Best. Trip. Ever.

I awoke the Sunday after the Halloween party with a sweet little hangover. I had no choice but to power through. I double-checked that all my bags were ready to go and headed out to begin my Whitsundays adventure. On the way to the train to get to the airport, I passed a group of zombies doing the Thriller dance. Very cool zombies.
We touched down in Porserpine to a balmy 32 degrees Celsius, meaning about 90 degrees. I caught a bus and headed to Airlie Beach. Once there, I checked into my hostel and went exploring. My boat didn’t leave until the following morning so I had plenty of time to entertain myself and got some amazing pictures. I decided to have dinner at a cute seafood restaurant that also happened to be a bar. I tried not to look too lonely while eating by myself, but evidently it didn’t work. Three guys and a girl a few tables down asked me to join them. They paid for my drinks the rest of the night. We did a little bar hopping around town. At the bar at my hostel, I had a dance party with a random guy who was breakin it down by himself on the dance floor. Classic. Then we ended up at Mama Africa. This club is African animal themed and the bathrooms are outrageous. See picture below. At about midnight I finally decided I needed to get home and went back to the hostel.Monday morning I got up nice and early to make sure I was at the boat on time. Drinking before going on a boat, probably not the best idea but you only live life once, right? After walking for a good twenty minutes with all my stuff, I realized I had walked completely the wrong way. Typical me. I was scared I was going to miss the boat so I had to catch a cab to the marina. I arrived just in time. Everyone checked in and got some last minute snacks, picked up our stinger suits (to protect us from jellyfish) and then we were off on the Apollo.

The water was crystal blue and the weather was beautiful. The Whitsundays are made up of 74 tropical islands in the Coral Sea. Only 8 of the islands are actually inhabited. On the first day we headed from Airlie Beach through the passage between Hook Island and Whitsunday Island up to Mackerel Bay. It’s here that we got to do our first scuba dive (FOR FREE!). The coral was beautiful and there were tons of fish swimming in and out of the coral. There were colorful clams that could sense your shadow over them and would close up as you swam over. After the dive I then got to snorkel around for a while and then dried out on the beach. We then sailed back down to the passage to anchor for the night.

The food on the boat was phenomenal. The kitchen was teeny but somehow they were able to cook such good food. We had pasta, steaks, salads, chicken dishes and even got bacon and eggs for breakfast the last day. Needless to say, we didn’t go hungry.

We were woken up nice and early for breakfast and to set out for our next location. It was cloudy and the rain kept coming in spurts. At first it was bearable on the deck, but once the sky opened up we all hurried back down to the cabin. They broke out big yellow raincoats and we were set. We sailed down the side of Whitsunday Island to Whitehaven Beach, the second most beautiful beach in the world. The beach stretches over seven kilometres and has some of the purest sand in the world. It’s so pure you can actually use it to exfoliate your skin and clean your jewellery, which I of course did. My skin felt amazing afterward and my jewellery shined. They also told us you could use the sand to brush your teeth and deep clean them. That was a BAD idea.After spending the morning on the beach we loaded back up on the boat. We headed back up around Hook Island near Hayman Island. Hayman Island has one of the most exclusive resorts in the Whitsundays. People known to vacation there include Brad and Angie. We hopped off the boat to do some snorkelling across the way near another smaller island. I had on my stinger suit and was ready for some snorkelling. A lil while into my snorkelling I felt a really sharp pain on my back. The pain then travelled down my back and down my right arm. At that point I realized I had been stung by a jellyfish THROUGH my stinger suit. I want my money back. The jellyfish in Australia are pretty dangerous because a lot of them can be deadly if you don’t get treated quickly. I had no idea what the jellyfish looked like but I wouldn’t know if it was dangerous or not anyway. I looked up out of the water and saw that I was pretty far from the beach. Even though I was in a lot of pain, I needed to get to the beach in case I started having a bad reaction to the sting. So I swam hard all the way to the beach. Once there I pulled off my suit in case the jellyfish was still in there. I was still alive and wasn’t having any other reactions so I figured I was safe. Just in case, I called over our deck hand Benny and told him I’d been stung. He doused me in vinegar and told me I’d be fine. However, I had no desire to get back in the water after that and it kinda ruined my morning.

We then got back on the boat and headed down to Blue Pearl Bay. We arrived just before sundown and I suited up for my first ever night dive! We went right at sundown. Once we were in the water it felt a little like the movie Open Water. Once I convinced myself that I wasn’t going to get eaten by a shark, I settled down and we started descending. Night dives are surprisingly calming. You can see your buddies a lot easier because everyone has torches on at all times. You also get to focus on the details rather than being overwhelmed by all the colors and fish. We saw shrimp and crabs hiding in the coral. All you could see were their red beady eyes looking out at the torch. At one point my light beam flashed over a humungous snout. Not gonna lie, I screamed a little. Turns out it was just a huge Flowery Cod. We actually saw a lot of them and after the first time I wasn’t too scared. Then our dive instructor pointed out a beautiful baby sea anemone. They are extremely rare to see as youngins because they stay hidden in the coral until they’re about 40 years old and can support themselves. It was beautiful and pink and glowing in the light of the torch. We then settled on the bottom and held our torches against our chests so that we were in complete darkness. We waved our hands in the water and saw the light show. These little fish store up sunlight all day and when you wave your hand they glow like tiny stars. Awesome.

Once back on the boat we had dinner and celebrated Kelly’s birthday. We broke out the party hats and the drinking games commenced. At one point we wanted to go to the front of the boat to take some Titanic pictures. Kelly screamed bloody murder and went running back to the back of the boat. Evidently our dive master sleeps on the top deck in a “weather sak” and she almost stepped on his head. He popped up and said hello and sent us all screaming and running. Funny night.

