Last Night in Oz!

Tonight was our final night in Australia! It was really a really great night, actually. The Dunning family took me and Elizabeth out to a Queensland Reds rugby game, and a great dinner. I think it was an appropriate finale for a wonderful exchange.

The game was really close! One of the biggest players on the team had his birthday today, so many people were really rooting on the Reds. However, they lost by 3 points! It was a bit of a disappointing ending, but since it was so close, the game was super exciting! The poor guy who's birthday it was had the final kick which could've evened the score, but he missed. Then he just sad in the middle of the field and looked sad. SO SAD.

After the game, we went to South Bank for dinner. The restaurant was called Jetty, and it was REALLY nice. I had a garden pea risotto with mint and marscapone, as well as one fresh oyster. The risotto was really creamy and rich, but also light! It was so good! And the oyster...so creamy and briny, it was near perfection!

After the awesome dinner, we took a few pictures (with Miranda's phone, so I don't have them, sadly) in front of the city, and then walked a bit farther down to Nitrogenie for ice cream. For those of you unfamiliar with Nitrogenie, they take ice cream mix and pour liquid nitrogen into it while a machine stirs. It makes the ice cream really smooth, but also made me feel like I was eating poison...weird. It was really yummy, though! Both Elizabeth and I had Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee, a vanilla ice cream with flambeed praline on top. It was good, but the blowtorch nearly melted my ice cream all the way!

It was a really wonderful night, and a really great way to end this great exchange!  I'm so excited to be going home, but so sad to be leaving, too! Overall, I've had such a positive experience here, and I want to come back as soon as I can! Love you, BRISBANE!

Going-Away Party!

Yesterday afternoon, Charlotte and I walked down to Oriel Park with most of our friends for a farewell picnic. Issy and Mercedes organized it, and they brought cookies. Everyone else went to either Sirianni's (a grocery store) or Vanilla Pod (a bakery) to buy something to share. I bought a big slice of caramel coconut cheesecake from Vanilla Pod, and it was SOOO good! We had cookies, chips, soda, ice cream, cupcakes, pretty much any sweet imaginable! We also bought a can of whipped cream to make "Spiders", the Australian equivalent of an soda float. I also covered Felmo in it...haha! It was a really nice afternoon, and I'm incredibly sad to leave all of these girls. 

Tour of St. Margaret's

Hi everyone! I've had a few requests for a visual tour of St. Margaret's, so here it is! 

The Boarding House

The Boarding House is the main part of boarder's lives here at St. Margaret's (obviously). The entry pictured is called the Breezeway, and it leads to the inner "courtyard" of the Boarding House. Both the Health Center and Garden Room are located in the Boarding House, as well as the Dining Hall, Eton kitchen, and Eton Hall. 

The Dining Hall

The Dining Hall is underneath the Year 12 hall and faces into the courtyard of the Boarding House. They serve breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner. Only boarders are allowed in. They serve very nice food (although a bit lacking in green veggies). 

Avoca

Avoca is the main classroom building at St. Margaret's. It has three levels, and each year level has their own level for lockers. Instead of being just for a few subjects, almost all of the subjects are taught here, except for science. Its interior looks a bit like a public school, and classes are all taught at desks. It is definitely a different style of learning environment than Emma Willard. I have enjoyed all of my classes here, though!

Chapel and Garden

Boarders have Chapel every Monday night. The services range in formality and content, but most of them have been about Lent this term. The garden was just finished a few weeks ago. It has a purgula walkway, water feature, and putt-putt course. It's really easy to walk from Avoca to Eunice now, instead of having to walk around the Boarding House!

Eunice Library

The Eunice Science and Resource Center is named after Mother Eunice, the head nun. The upstairs part of the building is the Library and Independent Learning Center (or ILC for short). The downstairs part houses the science labs and the walkway down to the pool. Charlotte and I spent all of our spares either in the ILC or by the giant picture window at the back of the library. It has one of the best views of Brisbane!

Arts Center

The Arts Center is one of my favorite buildings on campus! It's where we rehearse for Elevarsi and have events. I just really like it because it gets great natural light! The top level, called the Arts Center Foyer,is mainly used for events or staff meetings. The levels below that are all art classrooms. The AC and Eunice connect through one hallway underground. Very cool.

Mooloomburram

I really hope that I spelled that right! Mooloomburram is the main administrative building on campus. Ms. Curtis and Ms. Cohen (the principal and deputy principal) both have offices there, as well as the schedulers and assistants. The building is called a Queenslander, a style of house that is meant to keep the house cool in the oppressive Brissy heat!

