There and Back Again . . . an Exchanger's Tale

The adventure of a lifetime began on May 31st when 15 exchange students flew to Sydney where they would meet 18 others and begin a tour of Australia that they would never forget. There would be sights to see, memories to share, songs to sing, jokes to be made, countless hours of bus travel to be had, numerous early mornings, great achievements to be made and relationships to be built that would never be forgotten. The Rock N' Reef tour is what Youth Exchange is all about. We spent three weeks together, seeing and doing things that millions would never dream of attempting. I made thirty two new best friends and suprised even my self at how much I was capeable of doing in such a short time. The Safari flew by, it's like it didn't happen at all. But at the same time, it feels like months ago that I got on that plane and arrived in Sydney. Just as it seems like years ago that I got on that plane and left Durango. So much has happened is the last year, it's so hard to remember every detail. It breaks my heart knowing that this is one of my last Blog's. It hurts even more knowing that in less than three weeks time, I'll be sleeping in my own bed, eating from my kitchen and walking down the main street of my 'home' town. In 16 days, I'll wonder if this year happened at all. It's to good to be true. I've met to many amazing people and done to many amazing things for it to be real. So thank you, to anyone and everyone who had even the slightest impact on my year here. You have helped to make this they best year of my life.

Alright, I'll turn off the soap box now. . .back to the reason for this blog. SAFARI!!! We started in Sydney, where we visited the famous Bondi Beach, the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge, went Jet Boating (I got SOAKED!!) and had a free day to explore the CBD. I chose to go to the Sydney Tower where I got a 360 degree birdseye view of the city. Then we went to the Queen Victoria Builiding, an old train station that's been converted into a shopping mall and visited China Town. Then we headed over to Hyde Park via the Monorail and hopped back on the bus to head back to camp.

Our Next stop would be Byron Bay. This was a three day drive from Sydney. We stopped in Cresent Head, a famous surf town and Coffs Harbour along the way. There are a number of 'Big' things across Australia. Coffs Harbour is home to the Big Banana. I dunno if you can see it but this me, Naoto (Japan) and Lynn (a leader from my district).

On the way to Byron Bay we also stopped at the famous Freddo's pies. Where you can get a Crocidile pie for $2.50. The stuff tasts like fishy chicken. . .And they seem to have a strange obsession with Marilyn. . .This is me and Jenny (Germany and to my left) and Grace (USA and on my right) .

Byron Bay is in Northern New South Whales and only an hours drive fromthe Gold Coast. It's a hippie town and reminded me of Durango, only they have a surf beach and we have mountains. Same diff right? We went Ocean Kyaking and had a pod of dolphins swim about a meter from us. It was amazing, a bit intimidating cause those waves are HUGE even out where they don't break. On our final day in Byron we hopped on our trusty bus Wilbur and drove up to the Gold Coast where we had a choice of visiting one of the theme parks or hanging out on the beach and walking up to Surfers Paradise. I chose the latter and what bloody good choice that was!! The Gold Coast is amazing!! It's a place where sky scrapers are beautiful!! They come right up to the beach, It's amazing.

When we left Byron, we headed north towards Airlie Beach and the Whitesunday Islands. We stopped for the night in a place called Ragaln just souht of Rockhampton (the beef capitol of the world). Ahh, good times in Raglan. . .We had a 'Black and White night' where we each got one black rubbish bag and one white rubbish bag. We had to make an out fit out of them. Then we had a dance party for about 4 hours. . . This is (L to R) Grace from Michigan and Katja AKA Katjaka cause I can't pronounce her name. . .and me. B E A U tiful eh?

Our next stop was a place called Airlie Beach on the Whitsunday Islands. It's beautiful there. . .we went Ocean Rafting through the Whitsundays, it was a bumpy ride but well worth it as we got to spend they day lying around on the famous Whitehaven Beach. 7 kilometers of pure silica sand. . .paradise. Then we had a free day, Grace and I got full body massages. Ahhh. . .That was the best day ever.

Our next stop along the East coast was to be Cairns. I've been here before, with the family. But it was still amazing. Grace (USA), Sarah (switzerland), Anni (Finland) and I went snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. It was the most amazing Coral I'd ever seen. We were about 3 kilometers from the very edge of the reef. When I stuck my head in the water at the first snorkel sight, I didn't want to look at it, I just wanted to scream and talk about how amazing it was. It was like an underwater city. There was so much colour and varity, it blew me away. Litteraly. . .the wind on that boat was SOO strong. (L to R) Sarah, me, Grace.