We woke up bright and early to some rain, but it was gone by breakfast time. We had some bacon and eggs and then got ready to dive. Blue Pearl Bay was awesome at night, but it was even more amazing during the day. The colors were vibrant and there were so many fish. Our dive master took water bottles filled with bread and released some in the water so that the fish would swim all around us. We also saw lots of clown fish in their sea anemones. Then we came up on Elvis. Elvis is a Hump-headed Maori Wrasse. He’s huge and pretty much like a puppy dog. He’s so friendly and loves to be petted. I even got to give him a hug! Literally, I hugged a fish! Hopefully I got some good pictures of him with the underwater camera I had.
After the dive I spent some time on the beach. The beach was actually made of old pieces of coral so it was a little rough on the feet. I powered through it though and walked all the way down to get some pictures. Then I went snorkelling. A lot of the coral is right up close to the surface so you can dive down a little and see it as close as you would diving. I followed some fish around and saw a beautiful hot pink and yellow fish. I then headed back to the beach for some more sun before getting back on the boat. It was then time to pack up and head back to Airlie Beach.

Not being able to shower for three days was crucial. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but the mixture of sand and seawater makes it pretty unbearable. Once we got back to our hostels, I roomed up with 3 girls from the boat and we started taking real showers. It felt AMAZING. We then headed to Phoenix Bar for free pizza and a reunion with all our boat friends. We danced and drank and had such a good time. It ended up being quite a late night for all of us, but well worth it.

On my last day of the vacation, I needed food as soon as I woke up. I headed with Kelly to Mackers (or McDonalds as we call it). We both wanted burgers and it was 10:25am. They serve breakfast until 10:30am. So we ordered a drink and a hashbrown each, and got back in line 5 minutes later. The lady said, “Oh, are you still waiting for your hashbrown?” I said, “No. I’m here for lunch.” Then I headed with my new friends to the lagoon at Airlie Beach. We chatted about the trip and our plans for the next few weeks. It was nice and relaxing. Later that afternoon I travelled back to good ol Brisbane.

Only two more weeks left in Brisbane :( BUT my parents will be here in two weeks!! :)

I celebrated Halloween at a castle . . .

Tonight started off grand. I went to the lagoon early with Wolfgang and it was a stress free day at the beach. I had to go to UNI to print out my flight itineraries for my trip, but I made it to the beach and got a good 2 hours in the sun. Finally it was too hot to stay out so I headed home. After a quick shower and some prep work for my costume, I was ready for our pre-party. Only Johan and Hanne showed up, but we still had a good time. The bus was late picking us up at campus, but the castle was well worth it. When we arrived, we walked down a completely black path. People were using flashes from their cameras to light the way. After passing a few trailers, we finally arrived at this castle like structure. It looked more like a house that had been converted to a castle. As we walked in we were handed a lemonade which was meant to be alcoholic. The backyard was a happenin spot and where most of our crowd hung out.

Finally, the free pizza arrived. We used covert tactics like crumbling up paper to make it look like a ticket for extra pizza slices. We were starved, but we got our fair share of pizza, and then someone else’s share. We weren’t ashamed.

I then decided to venture out on my own. The property was big and I wanted to see what was out there. I ventured onto this ancient structure. I found a swing that was a sleigh held up by cables and covered in flowers. A girl showed me how it worked and gave me a push start. It was a great ride, but after accumulating a crowd, it got awkward and I jumped off. I then ventured upstairs to see the view. An old man acted as my tour guide and told me about the renovations they were doing on this part of the property. It got a little awkward so I thanked my hosts and ran back to my friends.
JB was adamant about going back so I took him. We were told the swing was now off limits but he wanted to go upstairs. We talked to some of the ladies and then went to the railing to see the great view. JB chatted up an old man in the corner while I chatted up a nice lady on the railing. I could tell they were smoking something other than cigarettes, but I’m not one to judge. After some conversation, JB and I decided these people were kinda weird and we should probably leave. He commented that their Halloween outfits were nice and the woman said “We always dress like this, no joke.” Ok then. Then she put her fancy “cigarette” to JB’s mouth and he had no choice but to inhale. She then did the same to me. We then quickly left the strange building and creepy people and went back to our friends.

At one point I was at the bar ordering drinks and Dracula asked if I wanted some “magic dust.” Assuming he was offering drugs, I said thanks but I was sticking to alcohol. He then proceeded to sprinkle glitter all over my chest and in my hair. Thank you for the magic dust, Mr. Dracula.

The night ended at an after party at the Normanby and the death of my little camera. Well, really its still usable, but the screen is a gonner. You did good lil camera and I will miss you . . .

There is no hope for me . . .

My family wasn't blessed with the greatest sense of direction. Now my dad is a genius (straight As through college, graduated vet school with high marks even though he worked to pay for his education and had quite the social life, etc.). It kind of goes down hill from there. According to my teacher Paula, a study was done that shows that as you have more kids, they get stupider. Meaning in my family, Kendall is the smartest, I'm slightly dumber than her and Carter is . . . well Carter. Kendall definitely has a much better sense of direction than the rest of us, but finds our lacking hilarious. My mom, brother and I are pretty much hopeless.

When Carter first got his license, he always had to drive back to our house before going anywhere because he didn't know how to get to places otherwise. Finally my parents caved and got him a GPS which has helped tremendously. On family vacations, we have to make sure someone stays awake when my mom's driving because otherwise we will end up somewhere other than our destination. Even GPS isn't especially helpful.

While they have their issues, I think I take the cake on this one. I can't even admit how many times I've gotten lost "going home." I can't admit it because I lost count. In my defense, there are about 5 different highways you have to get on and my parents live on a little island on the coast, but seriously I should be able to get there by now. Back in May I had my greatest adventure trying to get home. I was distraught and under a lot of stress because earlier that week I had gone to check on Eric's mom at her house and had to call 911 to break down the door and found out she had passed away. On that same day I found out my father had had a mild heart attack. I'd say that adds up to a high level of stress. So after I had spent a few days comforting Eric, I was driving to the hospital near my parents house to be with my family before my dad went into surgery to clear one of his heart valves. I turned on my GPS and just zoned out for the drive. I was headed to New Bern, NC and when I ended up in Greenville, NC, I realized something was horribly wrong. I called my sister who could barely control her laughter. I proceeded to scream at my GPS for a good 20 minutes and contemplated throwing it out the window. Instead I put it away and relied on good old handwritten directions. I eventually made it in 4.5 hours when it should taken a little less than 3 hours.

