See You In a Week

We are off to the Whitsunday Islands for the week! Expect a full report when I get back.

Australian Halloween Festivities

Unfortunate News: Australia doesn't celebrate Halloween like we do in the United States. But no worries I have continued with the Redwine tradition of pumpkin carving. When I was little my family and I used to go out to the local pumpkin patch and each pick out pumpkins and carve them altogether and put them on our front porch. However, pumpkins here are a bit more EXPENSIVE than at home. It was $20 for this regular sized pumpkin which is lacking a good stem and has a bad side. Also, Australians don't carve pumpkins and most have never heard of it. I asked for a pumpkin carving kit at the store and the woman laughed at me? But I made due with some kitchen knives and a spoon. My jack-o-lantern still turned out cute and is shining on our balcony. I also "baked" pumpkin seeds in our toaster oven...but ended up burning some of the seeds....not as skilled as my mom apparently. It was a fun afternoon of Halloween festivities. The rest of the day was spent laying out by the pool trying to build up my skin for the Whitsunday Islands, some homework, and my roommate gave me a hair cut. We are thinking of going out tonight to a bar called "The Chalk" but a storm just blew in...maybe a chill night after all?

Night

Home Sweet Texas

Homesick and missing my family

An Average Week in Brisbane

This week has been very normal. I saw Eat, Pray, Love a few nights ago and absolutely loved it. I thought it was inspiring and I loved seeing different parts of the world and cultures. My roommate and I have also been watching the True Blood TV series on DVD...it is...interesting but not quite deserving of the word appropriate. This week the running has been great. I did 6 miles Tuesday, 10 Wednesday and 10 yesterday. Today is my day off from running but I think my knee has finally fully healed. There is no soreness aside from the little I would feel just from getting back in the routine. I'm still looking into Fraser Island and New Zealand dates and expenses but will update whenever I find out for sure what the plans are.

We leave for the Whitsunday Islands on Wednesday and have booked our hotel for the 6 of us for 5 days and are going to be spending 2 days and 2 nights on a boat with night and day snorkeling that travels around all the islands!

Today has been a relaxing day by the pool and I'll most likely go out in the city for a night out.

Most Stressful Day in Australia

First: I will rant for just a few moments on the Australia library "system." EVERY book anyone would want or need is either in 1. the stupid Fryer section which requires you to store your backpack in a locker and wash your hand before thinking of even touching the books AND you cannot remove them from the room or 2. declared a "high use" book, meaning you cannot be in possession of more than two at a time for more than two hours at a time and they may not be checked out over night UNLESS you check them out right before close and bring them back at open AND even then you cannot check out more than two.

Second: I had an AWFUL Art History paper due today that for some reason I decided not to start until the day before and it was a minimum of 2500 works. Sooo my new habit of procrastination ALMOST killed me. Pretty much a 24 hour straight session of buried in library books (I cheated the system by taking the books and hiding them) and writing is finally over. AND my paper actually turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

Aside from my minor breakdown and 24 hour depression in consequence from my work load I went and ran 6 miles today and tomorrow I do 10. The true test, if my knee is actually healed or not, will be tomorrow.

Nothing much else at the moment. I have an appointment with the student flight services on campus tomorrow to look into New Zealand prices and where exactly we would want to go.

Night!

Oktoberfest in Brisbane

The sun has been out all weekend and it has been in the enjoyable 70s all weekend. Oktoberfest is in town and we decided to make our way there this weekend. It was, let's call it...a cultural experience... They have them in the United States as well, but I have never been to one. It was fun to go see and experience but INTERESTING. It was basically a bunch of people dressed in the German attire, drinking excess amounts of beer while riding various rides, eating German food, and dancing to a live German band. The music was really fun though. There were wood floors in the tent with the band and everyone was dancing and stomping to music from around the world with a German twang to it.

A few days ago we went out to the "Vic" which is a bar/club in the city and the rest of our weekend has been pretty chill with the continuation of Tim Burton movie watching party and working on an Art History paper due Tuesday.