We would then pack up all our things (aka what ever we could fit in this tiny safari bag) and few to Alice Springs. The Center of Australia. Where, unlike the East Coast, they sell Farmers Union Iced Coffee!!

In Alice we stayed in a Bunk House, electricity and plumbing all inclusive. Which is the most exciting thing when you've just spent two weeks in tents, getting up at 4 am so that you can take them down and be on the road by 6 am to spend 9 hours in a bus with a torch that doesn't work. . .And we did a few cool things. . .like going to the desert park, going to a digeridoo show and riding camels, which is appatently an extremely terrifying task. . .look at my face. . .

The people at the show asked for a volunteer to go up and play the digerido. . . I was all for it unitl I actually got up there and basically farted into the bloody thing infront of 40 people. . .But hey, I played the Digeridoo up on stage. . . that's the best I can do for ya Marilyn. . .

Then we went to Kings Canyon and did a three hour hike which was totally worth it cause just look at how beautiful it is. Makes me feel all warm an fuzzy inside. Thigs like this remind me of how much I love being outside. I love the beauty of nature.

That night we did something that I'll never forget. Dressed all nine of our boys up in Drag. We gave them boobs, shaved their armpits, put fake eyelashes on em and made them wear dresses. It's shockin how much they like it. . .they touch their fake boobs way to much and really seem to enjoy showing off their hairy chicken legs. . .they're foregin, makes sense. . .

Then we hopped back on the bus, once again getting up at 4 am to pack down the tents and be on the road by 6. Then at about 9 am, with no more than 6 hours of sleep, I climbed Uluru (Ayers Rock). Which is like climbing a wall. . .there's this chain that you hold onto, lean back on and use to pull yourself up. It was pretty Epic, and I'm so happy that I did it. They're closing the climb in 2011 because it is a secred sight of the Aboriginies. Grace and I climbed it together. I love that girl. P.S. (Cole family) my Australia jumper made it to the top as did my Converse. . .worst footwear choice ever!!!

There ya go, that's the path up. . .bloody steep. . .It doesn't look that bad, and it's not that bad going up cause you stop heaps to catch your breath and rest your muscels, but coming down is terrifying. . .and your toes just wanna shoot through the front of your shoes. . .Nor does it look that far, but this is only like 1/5 of the entier thing. . .once you get to the top of the chained part, you are only 1/3 done and have to wander over the top of the rock for about 3km's till you get to the highest point. There are these little white stripes that show you the way, Con counted them, there's exactly 800 of em. This is me and the rock at sunset. It's so cool cause the colours creap up the rock as the sun goes down.

The next day we visited the Olgas and did a three hour walk through the Valley of the Winds. It was another one of those days where I was reminded how much I love nature.

Then we drove down to Coober Pedy and had a tour of an underground house as well as an opal mine. We stayed the night in an underground bunk house, yay for bunkhouses!! Not only did it have electricity and plumbing but it was constantly 24 degrees celcius and the outback is bloody freezing at night!! This is the entier group of exchangers and leaders, and bus drive and cook. What a bloody good group guys. I'll never forget you.

Happy Birthday to me

It's hard to express the joy I feel when I hear that merry tune "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Ariel, happy birthday to you" Notice that there is only ONE name mentioned in the song. It's a strange feeling to have something that you've shared all your life with someone else all to yourself, and the theme song to that something is music to my ears. It's what I've always wanted, a birthday all to myself (you twins know what I mean:)) And it's been the best ever. Thanks to everyone who helped to make it special.


So I paid my final visit to Melbourne this week. I came up for my birthday and to meet with Rotary for the start of Safari. I visited the Coles, had a birthday tea with the family, Annie and Pete and Amelia. That's like celebration number 4. . .I've turned 17 like 5 times this week!! I had the same problem with the candles here. . .the last one just wouldn't go out!! AND this time I made sure to touch the plate with the knife, I really really wanted to kiss Dane :) Jenny was even clever enough to buy me a hat that matched my scarf!! The plan is to make that hat last through three weeks of camping. . .it's wrapped in my St. Kilda scarf nestled in the corner of my bag. . .we'll see how that goes. . .