So far in Brisbane I've been pretty successful. I took some random trips around the city when I first got here so I could orient myself and haven't had much issue with getting lost. Luckily I can't drive here and I'm sure that has something to do with it. Well today, my lucky streak ended. I was supposed to meet up for coffee with Jackie at 11am so we could compare projects and make sure we were both on the right track. I made it to Starbucks, but the wrong one. As I headed "towards" the right one, I ended up in the Valley and realized I was way off course. I called Jackie and she couldn't understand how I had even gotten there from my previous location. I then stopped in a store and got directions. The Starbucks was on the corner of Edward St and Adelaide St. I walked back up to Edward St (which I had passed) and proceeded to walk the wrong way down Edward St. I called Jackie again and she set me on the right path. Ultimately I was only 15 minutes late, but come on. I'm not a complete moron but sometimes I can't understand what I was thinking.

Common sense has also seemed to evade me. I have the book smarts and usually make pretty good grades though. One time my mom claimed one of my ex boyfriends and I were a good match cause he was "street smart" and I had no common sense. Thanks for that. What are you supposed to do with that? Its not like you can study harder and get common sense. I'm absolutely hopeless.

My grandmother is gettin up there in the age bracket and is starting to say pretty crazy things. Like when she moved rooms at her retirement home and told my sister one day she was upset because she couldn't see Jupiter and Mars anymore from her window (for the record, she has no telescope either). At dinner that night she explained she also saw Earth from that other window. Point made. The sad part is, my mother is only in her 50s and it's already starting. Sometimes she says things that make you wonder if under that hair color a true blonde lies hidden. One day I was talking to her about my company and she was asking if there were any travel opportunities. I told her that they had another office in Delaware but I didn't think I'd want to go there. She responded "Is Delaware in New Hampshire?" The morale of this story is that there is absolutely no hope for me. Evidently this phenomenon happens earlier and earlier each generation so I'll be crazy by 40.

There is an advantage to this lacking in my family. It makes for some pretty hilarious stories. I've been keeping a list of the funniest stories and intend to write a book one day. It probably won't be a best seller. To be honest it will probably not sell any copies because the only people that will want to read it will be my family and they'll get free ones. But it will be a good compilation of our history and will leave our little mark on the world. And the world will laugh.

"If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane" -Jimmy Buffet

Legendary . . .

Being that its my 50th blog, I thought I owed it to my readers to open up a little more and give you a glimpse into my life aside from the amazing adventures.

I'm a planner. I like to know what's coming next and plan accordingly. Things don't always work that way, which I've learned time and time again.

When I graduated college I was excited but mostly terrified. I'd lived in North Carolina practically my whole life. I'd always been within driving distance of all my friends and family. Suddenly I was applying for jobs all over the place and my friends were all moving away. I had no idea where I would end up. But I was 22, and everyone who goes to college goes through that exact same scenario so I knew I wasn't alone. Ironically, I got a job in my college town and didn't even have to leave my comfort zone.

I'm a designer. I love creating beautiful things, I love being challenged and I love learning about design. With my job, I very rarely got to do these things. In a sense I dumbed down my creative side because yellow page advertising is simple and straightforward which doesn't allow for much creativity. Every once in a while we were given fun projects to work on which did challenge me, but it wasn't enough. It paid the bills and kept me close to friends and family, I loved my coworkers and regardless I was gaining experience which would help me for future jobs.

Then the idea of Australia came up, and although my life was in limbo for a little while, I had a pretty good plan. I worked out the money and moving details with my parents, my boyfriend wanted to stay together and do the long distance thing and my friends were sad for me to leave but completely supportive. I was a little worried about what I'd do when I came back home, but that was 6 months away and family and friends offered places to stay and my boyfriend even asked me to move in with him when I got home. I look back on all the times I've been naive in my life and usually blame it on being in love and being young. Well, I am young and I was in love and I was completely naive and had no idea what this adventure in Australia truly held for me.

Three weeks after arriving in Australia, said boyfriend dumped me to "find himself." Well shit. There went most of those plans I had. I don't have the best track record with making good decisions in my love life, but I honestly thought I was finally done screwing it up. I turn 25 this year. 25 and single. It shouldn't be that scary, but to be honest I was terrified. I'd always had this plan to be married by 28, kids in the early 30s. So that would mean I have to meet my future husband as soon as I get home because I want to date for at least 3 years before we get married.

And finally I just . . . stopped.

Why do I keep making all these plans when I don't have control over it anyway? And why do I think 25 is old? I'm not gonna lie, 20 year old Kennan was a blast. That's the year I moved in with 6 random girls at 108b Ashley Forest Road. We knew how to party and I definitely made some bad decisions. I was pretty dumb sometimes too, and I would probably go back and slap myself for some of the reckless things I did. But I thought I did all of my growing up in college. I overcame and got out of an emotionally abusive relationship, I found my personality which for the most part had stayed hidden and I had some of the best times of my life with people that will be there for the rest of my life.

Its funny when you think you're done finding yourself. You're never done. This trip may have started out about education and seeing Australia, but I ended up finding myself and I didn't even know I was lost. I feel free. I'm not scared about not having a job or an apartment or a savings account anymore. I can do whatever I want. That's not scary, that's a gift. The most amazing gift anyone could ever receive. And as far as finding my husband, whatever, he'll find me. I forgot that being single is actually a lot of fun. I may still be in Australia, but there are already a few guys in America that are excited about my new "single" status. I guess I still got it. ;-)

A wise friend once told me "Everything works out in the end... and if it's not worked out, then it's not the end" (thanks, Jeff)

My journey is far from over . . . bring it life, I can't wait to see what lies ahead
:)

Sibling Rivalry

This blog is dedicated to my brother Carter . . .