Supply Shop/Laundry

Last, but not least....the Supply Shop and the Laundry! The Supply Shop is where we get our uniforms, as well as notebooks, textbooks, Panamas, and pins from! The women who work in there are incredibly nice, and were really dedicated to making sure that Charlotte and I had everything we needed! The Laundry is right around the corner from the Dining Hall. It has little metal chutes in the wall so that we can sort our laundry correctly. After about two days, your whole load is ready for you to pick up! Each girl gets her own cubby and hanger space for her fresh clothes. The big blue bins are for Sheet Day (every Thursday), where we strip our beds and then get clean linens. Sometimes, it's a drag to have to wait a few days for laundry, but overall, I'm glad that we have the service!

Tomorrow is our last day here at St. Margaret's. It's been one wild ride of experiences after another, but even thought it's been really tough sometimes, I'm so glad that I came here. I'm spending the last few days at the Palmer's house, and we fly out on Sunday! I'm so excited to be going home, but very sad to leave. And I think that's good.

Weekend at Bethany's

Hello again, blog viewers! Long time, no post...oops! With just over a week left, I've been trying to do as much as I can to experience Australia before I leave. I'm really sad to go.

Anyways, I spent all of last week at Bethany's house! For those of you who don't remember who she is, Bethany is the girl who came with me to the zoo. After our loss on Friday to St. Aidan's basketball team, we grabbed my bag and headed over to Bethany's house. Her dad made some AMAZING burgers for dinner, adn then we talked all about dresses and shoes and what shops are the best in the city. I showed Mrs. Hold my prom dress (which I now CAN'T WEAR because Prom was cancelled...) and we basically just annoyed the crap out of Mr. Hold. Then, Bethany and I played Sims 3. For several hours.

The next morning, we headed up the Sunshine Coast to Eumundi, a town just outside of Noosa. We went to the Eumundi Markets, which is an outdoor collection of stalls that sell anything from dresses to momos, a type of Tibetan dumpling. Bethany and I wandered around for a bit. She bought a sweater, and we shared a chip cone. We then went to a super cool restaurant for lunch, where we got a "pizza"...it was more like a super salty flatbread. Then we got a charicature drawn of us! It's actually really nice.

The next morning, we got up kind of late and went into the city. We spend a few hours walking around, and I got some gifts for my family. We went to some really nice shops, and had sushi for lunch. We went back to Bethany's house after, and hung out for a bit. Then I returned to the boarding house! It was a really fun weekend.

Australia Zoo!

On Sunday, Bethany and I headed up to the Sunshine Coast (again!) to Beerwah. It was time, FINALLY, for the AUSTRALIA ZOO!!! 

Penny was kind enough to book us a tour on a caddie (golf-cart type vehicle) with our own private guide. Her name was Caitlyn, and she was really nice! We walked around the entrance of the zoo, and on our way to the cart, got to meet Fatty the echidna! Not joking...that was his name. 

We learned all about the different Australian animals, like koalas, dingoes, kangaroos, wallabies, broglas, and Tassie devils. I also got to hold a koala named Diesel!

 

All of these animals were adorable! It is a wonderful zoo. All the animals were super happy and friendly! But the best part of the day was the wombat encounter. 

Our tour ended at 2:30, when Caitlyn dropped us off at the wombat enclosure. We were quickly briefed on the safety procedures of being around wombats (don't stand in front because they might charge, don't get to close to their face because they might bite you, etc). The we were let into the enclosure. Each wombat got a plate of pellets and veggies, and set to their task of chowing down. We sat down next to a wombat and got to pet them. I started out with Meggles, and Bethany with Minibus. Mini wasn't interested in her food or Bethany, and began to lumber around the outside of the habitat. Megs took over Mini's plate, and both Bethany and I moved on to Milo, the baby. He is a year and a half old, and CRAZY ADORABLE! We had a zoo photographer with us who took really nice pictures of us with Milo (but the quality looks bad because the scanner here in the Garden Room didn't work very well). It was a great experience! Totally the highlight of the trip to the zoo! After the encounter, we printed out our photos and got free magnets with the photo of our choice in it. Bethany and I bought matching stuffed Common wombats, the same breed as Minibus and Milo. It was a GREAT day, and I'm so glad that I got to go!