My cake had the cutest smiley candles. . .it's kinda creepy actually, they're STARING at you :) This is cake number. . .5? I made a pav, Dia made a chocolate mud cake and a chocolate mint cheese cake, I had this cake with the Coles, I had a cake with Jacqu and Asha last night and I'll have some more tonight with all my exchange buddies!! What can I say? I'm well celebrated :)


Jacqulyn had a great idea and got me a cake that didn't' need blowing out. . .thank god. . .I've got enough of these 'persistent boyfriends' running around the place. . .Rotary was starting to get worried for a minute there (wink wink John)

This is Asha, she's coming to America next year. Or so she says. . .We're gonna road trip. . or so she says. . .I'll believe it when I see it. . .But I love her anyways :) Safari starts tomorrow. YAY Three weeks of little sleep and immature exchange students! YAY!! Really, it's not so bad as it sounds :)

I made a PAV! Yaahhooo!!

See, look how sick that is. I'm officially an Aussie Chef :) Note the T-shirt too. It's a tourist T-shirt in disguise if you didn't notice. . .instead of just saying "Australia" straight up, it only looks like Australia. Clever eh? I though so . . .

Anywho, today we celebrated something wonderful. 17 years of Ariel. Couldn't get much better than that :) For once in my life, I had my own birthday. I'll have you know that this year, I'm 16 and a half hours older than my twin. . . due to the time difference . . . And, I'm so amazing that it took about 8 attempts to blow out all my candles. . .and apparently I have 7 boyfriends. . .and the last one is real persistant :) It's an aussie thing, after your frist attempt at blowing out the candles, however many are left alight is the number of boyfriends you've got. And ya know how in American we make a wish when we blow out the candles, well here, in the wonderful land of OZ, you make a wish when you cut the cake. And if you touch the plate, you have to kiss the nearest boy. When Timmy heard that, he ran for his life :) which was really dissappointing, cause I really wanted to give him a big, fat smack on the cheek :)

Yesterdy I went to the Footy out at Kyby, my favorite of my three hometowns. . .right. . .anyways. . .I went for the Footy, in which Kyby absolutly smashed Borders. And just an FYI for all you Yankee's, Footy is the most amazing sport ever. You are missing out cause you have no idea what I'm even talking about. . .And I won't attempt to explain cause it's far to confusing unless you're watching it on the telly or out at the oval. Anywho, it turns Kyby into a hotspot. Once every now and again, there are acutally people out there. Rather than the usual feral dogs, three neighbors and the entire Bartosek famliy (Great Aunt, Nan and Pap, Aunt's and Uncles, immeidate family etc), there are about a hundred who come for the sport. It's a real community event.

Oh, and this morning, I went to church for the first time in my adult life. It was an intresting and suprising emotional experience for me. Seeing all those people joined by something so simple as a belief, was kinda cool to see. But I don't have a photo of that one. . . sorry . . . I sang hyms and learned about some passage in the bible. . .it was intresting, an experience for sure. Like the last 10 months have been an experince, with every day presenting something new.

Even in the Outback I'm SEXY!!

See, even in the middle of nowhere, literally the middle of no where, my good looks prevail. I've just spent the last two weeks sitting in a car. Sounds like fun doesn't it? Cause I'd totally be jealous if I were you. . . wake up with the sun, spend 5 hours waiting for the family to get moving, then spend another 9 hours in the car only to drive between 400 and 500 k's. Trip of a lifetime eh? Well, it was. To all you Yankee's out there, you probably have no idea what I'm on about so I'll throw in a few links to google maps along the way :) Now, this is quite the tale to tell. It's gonna take a while, there will be lots of photos and plenty of useless rambling on my part. So bare with me.

Once upon a time, there was a girl called Ariel. She had beautiful red hair and fins instead of legs. Her best friend was a fish called flounder and she had a fascination for a faraway land. . . Wait, holdup. . .I don't have red hair or fish scales. . .sorry, wrong fairy tale. . .okay, so Once upon a time there was a girl called Ariel. She lived in Australia and her cruel Host Parents forced her to go on a trip to the outback. . .(that's better, sounds a bit more like the truth :) haha) Anyways, my trip started from Adelaide, Andrew and Karen started in Naracoorte. On our first day, we passed this sign.