I've always been a little jealous of how he can talk his way out of any situation. My sister and I got away with plenty, but Carter is the absolute master. When we were kids he used to punch me and start crying and tell my mom I hit him. No matter how hard I protested, I still got in trouble. When I was about 20, my mom called me after watching some old home videos. Evidently she had video evidence of my brother pulling this act and apologized for all the times I got yelled at. Example #2: We were down at the beach house like we were every summer. My brother and I were pretty young, I would say about 8 and 6. I was playing with my Barbies under a table and decided to give one of them a haircut. Carter came over and asked if he could have a Barbie so he could give her a haircut too. I of course said NO! because he tended to destroy my Barbies and dehead them. A few minutes later Carter comes over to show me that he decided to cut off his own hair instead. One big cut took off all his hair in the front. Not gonna lie, he looked ridiculous. I couldn't even tell you how he got scissors cause I was using mine. Somehow, however, this was also my fault and I got yelled at. I brought it up with my parents recently and my dad said "Well that would have been your mother." I'm now 24, but she apologized. Better late than never right?

Other examples? I get pulled over for speeding and put on the waterworks, I still get a ticket. He gets pulled over for speeding, chats up the cop and they're instantly friends AND he gets a warning. I bring home a C, my parents are disappointed and try to analyze why I didn't study harder. Carter brings home a C, its fridge material. Of course I'm exaggerating a little. The point is I've always been a little jealous of Carter's negotiation skills.

Well guess what bro, evidently I'm learning more than just Advertising here in Aussie.

I had a big test in Advertising Management right before Spring Break. I studied hard and felt confident going into the test. Once in the test, I knew all the questions and finished in one hour rather than taking the two hours for the test. It was essay style so the grading was kind of subjective. When I got my grade back I had gotten 22/35. WHAT? Kennan makes As and Bs and that grade would probably be equivalent to a C on the Australian grading scale. So I asked my teacher if I could meet with her about my test just so I could see what I got wrong and get a better understanding of my grade. Jackie made fun of me all day today and told me I was a huge dork. Her argument was the test was over so why did it matter what I did wrong? In less than 10 minutes of meeting with my teacher I had convinced her to give me 3 more points, enough to bring me from a 4 to a 5 on a 7 point scale. Bow chicka wow wow, who's the dork now??

Mom & Dad, I don't blame you for blaming me. Carter's good at what he does. Even if I end up working at McDonalds, he'll convince someone to make him the CEO of some major company and make enough money to keep your boat fueled.

No worries, mate.

One month

I can't believe I leave Brisbane in a month . . . I'll still be traveling in and around Australia with the parents (so excited!) for three weeks after that, but I only have one month left here. When I first got here I just missed home and thought 5 months was going to be so long. Now I'm sad that I have so little time left here. For the next month I'm going to really try to open my eyes to the details more and write about it in my blogs so I can read them when I'm missing Australia and remember how truly amazing this place is.

Yesterday I spent the entire day in my PJs. It was fabulous. I stayed on the couch working on my projects and didn't move for hours. Late in the afternoon there was a hugely strong storm. They come out of nowhere here and last for maybe about 20 minutes. We had all the doors to the porch open because it had been such a hot day. Instantly the wind slammed the doors wide open and rain was flying in. The roomies and I had to run around the house closing windows and doors. I went into the kitchen (which has a tile floor) and literally had to grab the door frame and pull myself to the door against the wind to close it. Then the hail started. I ran to get my camera and tried to capture some of the action. It was so loud we had to pause our movie and ride it out. The boys made me watch Lesbian Vampire Killers. It was actually kind of funny.

I spent most of today working on projects again. Ok thats a lie. I spent some of the day working on projects and the rest working on HALLOWEEN!!!!! I got to campus early and bought tickets for me and the roomies to go to a Halloween party at a castle! I then went to work on my halloween costume. I decided to be a ballerina this year, mainly so I could buy a fun frilly skirt. My hot pink flats will go perfectly and I got some ribbon to lace up my legs. Now all I'm missing is a top.

Although I still hold to the fact that I get along better with guys than girls, a lil girl time is crucial especially when living with 4 guys. I made plans tonight with Jackie and Mel (two American girls) for dessert and drinks. I decided to take the water taxi to meet them which is about a 15 min walk from my house. I love that I can walk so much here. Its warm and the smells are becoming familiar. I can recognize certain trees and flowers now. As I was walking in the park close to the river, I saw a creature in my path and stopped in my tracks. My first thought was: raccoon. Then I realized I'm in Australia. It was a possum and I was sad I didn't have my camera. I have pictures of Sparky (our house possum) but I still think they are all adorable here. As I got closer, I saw it was actually a momma with a baby on her back. SERIOUSLY, the very few times I forget my camera something awesome always happens. Sad, but I watched them walk away and had a huge smile the rest of my walk. I caught the City Cat, met up with Jackie and we headed to Freestyle. We had some appetizers and then the most fabulous desserts. Jackie had the chocolate cake with rasberry sorbet, Mel had the chocolate sundae and I had cheesecake in a butterscoth sauce with macadamia nut ice cream. I couldn't even finish it all but it was a-mazing.