Meggles and Minibus

Me and Bethany with Milo!

Music Camp/Noosa Field Trip

Hi everyone! Long time, no post...I know, sorry! A lot has happened, and I haven't had time to post because of all the activities we've been doing! I'm going to try and kill two birds with one stone by posting about both the places I've been on the Sunshine Coast in the past two weeks!

Two weekends ago, Charlotte, Lia, Elizabeth, Felicity and I headed down to Mt. Coolum on the Sunshine Coast for music camp. All the different ensembles practiced there for the weekend. Charlotte, Elizabeth and I were in choir, Lia was in Wind Ensemble, and Felicity was in Strings. We all had bunks in the same corner of the cabin, though! On the one full day that we were there, we had 7.5 hours of practice, and we were all super tired afterwards. It was really nice, though. The camp was on a mountain RIGHT next to the beach, so we also got to go down and play cricket on the beach. Charlotte, Felicity and I built a sandcastle. After dinner, the whole camp got together and we watched Pitch Perfect (of course). Even though I didn't like the idea of giving up a WHOLE WEEKEND to go sing, it was actually really fun!

On the 6th, all of the Year 11 Geography classes headed up to the Sunshine Coast to Noosa, so we could experience the environment that we'd been studying all term. Noosa is really beautiful. It is a unique beach in Australia because it is the only north-facing beach in Queensland, and also because it is almost completely man-made. Sounds weird. I know. The people of Noosa wanted to protect their shops and homes from the Noosa River, which was right at the tip of Hastings Street, so they moved the mouth to another spot along Main Beach. But because they moved the mouth, the sand from Main Beach was eroding faster than it could be replaced naturally, and the eroded sand was being swept into the mouth of the river, clogging it up. So, they put in a system to dredge all the sand from the pile ups in the mouth and put it on Main Beach. Also, because the mouth was moved, they could build other beaches along the edges of the river, and smaller beaches like Doggy Beach were formed. It was a really interesting trip! I spent the day with Candy, Issy, Mercedes, Chelsea, Madi, Ellie, and Elizabeth. It was great to see another part of Queensland! 

View of Noosa River and Doggy Beach from Noosa Spit

Mercedes in blue, Issy in tie-dye

Barbecue!

It's been a long time! Sorry everyone. We've been really busy with school and activities!

Yesterday, the 21st, was the one month mark here in Australia! So far, this experience here has been great! We've made some great friends, and have been to some amazing places! 7 weeks left!

Last night, I went to a barbecue at Elizabeth's house. I was picked up at 3:30, and spend most of the afternoon helping Mrs. Palmer (Penny) prep all the food. I learned how to de-vein shrimp (or prawns as they're known here), and marinated them in garlic, parsley, pepper, salt, and olive oil. They were REALLY good! We also had couscous salad and several types of cheese (Elizabeth and I were in charge of making the cheese platters). It was the goodbye barbecue for Sunny, the Palmer's friend from Iceland. She is a really nice girl, and came to Australia for a year to learn English. She made two cakes for the party; a carrot cake and a blueberry cheesecake. Someone else also brought a lemon cake. Elizabeth and I spent a lot of time with her younger sister, sister's friend, and cousin down in the basement. We watched part of The Parent Trap (the little girls were confused as to how they found two Lindsay Lohans) and part of The Lorax. It was a great night! I was really happy to be out of the boarding house. It can be kind of lonely sometimes.

Today, I'm going into the city with Mercedes. We're going to shop and watch a few movies! It should be really fun! Charlotte is with Lia and Issy at Soundwave, a rock festival. She'll post about that later! I hope everyone is enjoying the snow in New York! It's so humid and hot here, it feels like a sauna 24/7!

Basketball Trials

Hi everyone. This week has been pretty uneventful for me. Just a lot of homework!

Today, I tried out for basketball. At Emma, we have 5 days of two-hour try-outs, but St. Margaret's only has one day of one hour try outs (YES). We did a few drills and games, which were fun and simple. I think I was in the middle of the pack talent-wise, so I think that I will probably be put on Senior A or B (A is kind of between V and JV, and B is around JV). I hope I get put on B because my friends who tried out have been on B for the past few years and plan on staying there, so I'd be with friends. If I'm put on A, it won't be the end of the world. It could definitely be fun, I just want to be with Bethany, Becky, and Josie! We'll get the results by the end of the weekend. I'll update the post then! Wish me luck.