And that's about as exciting as Day 1 gets. . . As you can see, I'm jumping with joy :) We stopped for the night in a seaside town called Pt. Broughton. (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Naracoorte+SA&daddr=Port+Broughton+SA&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&sll=-34.170129,140.748989&sspn=0.094307,0.153809&ie=UTF8&z=7 our first days drive) The next day, we piled back into the red van and drove up to a place called Parachilna. God knows how bloody long it took to get to Pt. Augusta, but once we did, things finally started to get interesting. The scenery changed, there were actual hills instead of just flat, flat and flat. We were in The Flinders Ranges, heading for a town with a permanent population of 8. (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Port+Broughton+SA&daddr=Port+Augusta+SA+to:Parachilna+SA&geocode=&hl=en&mra=ls&sll=-35.279445,139.33645&sspn=5.953681,9.84375&ie=UTF8&z=8 Day 2)

Parachilna is famous for it's pub. They serve Emu, camel, goat and kangaroo. When you drive up, and of course it was well past dark when we did, there are about 5 lights and only two or three permanent buildings. But a paradise none the less. When you've been driving for countless hours without seeing another living breathing human being or a building with electricity and plumbing, it's an amazing sight. This is Steve and his dinner. I ate Emu liver that night. I'll never eat an animal organ again. . . This is the road sign just out of Parachilna. In two days time we would be in Birdsville, only we would be getting there by plane. That story comes later.

Now, you people in America don't even know the meaning of the phrase 'the flies have gotten bad'. In the outback, you bathe in Aeroguard and live in a fly net. Yes, it looks silly but I'd rather look like a bee keeper than have 45 flies crawling in out of my noes, eyes, ears and mouth.

Once we finally left Parachilna, we wound (sorry, drove for countless hours over never changing landscape in the same direction with nothing interesting to look at, but it was beautiful all the same) our way through the outback up to a place called William Creek. In less than 400 kilometers, we managed to break a window, travel 12 meters (that's like 50 feet) below sea level with out getting wet and have a family melt down. (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Parachilna+SA&daddr=William+Creek&geocode=&hl=en&mra=ls&sll=-32.36649,138.09866&sspn=3.080589,4.921875&ie=UTF8&ll=-30.016787,137.37854&spn=3.157993,4.921875&z=8 Day 3)

Once we got to Marree, we were officially on the Oodnadatta Track. Marree is the turning point where you chose your travels. Either the infamous Birdsville Track or the ancient Oodnadatta Track, lake Eyre sits between the two. Oh, right you don't' know what Lake Eyre is. Well basically its a big salt lake in the middle of Australia (because Australia used to have a giant inland sea) that only fills up once ever forty years and this year, my year in Australia, it's full. So we went for a visit. We chose the Oodnadatta Track as it led to William Creek, our destination for the night and base camp for the next 3 days. This Track as it is called, is nothing more than a semi level slab of ground with tire tracks in it. And that's how we managed to break the window. The road got rough, stones started flying, and then there was a loud crashing noise. The family melt down came soon after. It had been a long day and we were all getting annoyed at how long we had spent in the car. So there was. . .yelling. . .sort of. This is a photo of the sign labeling the Oodnadatta Track. On some other sign in some other tiny outback town there was a list of million things you HAD to have with you in case you broke down. We were in the outback you see. And because there are idiots out there who wander away from their cars in the event of the breakdown, there are numerous warnings telling you not to do so. In case you thought that was a good idea. . .

Anywho. . .the pub in William Creek was, well, a stereotypical outback pub. Yet, ironically, the only one we saw like it. There were bras hanging from the ceiling and money from all over the world pinned to the walls, people's old drives license and credit cards. License plates, hats, fake arms, you name it and you were bound to find it on one of these walls. Even the front door was covered in scraps of paper people had written 'Rachel was here! Canada to Australia 1993'. I added my mark to one of the walls, left a Rotary Business Card and a note with some crap about Ariel the little mermaid and water being in the outback. . . To much time in the car was making me go crazy. . .Every other pub we went to was more, classy if you will. Basically they didn't have bras hanging from the walls. . . This is Steve and Lisa (friends of the family who traveled in a separate car but did the trip with us) and Karen getting to know one of the locals.

So this entire trip was about Lake Eyre. It had water in it for the first time in decades. We were gonna drive up and fly over the lake in a light aircraft to a place called Bridsville Queensland, eat at the pub then fly further north to a place called Bedourie and stay the night. The next day we would hop back in our plane and fly down to the Mungerannie Roadhouse along the Bridsville track and have lunch at that pub. Then fly across the southern end of Lake Eyre and over the Painted Hills then back to William Creek. All for the small cost of $600 AUS. Cheap for what we did. And Google Maps is useless when it comes to showing you exactly how that worked. So you'll just have to imagine how big that lake is and how far away Bridsville is from ever other kind of civilization. . .Bedourie is even further away. . But this is the best I can do http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=William+Creek&daddr=Birdsville+QLD+to:bedourie&geocode=&hl=en&mra=ls&sll=-28.99935,135.64792&sspn=1.595058,2.460938&ie=UTF8&z=7 We flew over the lake in the middle. Zoom out to see where that is in comparison to say, Sydney.