I caught the City Cat back to the park and then walked the 15 minutes home. I got pretty nostaligic on the way home. I mean how many places can you live that you can take a boat to class, the city, dinner or to visit friends? I get excited EVERY time I ride. When I got in the park I was walking up the stairs from the dock and a possum was on the trash can chowin down. Gah they are so cute. The possums at home bring me to screaming tears and here I just want to cuddle one. Walking home I tried to pay more attention than I usually do. I noticed the sky was sort of a light purple but clear enough to see all the stars. And the wind was just enough for a slight chill but a relief from the intense heat we've had lately. There's a man that's been working on redoing the front stairs of his house and he's made so much progress since I moved here. I got a little tense walking by a certain house that has a somewhat ferocious dog, but luckily he wasn't outside. I have to climb up a pretty substantial hill on this walk home, but I don't even breathe heavily anymore. Why don't I walk more at home? I'll try to incorporate that into my routine when I get all my ducks in a row.

I may have tons of work to do the rest of this week . . . but I'm feelin some lagoon Saturday. Gotta make sure I'm nice and tan when I get home :)

Shooting ze Germans

What a crazy fun weekend. I've been so bogged down with work lately I was really looking forward to having some fun this weekend. I decided to stay in Friday night and get some work done because I had plans for Saturday and Sunday. Well the boys were pregaming for Oktoberfest so I decided just to have some wine with them until they left. A few drinking games later they convinced me to go with them. While we were all getting ready, Wolfgang decided to leave without us. We'll get back to that story a little later.

Eugen, Viktor, Ivar and I headed out to Oktoberfest. The beers were expensive, but the music was fun and the atmosphere was great. We danced on tables, did the chicken dance and sang German songs. Eugen, who was by far having the best time out of all of us, fell off the table at one point. He popped right back up and said "I'm OK!" and we all cheered. Hanne and I ventured to the slides and I raced an Aussie down the slide. America won of course . . . twice. We then met back up with my roomies and ventured back home. At home we continued drinking (probably not the best idea) and decided we were hungry and wanted some late night food. All we had were hotdogs. Most of you know about my fear of hotdogs. I overcame my fear for Friday night only and ate a hotdog. I probably can't attempt that feat sober, but for Friday I did it and the roomies cheered me on.
Johan, the birthday boy!

Saturday we had a slow start but Johan was having a cookout/pool party for his birthday and we were all going. In the morning, Wolfgang was finally home. He told us he went to Oktoberfest and we were all wondering why we hadn't seen him. Then the truth came out. Evidently he tried to go to Oktoberfest, but they told him he was too drunk and wouldn't let him in. The police came and said "You're too drunk, you have to leave." Wolfgang's response? "No you have to leave." He also told them (in English) "I don't speak English, I need a translator." He then started asking where his lawyer was. Needless to say his antics didn't go over well with the police and he spent the night in jail. Fingerprints and profile pictures galore. He was finally let out at 5am and thats when he came back home.

At about 3pm Saturday we had finally all regrouped and headed to Johan's. It was such a good reunion of lots of people I hadn't seen for a while. We cooked out on the grill, hung out by the pool and worked on our beer pong skills. The guys and I were still pretty tired from our shenanigans the night before so I knew I wouldn't last all night. Highlight of the night, a really drunk guy threw up all over himself and one of the couches and then wandered around trying to figure out why it smelled bad everywhere he went. Hilarious. I dominated a few times on the beer pong table and then Viktor and I headed back home about 10pm. I heard Wolfgang wander in about 7am, but evidently he had just fallen asleep at Johan's.

I was so excited for Sunday to get here. Earlier this semester I bought some group tickets to go play paintball. We got a group of 12 together and met at the bus station bright and early at 11:30am. We then headed out to Salisbury so we could shoot each other. It was an indoor field which actually worked out because it was kind of rainy and miserable out. I was sad that I didn't have my camo pants to wear, but when we got there they actually had camo pants and colored shirts for us to wear. Fabulous. We split into teams: Everyone versus the Germans.
In my past two times playing paintball, I was amazing. I only got shot once last time I played with Eric and his friends when he randomly shot me so I'd know what it felt like. My nickname after that time playing became "Psycho." This time I got shot a few more times, but it was awesome. Hanne lasted the first hour and then after she realized how bad it hurt to get shot, she stopped playing. It takes a special kind of girl to really love paintball.

Now we're all back home, freshly showered and recovering from our battle wounds. This week I have tons of work to get through but there's only two weeks of school left!!! And my parents will get here in a month!!

One dead kangaroo later . . .

WARNING: Graphic Images in this blog . . . Consider yourself warned

3 Germans, 1 Swede and a lil van named Jucy . . .

I waved the boys out of the driveway about 4 or 5pm on Friday Sept 25. After hitting up Mackers (McDonalds) they were on the road about 6pm. They drove until 1am until they finally stopped at a campground to sleep. The first night they stopped in the town of Morven.

Saturday they drove to Cloncurry and then slept in another campground.

Sunday they drove to Alice Springs which is a big city surrounded by National Parks. They didn't get time to stop, but they did stop on the way back.

Monday they drove the rest of the way to Ayers Rock which is also known as Uluru. They tried to climb the 1,142 ft high mountain. Eugen and Viktor failed horribly and Ivar and Wolfgang almost made it to the top. After about 40 minutes they realized they were way too dehydrated and ended their journey.

Tuesday they did the base walk around Ayers Rock which is 9.6km. They got back, had dinner and showered and then tried to go to the only bar. It closed at 11pm so they only got one beer. They tried to buy some beer but a 6-pack was $36AUD. We normally pay that for a 30-pack.

Wednesday they went to The Olgas/Kata Tjuta. It is 36 mountain formations that are really important to the Aboriginals and they have been there for about 22,000 years. They did the Walk of Winds and Ivar said the winds were blowing about 20m per second.

Thursday they drove back towards home to the West Macdonnell National Park. They also traveled to the Ormiston Gorge and took some amazing pictures.

Friday morning they went for a 3 hour walk around Ormiston Gorge and then drove to Alice Springs for supplies and a shower and then continued their journey.

Friday night they tried to stay at a place and police stopped them and said it was too dangerous to stay there because the Aboriginies get too drunk. They sent them to an even sketchier campground and when they arrived there was only two campers and nothing else.