Vegetable eating has continued. Today for lunch I had grilled chicken and vegetables (potatoes, broccoli, asparagus, red pepper, eggplant, and green beans)! Woohoo

Today was one of the pretties days yet. We all went down and laid by the pool with some music and books. I'm about to go for my first run outside again. I've been running again for a few weeks now with very little soreness and am braving the outdoors now. Hopefully the terrain here won't kill me again.

Melbourne

Melbourne was absolutely beautiful. Perfect sun everyday and a comfortable temperature of about 75 degrees. We arrived late Thursday night (around midnight) to stay in our hostel we had booked...it was....interesting. (The rest of our stay we all split a hotel.) We were all split up in separate rooms and me and 3 others were in a room with some guys from Ireland. We could barely understand them. Their accents were so heavy, but they were nice. We then got up early the next day to begin the Great Ocean Drive. We rented two big vans for 24 hours. The drive is about 10 hours there and back as you make your way up the coast and drive through rainforests and countless rolling hillsides. It was stunning. We drove through Bells Beach, Point Addis, Appollo Bay, Aireys Inlet, Johanna Beach, Loch Ard and Gorge, Port Campbell, Peterborough, and Moonlight Head. We visited the red and white lighthouse in Aireys Inlet, massive cliffs in Moonlight head, bushwalks in Bells Beach, and drove in and out of Otway National Park throughout the drive. Our excursion ended at the Twelve Apostles just outside of Port Campbell. These are famous rock formations in the middle of the coast all lined up. Various legends exist trying to explain their existence. ALSO I drove in Australia! If you didn't know they drive on the left side of the road and the opposite side of the car...so it was a big deal! IN ADDITION we saw an echidna! I will post a picture just in case you don't' know what one is--kind of a cross between a kiwi and a porcupine. The next day we went to a Tim Burton exhibition that was in town. I forgot how many movies he did...James and the Giant Peach, Edward Scissor Hands, The Nightmare before Christmas, The Corpses Brides, Sleepy Hollow ect. It was really interesting and showed all of his sketches and, props, and figures for the movie. The rest of the day we explored the city and went to a live music festival. We went to bed early that night so we could get up and support Kaydee and Sarah in the Melboune Half Marathon. They did so great! Under 2 hours! It was a beautiful race as it winded its way through the city and ended in the coliseum. I was sad I couldn't run it as well but it was still a great experience. We painted shirts and made posters for support. After the race we had lunch outside and watched different festivities in the plaza. My favorite was a chinese dance that had people under dragon skeletons dancing around. They were very talented. After lunch I went to the Melbourne Markets. They reminded me so much of the Mexico markets. Stands lined up one after another, hand made aboriginal artwork, and everything else you could want. It was a really fun experience. I then went to Saint Kilda beach with a few of the people in our group. It was a nice beach with the usual clear blue water. However, it had a dock we walked out on which connected to a little island. AND there were penguins on it! It is breeding season and they were there visiting from Phillip Island. I've never seen penguins, except in the zoo of course. They were precious but grumpy. They barked at us if we came to close... We stayed there till around sunset and then headed back on the trolley (they are nocternal). The next day we explored the city to its full extent. We walked for hours up and down almost every block and visited the Southbank area which had shops and restaurants all along the Yarra River. The city has great public transportation. Instead of buses they mostly use trams and trolleys which I've never really seen. The thing I loved most about Melbourne is it had a space for anyone and everyone. It was chill and yet classy, high class and yet sporty. It had a great feel and was welcoming.

Since we have been back I have turned in 3 papers in a 24 hour span and we have had a Tim Burton movie fest! We are currently planning our accomodations and activities for the Whitsunday Islands in a few weeks! I'm looking into when I can go to Fraser Island and New Zealand with my friend Sally! We were thinking of going "Zorbing" today in Surfer's Paradise on the Gold Coast but it is supposed to rain so we decided not to. Zorbing is basically where you get in a giant "hampster ball" and roll down a hill with water in it? Sounds like a fun, new experience to me. We'll probably try and do it another weekend...we'll see.