This is our plane. We were about to spend the next two days sitting in here. Yay for limited leg space and constant turbulence. I can't tell you how excited I was. Seriously, I can't. Taking off was exhilarating. Here we are all cramed in, minus me and the piolt of course. And we had an amazing piolt. Luke was his name. Absolutly wonderful.

Lake Eyre generally just sits in the middle of Australia as a giant salt plane. Only when it floods in northren Queensland and the water manages to make it's way all the way down to South Australia, which is a bloody long way, does it flood. This time round it was 65% full. Which is pretty brilliant to see. Lake Eyre in on Annacreek Station, the largest cattle station in the world, it's about the size of Belguim

We landed at Birdsville for lunch at the pub. Birdsville Pub is also famous, it's one of the most remote places in the world. And because Rotary rocks so much, there were a number of club banners from all over Australia and the world hanging from their ceiling. Pretty epic I'd say

Then we got back in our plane and flew over the channel country. This is how the water gets from Ther very tip top of Australia, to the middle of it. Thousands upon thousands of little rivers that make the land incredibly green and flood numerous towns along the way. Seeing this made the trip, the outback is known for it's dryness and red dirt. It was truly amazing to see it so green and full of water. A once in a lifetime experience.

We stayed the night in a place called Bedourie. Where, we happened to meet a distant relative of my Host mum karen. What a quinki-dink eh?

The next day we got back in our little light aircraft plane and made our way back to William Creek via the Mungerannie Roadhouse along the Birdsville Track and the Painted Hills, which are on the Cooper Peady side of William Creek.

And we landed in William Creek. With another amazing experience under our blets. Problem is, that's only the first half of the trip. There was still four days of driving ahead of us. This is us with our piolt at the end of the trip. Look at our faces if you can. Note the pure joy on them.
Now, we were on our way to Melbourne. Yes, piratically the other side of the country. This is a map of our entire trip. Look at the amount of ground we covered in less than 10 days. Minus hte part where it takes us up to Alice Springs. We retraced our steps when we headed out east in the plane and flew back to William creek. http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Naracoorte+SA&daddr=Port+Broughton+SA+to:Parachilna+SA+to:William+Creek+to:Birdsville+QLD+to:Bedourie+QLD+to:Coober+Pedy+SA+to:Port+Augusta+SA+to:Renmark,+SA,+Australia+to:Ballarat+VIC+to:Leonard+St,+Tootgarook+Victoria+3941+to:Frankston+VIC+to:naracoorte&geocode=%3B%3B%3BFWAFR_4dFUggCA%3B%3B%3BFY9ORf4d_jAICA%3B%3B%3B%3BFYJxtv0dXB-iCCk_ZGXPb8rVajE9Im8W6o_qTw%3B%3B&hl=en&mra=pe&mrcr=9,10&sll=-30.562261,140.405273&sspn=24.994321,39.375&ie=UTF8&z=5

We were going to the Melbourne area for a 50th birthday. Don Cole is one of Andrew's best mates and my adopted host dad. I've never actually lived with these guys but I've been away on holiday with them enoug to make them count as family :) So we got to catch up and have a big party. Which was good. On the way to this party we stopped in Renmark where I got to visit one of my really good friends, Nic Crouch. YAY!! I love that kid!! After the party, we crossed the bay on a ferry and visited my Host sister who has just come out of hospital because she had her tosil's removed. It was a bloody LONG two weeks!!

And then last night I made mexican food. Real American, Mexican food. If that makes sense. YUMMY!! Kat came over and we had a ball eating Fajitas, and I had a burrito, the kind with refiredbeans. Which Australian's hate. Yes, it looks like spew in a can. But it tastes like heaven. I suppose it's a bit like Vegimite for Australian's. It's the most revolting thing to me, but they love it. It's yeast that they put on toast for God's sake! YUCK!! But refried beans are spew in a can that I put on a tortilla. That's pronounced tor-tiya :)

Adelaide Or Bust!