Saturday they continued their journey home. Ivar was driving and then after they reached a city, he switched with Viktor. Viktor had only driven about 40km when it happened. They had been following a "road train" which is a truck about 50m long. Usually they're so loud and big that they scare away the kangaroos. The reason the kangaroos hang out by the roads is because of the rain runoff which makes the grass by the roads much better. They were driving about 100km per hour and a kangaroo jumped right in front of them. Viktor braked but they still hit it going about 50km per hour. Eugen and Wolfgang heard the crash, but Ivar looked up when Viktor screamed and saw them hit it. It hit directly in the middle of the front of the car and completely crushed the radiator. They looked around in the van but had nothing to put the kangaroo out of its misery. It kicked for about a minute and then finally passed away. (Thank GOD I was not on this trip with them. I once hit a racoon and cried for a good 30 minutes and now that kangaroos are my favorite animal, I would have been an absolute wreck) Of course they were inappropriate and took some pictures with the kangaroo and waited for people to drive by. There is no cell phone service in the Outback.

Absolutely sad . . . poor lil kangaroo . . .

People stopped on their way to the next town and said they'd call for help and a tow truck. They waited 2.5 hours and no one came. Finally they started the car drove about 6km before it overheated. When they tried again later it made some scary noises so they stayed the night and decided they'd try again in the morning.

Sunday morning Wolfgang went a little crazy and messed with the car to get it running again. They drove slowly into town. They got back to Blackall and were at the repair place but it was closed. The police also came. The guys called the rental company and they gave them two options. They could wait until Monday until their repair man could get out there but they knew they'd probably have to order parts which could take most of the week. Their other option was to find their own way home. They chose option two.

After failed attempts at catching a bus, they split in twos to travel easier. Viktor and Wolfgang got a ride right away 2 hours to Augathella. They rode with Bill from Bill's Fences. He was a really cool guy who for the past 10 years has been the World Champion of sheep shearing, shearing 200 sheep per day. Ivar and Eugen waited 3.5 hours in the sun and then a bus driver told them they could probably get a ticket to Roma. There is a railroad there so they assumed if they could get there, it'd be easy to get home. They got on the bus and then the bus driver forgot about them. They were taken all the way to Miles and then had to get off. Oh and they hit 2 kangaroos while on the bus, which didn't even phase the bus driver.

From Augathella Viktor and Wolfgang caught a ride with 2 guys who were traveling from Cairns (Northeast coast of Australia) down to Adelaide (in Southern Australia). These guys were crazy Australians and were driving about 130km per hour. They weren't even worried about kangaroos. They laughed about the kangaroos on the side of the road while my roomies prayed for safe arrival. The two guys took them to Charleville. There they had some beers and then went to try to catch the bus. They saw Ivar and Eugen, but their bus was full so they had to wait until the morning. They went to a hotel and the guy (who was raging drunk) said it'd be $120 (they would only stay there from 11pm-7am). They told him that was way out of their price range and started to leave. The guy then asked how much they could pay. They said $79. They had a $50 and two $20s but the guy had no change so they ended up paying only $70 for a really nice double room with its own shower.

Monday Viktor and Wolfgang took a bus at 7am all the way to Brisbane. Ivar and Eugen checked the railroad times and were told there was only one train per week and it came on Thursday. They decided to hitchhike the rest of the way. At a gas station they talked to a truck driver who drove them all the way to Toowoomba. Eugen went to the bathroom and Ivar pulled out the guitar and started playing. A couple stopped and asked if they needed a ride. He said he wouldn't have noticed them except he heard Ivar playing the guitar. They said the couple was very strange but at least they were friendly.

Needless to say, they had some grand adventures. I baked cupcakes last night to celebrate our return, but they were just as good tonight. We exchanged stories about our trips and I'm so glad they're back. Now I can stop sleeping with a knife by my bed. :)

You may have Shark Week America . . . but we have the big boys here in Australia

It was cold with a misty rain Friday morning . . .

We woke up before the sun, but to be honest we barely slept. The anticipation was just too much for sleep. We caught a taxi with our neighbors who were also cage diving. They were from Finland and Scotland. We arrived at the Marina Hotel and waited for everyone else to arrive. We boarded the boat and left promptly at 7am. The Calypso Star was a fabulous ship. It had plenty of couch room for all 19 of us to sit comfortably. They had magazines and books with information about Great Whites and documentaries about them playing on the TV. Captain Wright came and welcomed us and then they served us some breakfast. Our hostess was Nikki and she made sure we were never thirsty or hungry. I slept for the first hour of the 2.5 hours out to the Neptune Islands. The seas, however, were rough. I tend to have a pretty good set of sea legs, but it was a struggle on this journey. I spent the last hour out on the deck even though it was freezing trying to avoid getting sick. The sea air works wonders.

We arrived at the Neptune Islands around 9:30am. We could see the Sea Lions and Fur Seals jumping and playing on the rocks. If you want to see Great Whites . . . go where the Seals or Sea Lions are. We anchored in between two islands and our captain came down to talk about going into the cage. He demonstrated how to get in, where to stand and how to use the regulators. Then they started chumming the waters. The seagulls absolutely loved the chum. The first mate Harry was in charge of keeping the water nice and bloody. If you have a weak stomach, this blog may not be for you. When Harry was 12, he was surfing with his dad and saw a guy get eaten alive by a shark. He finally was able to face his fear and get back in the water and he still surfs occasionally. He also now works on a boat with Great Whites. If that's not facing your fears, I don't know what is.

We waited patiently for the sharks to appear. Being that they are wild animals, there was a chance they wouldn't show. In the event that the sharks don't show up, you get a voucher for half off to come again. There is no way I could afford to get back to Port Lincoln, so I prayed for those sharks to show. At about noon one finally showed up. Evidently he was a small one. The first group loaded up into the cage. The shark made a few more passes and then left us.

