My Very Own Cinderella Ball

Formal is the name, Australia is the country and Little Miss Yankee, that's ME! Last night was a night to be remembered. I lost my glass slipper. . .damn, I needed that. The Naracoorte Formal of 09' was on and if we were in, say, a fairy tale. . . it would have been deemed a Royal Ball. Girls in glamour and boys in tuxes made the event a worthy occasion as did the cheesy awards all the year 12's received. Mine was Little Miss Yankee - gotta give em points for creativity!!! Not to mention everyone thought it said "Little Miss Skanky", cause I'm totally a whore in my spare time. Me, Amy (the coolest girl EVA) and our dates rocked up in my 2nd Host Dad's 1950's Mercedes Benz. Which was pretty flash by my standards. And I don't really have much more to say, so here's some photos. Enjoy!


This is me and Amy, we started getting ready around 4 cause the formal didn't start till 6 and yes, we ran out of time. . .Our hair wasn't cooperating, the lighting in her room was crap so we stressed about our makeup and what ever kind of boob pieces we chose to wear weren't working. All of which is apparently hilarious. . .What? The boys were out in the lounge room laughing at the random shouts of frustration they heard from Amy's room.


Oh!! I do have one more thing to say! (Notice how I say that I don't have anything to say but sense then I've practically written a novel. . .) This is John. He's my 3rd Host Dad. He hates photos but because he loves me so much, well, look at how amazing this is :)


This is my date. Nic Crouch, I met him while he was America in 2007. I was his date to his Year 12 back in November, this is payback. That and we kinda like seeing each other every now and again :)
And this is Tristen. I just liked this photo. And I like Tristen, cool kid. Thought he was blog worthy :)
And in photograph number six hundred and thirty five! We have (L to R) me, Anna, Gennaeve, Kat and Amy. Talk about sexy girls!!


And these peeps are my other group of mates at after party. Me, Lucy, Jess, Jakarra and Kate (I take it you've caught on that that is Left to Right?).





P.S. My tan is REAL bitches!!!!

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.