SYDNEY TRIP (2/7/14-2/9/14)

The radio silence is over! I've been getting several complaints from subscribers (*coughcough* MOM) that Charlotte and I aren't posting as frequently as we should. We apologize. We are diving straight into St. Margaret's life, and sometimes we (mostly me) forget about posting. So here I go. This'll be a long one, so be prepared!

FRIDAY

Charlotte, Sarah, Olivia, Mrs. Dunning, Mrs. Toohey and I headed out from St. Margaret's at lunchtime and drove straight to Brisbane Airport for our flight down to Sydney. We landed and took the subway right to our hotel at Bondi Junction, a few stops away from the heart of the city. We unpacked, and then hopped right back on the subway! We ended up at Circular Quay, and walked around for a little while, admiring the harbour. We ate dinner at the Searock Grill, a seafood restaurant looking out to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We ordered a bunch of dishes and shared them all. The most notable for me were the garlic prawns, crab and avocado tower, and the delicious oysters I ate. Apparently, no one else but Charlotte enjoys oysters. They were creamy and briny, and absolutely perfect. Sarah, Olivia, Charlotte and I walked around the Opera House to walk off our dinner (a bit). It turns out that The National was playing a concert on the steps of the House, so we got to hear some of their music for free! We walked back to Martin Place to catch the subway back to Bondi Junction, and stayed up late, hanging out on our balcony that overlooked the harbour. 

SATURDAY

We left the hotel around 11am on Saturday morning and we rode the subway to the next station. The town was called Double Bay, and it had beautiful shops. Sarah and Olivia went Semi-Formal dress shopping (the Semi is the biggest event for year 11 girls) and Charlotte and I tagged along. We had an amazing lunch at this cafe called Indigo. I had an open-faced Tasmanian smoked salmon sandwich with kipfler potatoes, lettuce, caper berries (which were large and tasted like old olives...blech) and goat cheese. It was like a bagel, but SO much better. We then caught the ferry into Circular Quay, and the route took us right past the Opera House.

We decided to divide and conquer. Olivia, Sarah, and Mrs. Toohey went to continue the search for Semi dresses, while Charlotte, Mrs. Dunning, and I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art, which had a feature on Yoko Ono's work. It was a very interesting museum, and a wonderful exhibit on Ono's art. We met outside the museum and headed up the Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney, for afternoon tea. I remembered the French patisserie that I ate at when I was in Sydney for my first week, so I took Charlotte and Mrs. Dunning up there. I had a jasmine green tea macaron and a dark chocolate macaron. Charlotte had a chocolate eclair and Mrs. Dunning had a milles feuilles. It was a lovely afternoon. After tea, Charlotte and I ran to the other side of the Quay to the Opera House to pick our tickets for a tour the next day. We then headed up into the city, looking for Mr. Wong. Which is a restaurant, by the way. The food there was SUBLIME! We had aromatic duck spring rolls, steamed fish in a delicious savoury broth, and my personal favorite, Balmain bugs in a spicy noodle stirfry. Bugs are actually a type of shellfish similar to a lobster. They're sweet, juicy, and tender, and perfect in the hot pot they were served in! 

After dinner, Sarah, Olivia, Charlotte and I boarded a ferry at Circular Quay for Luna Park, one of Sydney's most iconic landmarks! It is a very small, retro amusement park, virtually untouched since the time Mrs. Toohey went as a girl! 

The rides were very cool. The best ride for me was called the Tango Train, which raced around in circles (both backwards and forwards) to REALLY loud music. At Luna Park, they also have a small rollercoaster which has two-person cars. The dips in the track are very small, but the track itsself is elevated, so I didn't go on that. The cotton candy that we had was larger than my head (by a lot!), and all of the arcade machines were from the 60s and 70s. Another fun ride was two concentric rings of wood that spin. The riders gather in a center of the beveled center circle, and try to hang on to the perfectly smooth surface. Since it was around 9:50pm, Charlotte, a small girl and I were the only riders. Charlotte fell off first every time, but the person running in the ride gave her two other turns...needless to say, she rolled off first EVERY time, no matter how many retries she got. We caught the ferry back to Circular Quay at 10:30pm, and saw the Sydney Opera House lit up at night, which was BEAUTIFUL! We headed back to Bondi Junction, and fell asleep almost immediately!

SUNDAY

On Sunday, we got up early and hopped on a bus to nearby Bondi Beach, one of Australia's most celebrated beaches. It was truly a sight to behold, with its sparkling aqua blue water and buttery yellow sand.

