Cairns

So we got up and went to the Airport where our play was delayed because of the fuel gage or something.. just our luck. Finally they fixed it and we were off to Cairns. When we arrived it was sunny for a bit but then it started raining so I didn't feel so bad for having to wait for our luggage/on our shuttle etc. We finally arrived at our resort and wow. It was awesome. We had a HUGE room with a balcony looking right out at the pool. After that we pretty much just had dinner, came back and went to bed.

Wednesday was our day at Michaelmas Cay. We had to be on our shuttle at 7 a.m. so it could pick up some more people and to at Cairns by 9:00 because our boat left at 9:30. When we got on the boat Dad and I signed up to SCUBA DIVE !! I think he was a little nervous at first but didn't want to admit it. So anyways, we took an extremely large sailboat to an island full of birds (literally--- yuck.) that was about 2 hours away. Once we got there mom and I took a semi- submerged submarine ride for about a half hour where we got to see some of the fish and the coral. After that dad and I got our scuba gear on and got ready to go diving! Dad was extremely nervous I KNOW because he was asking the guy 2000 questions and getting extremely jumpy and flustered. Well, he did fine in the water and we had no problems. It was AMAZING. The colors of all the different fish and coral that we say and just the variety of all the different coral and fish we saw was breathtaking.. ha, literally! It was awesome... by far one of the coolest things i've done. Mom went snorkeling which she also said was cool and that she saw a lot of different fish and coral. After that we pretty much just layed out on the boat while it took is back to shore! We ended up eating a late dinner then heading to bed early.

Again, Thursday we got up early for our trip. We got into the bus and headed to Kuranda, an aboriginal village in the middle of the rainforest. We took a train up the mountains and it was again, incredible views. We stopped at a placed called Barron falls where the waterfalls were absolutely beautiful. Afterwards we made our way up the mountains and when we got to the top we went to the Koala park where mom and I got to HOLD a Koala (the state law in Queensland is different from new south wales where you can only pet it ). It was soooo cute and cuddly and I wish I could have one for a pet. After that we fed the kangaroos who were also soooo cute ( probably because they were really only wallabies)! They pretty much smelled/saw food and they ran up to you and looked so cute you just couldn't resist! After this we took the WORLD LONGEST sky-rail back and it went over the top of the rainforest. Once AGAIN, talk about amazing views! We had the pacific ocean, then we had flat land, and behind us/ALL around us we had the rainforest. It was breathtaking. When we made it back to the village we had the "Aboriginals" give us a show, teach us how to play the didgeridoo, and help us throw a boommerage.. which was actually cool cuz we actually got to throw one! Anyways, that was the end of that, and again we just got home, cleaned up, and I got ready for my last night/dinner in Aussie land :( .

Weekend in Sydney with mom and dad

So Friday I woke up thinking that I would be getting a call from mom and dad around 7:00 because their plane was supposed to get in at 6:45. I didn't get a call until about 8:30. Thanks. Anyways, I eventually made my way over to their hotel and it was so great to see them! We walked around circular quay where we then ate lunch and had 26 dollar fish and chips! Ugh. I then met up with my roommates at max brenners for some chocolate! I had a chocolate suffle with icecream.. so good! Then I went back and went swimming with Daner. We went back and showered and got ready to go out for dinner! We went to Darling Harbour to Helm bar.. aka "time out- world cup bar" and got chicken schnitzels and fries and my parents met all my roommates which was cool! After that we went back to the apartments to get ready to go out for the night.

Saturday I woke up and had to say bye to Melissa because she was leaving for the airport early.. it was very sad because she was the first one to leave and she cried. After that i went to meet my parnets where we then took the ferry to Manly where we walked around and got lunch. We went back and took them to my apartment where I got my stuff and i said bye to dana :( . It wasn't as sad as saying goodbye to Melissa because I dont think it really hit me. Then we went back to the hotel and just relaxed for the night.

Sunday we got up and went to the rocks where we waited for Danielle to come with her bags. Once she got there we headed to Circular Quay where we went to the Botantic Gardens and then St. Mary's Cathedral. Then we went to see Derek's old hostel and bar that he went to where he would try to "figure out what the hell he was doing with his life." Then I took my parents to steak and potatoes for one last time and it was delicious! I also showed them where I worked. After that we went back and my mom, Danielle, and I went to the rocks and did some shopping. Afterwards we got pizza and then it was about time for bed.

Monday we got up early and I said goodbye to Danielle. That also wasn't very sad because we both were pretty tired and it was really informal. My parents and I got on the shuttle and went to featherdale and did the blue mountains! It was a great day for it and I could actually see the mountains this time. It was a much better tour the second time around.. the views were beautiful! When we got back I just packed and relaxed and got ready for our big day to Cairns.