We waited another 2 hours with no sign of sharks. As a small form of excitement, Harry started fishing and caught some fish that looked like huge goldfish. Finally, the crew asked if anyone had any bananas on board because they're bad luck. Sure enough, the two other American girls had bananas. They threw them overboard and we laughed at the thought of that bringing the sharks. Then . . . they came.

It was like a feeding frenzy. The action was so fast you couldn't look away because that might be the moment one strikes and you would miss it. As one group entered the cage, the next started suiting up so they'd be ready. Each group got to spend about 45 minutes in the cage. I stood on the deck with my camera ready to capture as much of the action as I could. Then, it was our turn. Hanne and I headed into the cabin with the two American girls to suit up. The water was FREEZING so we had full on wetsuits with hoods and booties. We also had to wear a lot of weights to keep us from floating to the top of the cage. I was the last of our group down in the cage, and I got the waterproof camera. I climbed in and stood on the ladder to adjust my regulator and get the camera. A few deep breaths and I was in.

The water was a beautiful Carolina blue but a little cloudy. I took some pictures of the girls underwater and then we waited. Occasionally they would chum the water and I'd look up to see blood and guts circling around me. It made my stomach turn, but only because I knew this would bring those beasts directly to us. I was in the corner of the cage closest to the boat on the starboard side. We were all looking all around trying to spot the first shark. Then . . . I saw it. Just a flash of white to my left. I tapped all the other girls and when I turned around we saw nothing. Out of nowhere it was directly in front of me chasing the meat the Captain was dangling. The shark had scars all down its sides and was more massive than I could have imagined from the surface. Also noticed he was definitely a male. It made a quick pass and was gone. Hanne and I looked at each other with wide eyes of excitement. The next shark passed in front of the cage. He was smaller but I still got a picture. It was hard to tell the difference between sharks and I think the third shark was the second one making another pass from the port side. This shark definitely spotted me. I was at the edge of the cage trying to get amazing pictures. But he swam up directly in front of me and stared at me for a split second. It was slow motion. I didn't even think about the camera and just stared back in absolute awe. It seemed like I could just reach out and touch him. I didn't, of course, but he saw me and if I hadn't been in that cage I'm pretty sure I would have gotten an exploratory bite. He left and I stared after him still not believing what I had just seen. We then waited for a while. Finally, Brittany thought to look down and one came up from below. The fourth and final shark was a small female that passed on my side of the cage again. Then we got the signal it was time to come up. I didn't want to leave . . . I just wanted more.I can't take credit for this photo, but it was taken by someone on our boat with the shared underwater camera

There was still a lot more action on the surface. I got some amazing pictures of the sharks swooping in to get the bait. We had two seals swimming near the boat and thought they were absolutely crazy. Now, don't get me wrong, I think seals are adorable. But I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't hoping that a shark would notice those seals and jump at it like something right off of the Discovery Channel. It didn't happen and those seals lived to swim another day. A few of the sharks attacked the cage and showed us just how strong those cages actually are. By 4pm it was time to pack up and take the 2.5 hour journey back home. The sharks weren't ready to leave though. We loaded up the cage but the sharks stayed around the boat. If you find yourself wounded in an ocean where Great Whites live, its not a matter of if they'll show up, its when. They are drawn to blood with a fury like nothing I've ever seen before. Movies don't do them justice.

We headed back to port on a complete adrenaline rush. The crew fed us more food and then organized the video and underwater photos for us to take home. The pictures are absolutely amazing and I'll be uploading them shortly. When we got back to town, Hanne and I met the two American girls for some dinner at their hotel. We chatted about the days adventures and about our lives. We then headed back to our hotel to sleep before our long journey back to Brisbane in the morning.
So, the big question. What did I eat for dinner Friday night? . . . The shark special of course :) bruhaha

8 days, 6 flights and this story is gonna take at least 2 blogs

Lets start with last Friday night, September 25. Friday evening I waved the roomies off on their trip (which btw, hope they're still alive, guess I'll find out if they come home tomorrow). They were traveling 6,000km in 10 days in a small caravan that could sleep all 4 of them. Ayers Rock was their final destination. Let me also explain that kangaroos are like deer in the Outback which prevents you from driving at night because they will completely total your car unless you drive a tank with "cattle pushers." If you aren't sure what those are, you're not from the South and I don't appreciate your ignorance. Driving 6,000km in 10 days is hard enough, but without being able to drive at night and having 4 guys who grew up driving on a different side of the road and different side of the car . . . lets just say I'm not optimistic. But enough about them, lets get back to my Spring Break 2009.

Saturday morning I met Hanne at the train station and we were off. Evidently I look suspicious because on our journey I was stopped twice and checked for bombs at two different airports. I guess my American was showing. We arrived in Sydney and it was actually cold. We thought it might be just a fluke, but the entire week down South ended up being pretty cold, but its sunny and 34 Celcius in Brisbane so I'm content. We stayed at Base Sydney which is a hostel right by Darling Harbour. We spent some time enjoying the harbour and grabbing a drink on the waterfront. It was gorgeous. Definitely smaller than I had imagined, but pretty nonetheless. We then headed back to the hostel to figure out our plans for the evening. I know I say this regularly, but awesome things tend to just fall into my lap. This night, of course, was no different. We saw a flyer for a bar crawl and asked the front desk about it. We had to jog to meet up with the group in time, but it was absolutely amazing. $40 got you 4 bars, a free drink at each bar and transportation on a bus with a DJ and flashing lights. The guy running the whole shindig was awesome too and knew that we were new to town so he introduced us to all his friends and offered to send us t-shirts from the pub crawl once they were made. Nice guy. Highlights from the night: I met a guy who looked exactly like Harry Potter and told him if I had a marker I would put a lightening bolt on his forehead, I got painted with body paint by girls in the bathroom, I won a Michael Jackson dance off to Beat it and I had a dance off with a guy using only 80's dance moves (sprinkler, shopping cart, etc).Doing the Shopping Cart . . . and that's Harry Potter behind me in the blue