 We walked around the town, and stopped at a cafe called Trio for lunch. I had a delicious smoked tomato cheeseburger with the best sweet potato fries I've had in my LIFE! We headed to a open-air market in and around an old factory building. I bought a babydoll style vintage rose-patterned dress, which is so light and comfortable, I want to wear it every day! It is perfect for walking around in the heat. The only problem is that the fabric is SO light that when there is even the smallest gust of wind, well...yeah.

Charlotte and I then swam at the Icebergs, a beautiful pool that is filled with salt water from the waves at high tide. After a quick swim, we raced to catch the bus to the Opera House for a tour. We learned all about the way the House was built, about the little theaters located beneath the main hall, the acoustics of  the Joan Sutherland Theatre, and why the tiles are actually multiple colours! 

It was a beautiful place, and if I ever have the opportunity to see a performance there, I will take it in a flash! I actually prefer the interior of the main hall to the one of the (GASP) Metropolitan Opera! After our tour, we hopped straight into a cab and sped to the airport, where we met the Dunnings and Tooheys. We flew back to Brizzy and stopped at Grill'd for dinner, and got back to St. Margaret's just in time for second prep. 

The weekend was AMAZING, and truly a cultural experience. Both Charlotte and I are extremely grateful to the Dunning and Toohey families for taking us down. Sydney is a very special city, unlike any other that I've experienced, and I hope to return sometime soon!

New Sport!

I wanted to try a sport that I had never played before and that was not offered at Emma. I considered my options over and over, finally choosing the one that I had always wanted to play, cricket!

I had my first practice on Tuesday. St. Margaret's playing fields are about 15 minutes away from the campus and on the whole bus ride there I was petrified. But my fear was for nothing, it turned out that I was one of a number of girls who had never played cricket before and we spent a really great first practice learning the basics and having fun.

On Wednesday, after only one practice, we had our first game. It was chaos, half of us didn't know where to go and our ball catching and hitting skills left something to be desired. But it didn't matter, we all had a great time! We lost the game but no one cared because it had been so much fun.

I am really, really glad that I joined the cricket team, I've made friends, started to learn how to play a new sport, and enjoyed every minute.

Wet 'n' Wild

On Sunday all the boarders traveled to Wet 'n' Wild, a huge water park on the Gold Coast. We spent the whole day there and I think I speak for both of us when I say it was a lot of fun! There were a lot of really great rides but my favorite had to be a ride called Surfrider where you go up and down on a U shaped track while spinning in a circle at the same time. Going to the water park was a great end to a challenging yet fun first week at St. Margaret's.

Pizza party

Yesterday, Charlotte and I were invited to our friend Elizabeth's house for making pizza! We each made an individual pizza with whatever we wanted on top. Mine was with mozzarella, feta, sliced chicken, and onions. VERY good. We then walked down Racecourse Road to Milany, which according to everyone in the boarding house, has the best gelato in Brisbane. I think that might be true! It was SO GOOD. I had a scoop of pistachio and a scoop of mascorpino, vanilla with soft fudge on the inside and on top. AMAZING! It was a super fun night, and we had a lot of fun with Elizabeth and Georgie!

From left: Elizabeth, me, Charlotte, Penny (Elizabeth's mom), and Georgie

Americans trying Australian snacks....uh oh

This was a video I found on Buzzfeed of Americans tasting Australian foods. I've tried Milo, Vegemite, and Smith's (not chicken flavored though). I'll write my reviews below...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/americans-taste-test-australian-snack-foods

Milo: Kind of the Australian version of Ovaltine. We have a container the size of a small child in each hall, and the girls drink it every night. Charlotte and I were taught  how to make it with the help of our boarding buddies (who are super cool year 12 girls). The powder floats to the top after mixing with milk and you eat the puffed up powder with a spoon. The puffed stuff tastes like aerated, milky malt balls. It's also crunchy like them too! Milo is good in my books (I have no idea what the Buzzfeeders were talking about....crazy). I will bring back a canister and bring it to the dining hall one lunch for sampling!

Smiths: They're potato chips. That are ruffled and really thick, but still light. I had plain, pepper, and tomato. Both plain and pepper were really good....tomato, not so much. I will keep an eye out for chicken now!

Vegemite: See previous post on the subject. Thank goodness I didn't eat it with a spoon.