Port Stevens Weekend

We took off for Port Stevens which is about 2 and a half hours north of Sydney. We drank on the bus again but once we got there we were all pretty dead and ready for bed. Saturday Morning we got up early and went to the Shark and Ray Centre where we actually got in the water and pet and fed sharks and sting rays. Scccaarryyy! After that we headed to somewhere in the middle of no where in the desert where we were surrounded by sand dunes. We took a four wheeler to the sand dunes where we were going to go dune boarding. Apparently the other week people got hurt by standing up and going down the dunes so they only wanted us to sit on the boards, which is fine because I wouldn't have been able to stand up without breaking my neck anyways. So pretty much we just sledded down sand .. we only went down twice because the hill was so big that it was extremely hard to walk back up. After dune boarding we headed back to Port Steven to go whale and dolphin watching. When we got into the boat my roommate and I went to the bar to order a drink, but the bartender told us he was told not to sell drinks because it was going to be extremely choppy out there and drinking wouldn't help. Thank God he didn't sell us any or I would have joined the other 10000000 people that were puking. Not kidding there were people EVERYWHERE puking over the edge and carrying around barf bags. I have never seen so many people throwing up at one time in my entire life. Wow. Anyways, we ended up seeing quite a few dolphins and we saw a few whales but they were harder to spot. The water though was SOOOOO blue! After whale watching went and got a tour of Murrays Brewery and then we had dinner there. After that we went out to the one and only bar in the whole town, and i'm pretty sure that was the most action that bar had ever seen since its been there. There were about 30 of us who walked in and everyone kind of just stared at us. But they had a live band with an older lady and older man and they placed 80's music pretty much the entire time.. it was actually a blast.

The next day (Sunday) we headed to Hunter Valley where we ate lunch and then did wine tasting all day. We went to three different vineyards, and the last one we did liquor tasting. Our last one was a hot chili pepper shot, and they made everyone do it. It BURNED my mouth for like 10 minutes straight!

All together it was a very successful and fun weekend! Unfortunately that was our second to last weekend here and now we only have one more week together! :(

Our busy Sunday! (6/27/10)

Sunday we had a really busy day. After a long somewhat relaxing weekend, we got up and headed to Darling Harbour. First we stopped at the chinese garden of friendship which is basically a huge park with a bunch of pretty trees, sculptures, plants, waterfalls, etc. Then we had lunch at a place called "pancakes on the rocks" which had AMAZING pancakes, however because we aren't supposed to tip here the customer service was horrible. After that we went to wildlife world where we saw one of the largest crockodiles in the world, some ugly kangaroos, and of course the cutest koalas. Then we headed over to the aquarium which was AWESOME. I'm not sure if its because I've never been to an aquarium before or if it was just this one.. but I was amazed by the HUGE turtles and the sharks. Once we were done there we headed over to the big sydney tower where we went up to the top to look out at the city. I would compare it to the john hancock building in Chicago. It was awesome because we could see everything from our apartments that we are staying, to our internship sites, to the olympic stadium, to the opera house. Very cool. After that we headed to circular quay for our 5489589 attempt at the ice bar. We FINALLY were able to get in and it was awesome. Literally everything was made of ice . The walls,sculptures, the cups usually are however they were out of cups because they didn't get shipped in on time, so we got in for 20 dollars instead of 30, which was fine by me. Anyways, after that we came back and relaxed the rest of the night. It was a great day.

Saturday 6/19/10

Today was an AMAZING DAY! I got up hearly and headed to Paddy's market which is a really cheap souvenir place to get the rest of my souvenirs. This took all of ten minutes, so I decided I would take a walk around Darling Harbour because i've never actually seen it in the daylight. I walked through where Fifa Fan fest was held, I found where the chinese garden of friendship is, where the WORLDS LARGEST Imax is, and also where the Aquariums and Wildlife World are located. It was a beautiful day and I walked around pretty much the whole harbour. Then I headed over to circular quay and caught the ferry over the Manly beach which is about a half hour ferry ride. There were so many sailboats out on the ocean and it was so beautiful. When I got to Manly, I walked over to the beach and pretty much just layed in the sun and took in what a great day it was. Eventually I headed back to get ready to go to the rugby game at the 2000 olympic stadium! After the game we headed to this outdoor bar where we could watch the world cup game on some big screen TV's. I finally headed home around 1:00 and slept until almost 12 on Sunday.

Thursday 6/17/10

Today at work I shadowed Noel (the caseworker) around. I went through goals with one of the kids and he also wanted me to go through goals with ben (the one that I keep seeing out) but thank god I didn't have to because I think that would have made ben a little bit uncomfortable. It was cool to see how the casework was done but to be honest it was kind of a boring day! After work I went home and ate dinner then got ready to go out! I went out with my roommate dana, ashley, and two other girls from our program to my friend Joey's house (the one who is here on the spring semester program from Minnesota) because it was his birthday! Then we headed to home bar/unipackers in darling harbour just like any other Thursday! :)

Tuesday 6/15/10

So today at work I had a meeting with my supervisor and he said that next week I am going to be doing some other stuff such as education, drop in, and freeway (which is basically activity day where the kids go do something such as rock climbing, go-karting, etc.) He also said that I will get to do Francis street within the next few weeks which is medium term care so the kids living there are a little bit more under control. He said he has heard nothing but good things which made me really happy! The only thing he had a complaint about was that I needed to wear longer shorts, or pants. Whoops!