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