FIXED

The timezone is now correctly set to Brisbane time, so you will see the time we actually post an article. Please also know that both Charlotte and I are writing posts, and the author can be found at the bottom of each article. Thanks! How are your weeks going? Miss us yet?

School

Hi everyone! Yesterday, Charlotte and I moved into the boarding house here at St. Margaret's AGS. We're staying in the Year 11 dorms, and both have one roommate. My roommate is named Phoebe and she's very nice. The rooms are very different than the ones at Emma, though! They're more like dorm cubicles. All the rooms on the year 11 floor are two girls to a room, with one desk, bed, floating cabinet, and dresser apiece. There is also a small privacy wall in the area between the desks, which is nice (it makes it feel more like your personal space). 

Fig. A) The walls between rooms don't go up all the way, leaving the boarding house nice and cool with all the fans, but also quite loud!

Fig. B) Our school-issues school bags. They are large duffels...quite awkward to carry around.

Fig. C) The lovely gifts from all of you! Even thought you can't see it, all the letters and pictures are on the corkboard in the "privacy screen" on the right of my desk. <3

Fig. D) Our school shoes. They are giant leather Clark loafers. I'm pretty sure they're men's style. 

I have blisters on my feet from the shoes, but I've had a good first day of classes shadowing Olivia. I am taking Year 11 English, Maths A, Geography (WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO), and Drama (hopefully WOOOHOOOOO). I will post more tomorrow! Have a great day!

Vegemite

According to Wikipedia, Vegemite is "a dark brown Australian food paste made from leftover brewers' yeast extract with various vegetable and spice additives". It's one of Australia's most iconic and popular food items. You put it on toast, crackers, really anything you want. It's dark brown and extremely salty, and  reminds me of the bouillon in a jar that we use at home. I made the mistake of spreading it on my toast like peanut butter, and I REGRETTED THAT. It was so salty, I had to spit it out. In my second attempt (which consisted of dotting it on and spreading in a thin layer), I was surprised. I wasn't a huge fan of the flavor, but it wasn't as terrible as some of my friends have said. So all in all, VEGEMITE: not my favorite, not the worst! Here's to trying truly Australian things!

How it should be done (unless you want a salt bomb)

The Past Two Days

Hello everyone! Sorry there wasn't an update in the past few days. I can't speak for Charlotte, but I've been spending equal parts of my time out of the house, sleeping/packing, and talking to people in New York! Olivia and I went to a birthday party yesterday for her friend Elissa's younger sister. It was Hawaiian themed, and the kids played games like pin-the-tail-on-the-toucan and musical towels. It was very cute. Today, we went to Max Brenner for brunch. Max Brenner, for those of you who don't know, is a restaurant where everything is chocolate. I got a dark chocolate and mocha frappe and a chocolate waffle (SO GOOD). Afterwards, we went to Olivia's friends' houses and swam. I got to snuggle with Emily's pug Stella, who was ADORABLE! 

She's very photogenic.

Olivia, Emily, and I came back to Olivia's and had an amazing spicy lasagna for dinner, made by Mrs. Toohey. We watched the Australia Day fireworks over Brisbane and the last minutes of the men's final in the Australian Open. I'm currently watching an episode of MasterChef and packing my suitcases up again! We move into the Boarding House tomorrow. I'm very nervous, but also excited! I'm post tomorrow (hopefully)!

Sydney Boat Adventure!

Hi everyone. Sorry that I've been out of contact for a few days! I was sailing around Sydney with Olivia, her father, her friend Elissa, and her sister Ella.

We sailed out of Newport and spent the day in a cove off of a river (but it was very salty). I'm not sure exactly where we were, but it was so pretty!

Mr. Toohey and Ella swam to a little beach (Elissa, Olivia, and I  rode in the dinghy) and climbed on the rocks. We went back to the boat and relaxed for a while, and then Richard (our skipper) made us dinner. We relaxed some more, and then I went to bed. 

The next day, we planned on going to Sydney, but the waves were too big outside of the river we were on, so we just sailed to another cove-like area. We spent the day there. There were HUGE jellyfish in the water (as big as my head), so I was really freaked out.

Olivia and Elissa told me that they can't sting but I didn't believe them. We spent the day napping, reading, attempting to fish, and watching How I Met Your Mother on the TV. We had steak and sausage for dinner.

