more months and want to soak it all in! I have met so many fabulous people that I will be sad to leave…but it just means more friends to visit in other countries in the future ;) Hope all is well with everyone back home, from the sounds of it everyone is. More blogs to come!

Now time to get some essays done….