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.