On Thursday, we were up and about very early because we thought we were going to go to Sydney. Alas, the waves and wind were, again, too violent, so we decided to lower the small motorboat into the water and go tubing. It was SUPER difficult to hold on, and Elissa and I both got thrown off several times. Olivia managed to hold on every time! I was very freaked out because I didn't want to get anywhere near one of the jellyfish, and after a few rounds, I got back in the boat. We drove around the cove a bit, and returned to the big boat. Ella and I found a Say Yes to the Dress marathon, and since there was nothing else to do, we opened up all the windows and plopped down on the couch. We had curry for dinner, and since we needed to go to Sydney to catch our flight the next day anyways, we decided to get up early and start back to Newport so we could explore the city.

We left the cove around 7:45 on Friday morning and arrived at Newport around 9:30am. We said goodbye to Richard and arrived in Sydney around 10:45. We stored our bags in a storage unit, and went up the Sydney Tower to the observation deck. The view was amazing!

We could see the Opera House, the parks, even the airport! We took quite a few pictures, and I got a souvenir penny (yay!). After the tower, we set out for Circular Quay and the Opera House. The harbor was packed with cruise ships and water taxis, but we had a great view of the Opera House, and we took a TON of pictures.

We stopped for a drink at the Opera Bar (don't worry, just seltzer!), and went up to the Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney, built on the cliffs looking over the harbor. We had lunch at a restaurant called "waterFront" and relaxed for about an hour after we finished lunch, killing time in the shade. We headed back to the storage place, picked up our stuff, and went to the airport. We landed in Brisbane at 6:45pm on Friday, and I'm now sitting in my room at the Toohey's, unwinding, but feeling a bit homesick. The trip was amazing, but felt like a vacation, so now I feel like I should be on a flight home...ah well! Something else to conquer!

I had a great few days, and look forward to going to St. Margaret's on Monday!

Huge Australian Achievement!

Today I reached a major milestone in my Australian experience. I ate kangaroo! Not only did it look impressive when served but it was also really good.

First Day at the Beach!

I just had my first beach experience in Australia! Today I traveled with Sarah's family to Broad Beach, Gold Coast, where we will spend the next couple of days. As soon as we arrived we dumped our stuff at their ocean-side house and ran down to the beach. We had a great time running and diving through the waves. The weather was really warm and sunny but a brewing cyclone in the north ment the waves were huge but this only added to my excitement. Here is a picture of Broad Beach.

 

IMPORTANT

Hello again....sorry! Just something to note. The time it says on the bottom of each post, the one saying when we published it, is on the wrong time. I'm not sure which time zone it thinks we're in, but I will fix it shortly! Thanks

Off to Sydney!

Hi everyone! I'm over my jet lag, and am off to the airport with Olivia, her friend Alyssa, her sister Ella, and her father. We're going to spend the next few days sailing around Sydney Harbor and up the river! It's going to be such a great way to see the city! Now I've just got to finish packing...!

In Brisbane

We landed at 6:50 Brisbane time this morning! Surprisingly, I'm not very jet-lagged. Olivia, Sarah, Charlotte, and I are headed into Brisbane to explore the city, set up phones, and have lunch! This should be a fantastic first day! The surroundings are gorgeous!

Today's Weather
Currently 84 degrees Fahrenheit
Very humid
Sunny

Leaving LAX

We have about one hour until we depart from LAX...our original itinerary snafu was dealt with and we are all set to fly! We did have FANTASTIC hamburgers at "Umami Burger" in terminal three. I had the "Truffle Burger", which had truffle cheddar cheese and truffle glaze on it....oh my GOSH it was SO good! Totally made all the running around worth it! The next time I update, it will be from Brisbane!

At the Gate

Hi it's Charlotte and right now Tori and I are sitting at the gate in JFK, craving French fries and and eagerly awaiting our flight to LAX.

We fly out tomorrow! So excited to finally get to live on the other side of the world for three months!

Six days to Australia! I'm super excited!

8 days! 
More facts:
The average maximum temperature in January and February is 28 degrees
There are 62 sports stadiums in Brisbane
Queensland has more than 1000 native vertabrae, many unique to the region

Only 9 days until Charlotte and I leave for Brisbane for three months! So excited!

Some quick facts about Brisbane:
It is Australia's third-largest city, with a population of 1.8 million
The oldest building was built in 1828 by the convicts
The most rainfall occurs during the height of summer (  -____- )
It is the third largest capital city (by geographical area) in the world!

We're getting everything packed and ready to go! ALMOST THERE!

We have 15 days left before we take off for Brisbane! I'm very excited!