So I've been living in a town called Naracoorte South Australia for the last 9 months. A place that's a 6 hour drive from Melbourne, 16 hours from Sydney, a bloody world away from Cairns, a different land mass than Tasmania and a mere 4 hours drive to Adelaide. Yet, I've been to Sydney twice, Melbourne more times than I can count, made it down to Tassie and up to Cairns before visiting Adelaide. The capital of my own state. This pretty much makes me pathetic. . .wouldn't ya say? I've spent more time in Victoria than I have in South Australia. And to anyone living in South Australia, they would recognize this as a great Betrayal. Victorians are the dirty Mexicans of Australia. They live south of the (NSW) border :) But no, not this time. I was determined to show some South Australia pride. I spent 5 days in Adeliade doin the Tourist thang with my thrid Host Family, the Agnew's.

First we went to the Monarto Zoo. Now look at that word 'Monarto'. It is pronounced monato. That, like the word 'arse', is the Australian accent in a nutshell. They put useless, meaningless R's in the middle of words just to make themselves different. Bloody hopeless I'd say. Oh, and get this! They do it with U's too!! Colour? Flavour? Labour? What is this country doing to me!!?!?!? Anyways. . .back to the Zoo :) It's a massive chunk of land that was meant to be used to expand the city of Adelaide but because the soil is hopeless for growing crops and no one ever got around to building any hospitals or schools, it's a zoo. With animals mostly imported from South Africa and the USA. There were Bison, Zebras, Giraffes, African painted dogs, lot's of African deer and antelope of some kind or another and Lions. This photo is of Leroy. The king of the Pride. Looks pretty scary. . . RRRAAAWWRRRR!

And the Zebra's. Which is pronounced Z-eh-bra, none of this Z-eeeee-bra hoopla.

Oh, now this is exciting. Well, more exciting than the grammar lesson I've been giving you :) I went to the Footy on Friday night right. Aussie Rules is just about the only sport I can sit down and watch. Cricket is hopelessly boring and Grid Iron is incredibly confusing. Footy just makes sense. It was a St Kilda (My Team) V.S. Port Power match. The Saints creamed Power. Beating them 106 to 32. GO SAINTS!! There was a members thing after the match and my host Dad is a member so I got to meet some of the players and got an autograph on my scarf. To bad I have no idea who this bloke is, let alone what position he plays. . .I'll have to google that one and get back to you on it :) I only know that he was nearly 7 feet tall and is pratically bent in half for this photo. . .WOW.

And then there was ANZAC Day (April 25). Australia and New Zealand Army Corps Day. A day to celebrate and thank all of the men and women who have put their lives on the line for Australia's Freedom, Peace and Safety. There was Dawn Service which I attended. I now have a new respect for the soldiers or a country. I would never do such a thing, but those who do are Heros in my eyes. The ceremony was beautiful. It's to bad we don't do anything like this for the Hero's of the USA.

"Yankees Invade Oz"

A family of three traveled all the way across the world to see me. Yes, I am that important. :) I mean, they stopped at a few places along the way. . .places like Sydney, Cairns and Melbourne. But their sole reason for being in Australia was to see me. That would be my family. The yankees who invaded Oz. My mum, twin sister Hayely and older sister Autumn. I met them in Sydney where we did a bridge climb, rode on the ferry to Manly at night (which is SOOO pretty)and went to a play at the Opera House. Mum even got herself on the news!! There was a massive blackout in the CBD the night we were meant to go to the Opera House to see our play, the camera man interviewed mum and *SNAP* she was on the National News. Just like magic.

Left to right we have Autumn, Hayely and me at the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Pretty amazing feeling that is.

This is my mum on the Ferry to Manly. People say she looks like me. . .?

We also went to the Blue Mountains on a Bus trip. We went to a wildlife park and then drove up and tried to see the Three sisters. Problem was, it was foggy as and we couldn't see a thing. So here, have a photo of four smiling super tourists who even went so far as to have their photo posed with a Koala :)

(L to R) Autumn, me, Mum and Hayley.
And here's another irrelevant photo. We then went up to Cairns and spent two nights staying on Green Island. Which is an island made out of Coral sediment stuff. It's millions of years old and has a thriving rain Forest living on it. We spent three days snorkeling and got our backs horribly burnt. And seeing as snorkeling requires that you be in the water, I never took my digital camera down and got a photo of us. So here's one of some complete strangers :) The Coral was very pretty and, the farther out you went, the more diversity there was. Me and my sisters also went for a short Scuba Diving adventure in the Outer Reef. That was really good. You would expect the colours to be brighter but the water, it dulls the colour. But it's still well worth the trip.