At Coogee Beach

Needless to say, Sunday was pretty unproductive. We wanted to spend a day at the beach but mother nature was not working in our favor. We headed to Coogee Beach which some girls from the pub crawl told us was absolutely amazing. It was gorgeous, but cold and windy and we could only stand it for about 30 minutes. I did get some fun pictures though and we enjoyed some nice mimosas on the beach. Sunday night we had dinner at the Sydney Tower which is pretty much like the Seattle Space Needle. It was a spinning restaurant that overlooked the entire city. It was expensive, but worth it. They had a buffet with oysters, prawns, salad, soup, pasta, curry dishes, steak, kangaroo AND a dessert buffet as well. We gorged ourselves for 1.5 hours and then chatted with a newly wed American couple for the last half hour. It was great fun. We didn't make it out that night, but to be honest we needed to recover from the bar crawl and the amazing meal we had just eaten.Sydney Opera House

Darling Harbour

Monday was our tourist day. We caught the CitySightSeeing bus which is a guided hop-on-hop-off bus that travels all around Sydney. We rode it all the way to the Opera House and then hopped off for pictures. This thing is gigantic. And the whole roof is made of tiles which up close seems such a daunting task to create. We also had a fabulous view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge which is massive. We had lunch on the waterfront and took all our touristy photos. We then hopped back on the bus and stopped at the Sydney Aquarium. On my to-do list: see a Platypus. And I DID!! I had no idea they were so small. You wouldn't think a furry lil animal with a duck beak would be cute, but the drawings and stuffed animals don't do justice to how cute they really are. We spent probably 30 minutes just watching him swim and search for food. Hanne and I were both ecstatic to finally see one in real life. We then watched them feed a crocodile. I can't even describe this one. A guy walked in holding what looked like a piece of plexiglass with handles and used it to block the croc's mouth when it lunged at them. Videos will be on facebook in a while. Also got to see a Dugong, which I now realize is not actually a Manatee. Also saw sharks, sea turtles and the biggest Stingray I have ever seen in my life. It was a grand adventure. We then had some drinks by Darling Harbour. That night we hung out at the Harbour and then ended up at the bar beside our hostel. It was Karaoke night and a guy came out dressed with a snorkel and dinosaur ring and sang "I'm on a boat." Loved it. We had an early flight to Adelaide in the morning so we couldn't stay out too late, but it was entertaining to say the least.

First thing our shuttle bus driver said to us when we arrived in Adelaide on Tuesday: "Why'd you come here, there's nothing here but cows." Crap. We'd already heard this was the town of churches so we assumed it would be a quiet few days. We were thinking if anything we might try cow tipping. The only reason we came to Adelaide was because it was the only cheap way to get to Port Lincoln for the Cage Diving. We were SO wrong in our initial thoughts about Adelaide. We stayed at Backpack Oz which is a hostel near downtown Adelaide. We tried to go lay out at the Botanical Gardens, but it was still cold out and we didn't last long. Then it was a cheap dinner at Domino's and then out on the town to see what we could find. We ended up at a country bar called The Woolshed with its own mechanical bull and the Buck Hunter game. The bartender was completely rude and obviously didn't like us from the start. Not to mention she got to choose the music and Justin Timberlake doesn't mix with a mechanical bull. I showed Hanne how to shoot Elk on the Buck Hunter game, but she wasn't too impressed. We were then asked to join a table with two older gentleman. First off, they were not creepy and never once hit on us. This was a small little town and I really think they were just lonely and enjoyed our company and stories from afar. The Woolshed was closing early so we all walked around together trying to find another bar. We ended up at the Strathmore Hotel bar. At one point Hanne disappeared and had chatted up about 8 business men. So we combined groups and needless to say, we didn't pay for any drinks after that. At one point I saw a guy going to play the Buck Hunter game. It was just a coincidence that this bar also had one. I decided to play against him and Hanne took an insane amount of pictures. This guy was definitely sketchy though and after one game I told him I was done. He was a little pissed but I went back to our table with our other friends. Then, one of the gentleman told me I looked about 28 which definitely didn't go over well. I was planning on leaving soon when police came in and tackled a man to the floor. It was exciting and I got a quick picture of the guys feet while he was held down on the floor. Then one of the guys noticed that it was a same guy I had been playing Buck Hunter with. Oh snap. Evidently the police had walked in randomly to make sure things were fine at the bar and the guy pulled out a handheld shotgun on them. He's a smart cookie, that one. Good to know I was just shooting fake guns with this man earlier. After they had taken him away I went up to the cops and told them I had tons of pictures of this guy if they wanted them. 2 hours later I had made my full statement, given them all my pictures and all my info in case they needed to contact me again. So much for being a town of churches.Out in Adelaide

Wednesday, Hanne and I shopped and hung out around town. That night we had a free BBQ at the hostel and games that involved winning prizes. We didn't win anything, but the food was great and we ended up chatting with the bar staff. They were all going out later and invited us along. Long story short, we got home about 7am and we're woken at 10:45am to check out. We were supposed to check out by 10am. Our flight, however, wasn't until 4pm so we grabbed breakfast and I slept on the couch for a few hours at the hostel. We then reminisced about our night and said our goodbyes before it was off to Port Lincoln.

We thought Adelaide would be a quiet town, but Port Lincoln was REALLY quiet. As we checked in at the Navigator Inn, the man at the desk asked what our reservation was under. When we told him Hanne, he laughed and gave us his toothless grin and said "well what kinda name is that?" Point made. We were dead tired and had to be up at 5:30am so we just had dinner at the restaurant above our room. It was quaint, the service was pretty bad but the seafood was delicious. We then settled in for the night before our grand adventure . . . diving with the Great Whites.

This adventure deserves its own blog