We also went up to the Tropical Rain Forest near Cairns and did Sky Rail. Which was BEAUTIFUL!!! It's so green up there! Everything here is either brown, a crisp yellow color or well.. .brown.

Then we were off to Melbourne. After the four hour plane flight we got off expecting there to be an hour time difference. When the captain announced that there wasn't one. We were all SOO confused. Then someone came to their senses and remembered that that wonderful thing called daylight savings must have ended and everyone was happy again :) That night we went over to the Cole's house and had Tea. Then we got on Public Transport and headed for the City. We did the Queen Victoria Markets and looked at some of the touristy things in Melbourne.




L to R we have Autumn, Mum, me, Hayley and Britt Cole who tagged along as our tour guide :)

Things like this awesome Graffiti Alley where it's just full of art.

(Hayley and Mum)

Then we made our way over to a place called Halls Gap in the Grampians. Real Australia. Out of the cities and into the country, my land. Where there is nothing but gum trees. I love it. This is Borken Falls near Mckenzie falls on the other side of the mountains from Halls Gap. Here we went out for tea with my Country Contact with Rotary, Sue Williams and her husband Allan.

(Hayley, mum and Autumn)

The next day we made our way over to Naracoorte. Where I made them stay a night in Kyby, my first host family lives there. It's literally two shacks and a footy oval, TINY. Then we went to the caves and pretty much did nothing else aside from meeting my people cause that's all that's worth seeing here in Naracoorte. A town NOT meant for tourists, one that was totally unprepared for this yankee invasion.

Brain Farts and Koalas

Well, as most of you probably don't know, a brain fart is as mind blank. Only because I'm one of those strange american kids, I say "brain fart". . .bloody yankee education system. . .My english teacher actually used that to try to make me feel better about a low mark I got on an english essay today "you are american and therefore you use a different way of writing" Agreed, but I thought I'd give her hell and call her racist a few times :) Any who, I couldn't think of something amazing to call this post but it's about Koalas, makes sense doesn't it? Well, it does to me :) And as far as I'm concerned that's the only opinion that matters. The other day, I relized how screwed I'm gonna be when I go back to Druango. Pretty much everything I just said is CHALK FULL of sarcasm. . .americans don't even know what that means. . .my mum thinks its a way to express anger, boy is she in for a shock when she rocks up here!! EVERYONE is sarcastic. And to us, its just a way to joke about something. Okay, enough rambeling. The other week I went over to Zoe's place, that's her and me in the photo, and released some koalas. Kangaroo Island, just off the coast near Adelaide, is overpopulated with Kangaroos and Koalas so instead of just killing them, they bring them to the mainland and let them free here. Zoe lives on a big property out near the bush, so they release Koalas there.

This is just one of them climbing up the tree as fast as they bloody can. They have just been de-sexed, held in capitivity, flown 800 Kilometers, then shaken out of a cage and stared at by a large crowd of baffeled Australian's (or austraicans (australian/american)).

I got to release the mother and baby koala. How bloody cool is that!! So I got to touch the baby, but mind you it was only a touch. These things have claws of death. But who's life goal isn't to touch a baby Koala??

On a slightly different note, a couple weeks ago, I went to a Rotary meeting in Mount Gambier. There was a GSE (Group Study Exchange) team from Canada/Washington state. The girl that is from Washington grew up in Aztec, 30 minutes from Durango, then lived in Durango for some time. Her brother is Dale Egal (not 100% sure on the first name) and he owns a recording studio that I have been to with Steve Dejka and I have actually met her brother. She's the tallest one in the photo. *singing* It's a small world after all. . .It's a small world after all. . .It's a small! Small! World!

And this, this is my shool photo. It's pretty bloody magical wouldn't ya say?? And the polo, ya gotta love the polo :) P.S. I'm growing my hair out. . .so I no longer have the fro

And finally, last Sunday, we had a fundraiser down in the town square for the Victorian Bushfires. I made doughnuts with my Rotary club for 7 bloody hours. Damn having a big heart :) Here we have Lorane (back, making up dough) and Murray (front, rolling finished doughnuts in cinnamon sugar) and me (middle, slaving away over the hot oil) :)