We just bought tickets to go to a Brisbane Broncos game on Friday! I’m so excited. We’re playing the North Queensland Panthers. Don’t know if they’re any good or not. I’ve been trying to learn more about the rules and strategy, and once again, Wikipedia has saved the day:
A Comparison of American Football and Rugby League Much easier to understand when compared to what I know and love!

It’s great to talk about American sports here, especially college sports because it’s so huge in the US, and not big here at all. I love showing people pictures Carter Finley and they’re blown away that it’s a COLLEGE football stadium capable of holding 50,000 people, and games always get sold out. Go Pack!

So Christine and I paid for our Easter Outback Swag Safari. We got the detailed itinerary and I am so so excited! It is going to be a truly aussie outback experience. Some of the highlights: sleeping under the stars, a rodeo, opal mine, sheep farm, natural spas, interacting with locals, outback pubs…and we are covering 1200+ kilometers. Which for the Australia Outback is not that much. Sometimes it’s hard to get a grasp on how truly huge this country is.

And on a random note, let me just say that it’s pretty much the coolest thing ever that I get to pass by a huge two story pineapple and three story macademia nut on my way to work everyday. Oh how I love Australia!

I’ve just uploaded a new set of pictures from Fraser Island. I went this weekend on a two day trip with my school. What an incredible place. It is about two hours north of Sippy Downs, off the coast a bit in the Coral Sea. It’s the largest sand island in the world, full of unique plant and animals species, and hydrological phenomenons including a “perched” fresh water lake. It also has the only rainforest with sand soil. I saw King Ferns which were 1600-2000 years old! Not to mention a big old shipwreck from 1935. Incredible. Saturday night we went down to the beach…and wow, the sky was breathtaking. I’ve never seen so many stars in my entire life. And the milkyway was so vibrant. The stars twinkled, and we saw two shooting stars, and made wonderful wishes. Sunday morning Christine and I woke up at 5am to go to the beach and watch the sunrise, which was beautiful. And believe it or not, the pictures do not begin to do the place justice! It’s definitely one of the coolest places I’ve ever been. Christine has an underwater case for her camera so we took some really awesome underwater shots! Check it out. (Click Australia Pictures on the side)

Indian Head, the most second eastern point in Australia

I’ve finally gotten my batch resize working, so over the next few days I will be uploading HEAPS of pictures! I just uploaded pictures from my Sunshine Coast Tour. Check back for some really terrific pictures that I’ve taken over the last month from all over the place!

Click the Australia Pictures Link to the right.

Aussie Word #3: Togs – a bathing suit

Surfing instructer: “I’m sure everyone’s got their togs on?”

Okay so I gave my weekend plan last post, here’s how it actually played out!

Thursday: We had a very yummy BBQ! We grilled: sausages, hambugers, chicken, veggie sausages, zucchini, eggplant, onions, and tomatoes…ahh it was good!

Friday: We went to Underwater World, the local aquarium! It was really fun and nice. They have a lot of really cool exhibits. I also bought a really awesome Fish of the Great Barrier Reef poster! We stopped at a few little shops around the Wharf where the aquarium is, and I also got a HUGE aussie flag. My room is a lot more decorated now, it feels a bit more homey. I love it:

New Fish of the Great Barrier Reef Poster

My desk area, gotta love the awesome Steve poster!

I love my flag! And it’s a special one with a tie at the top, especially made to wear around your neck as a cape!

Friday night we watched the first Lord of the Rings and then went to sleep.

Saturday: So Saturday Christine and I had our go at surfing. The Student Guild paid for free lessons for 10 students with the Alex Surf Club. We went to Alexander Headlands (near Mooloolaba). The lessons were great, we just had a few minutes on land and then we were right out in the ocean. The first two hours I SUCKED. I had a 7ft 2in board. I couldn

Wednesday, March 7 1:37pm

Favorite Aussie saying/word #2: “Mackas” (mac-uhs) a nickname for McDonalds

Ex (fyi, the examples are of course ones that I have actually heard people say)
Me “Where is the Nambour railstation?”
Kid on the street: “Ahh down there a bit by Mackas.”

My Roommate: “I’m so tired and hungry, I think I need some Mackas.”

I swear I’m going to get run over by a car before I leave here. The traffic in my area is not bad at all it’s acutally pretty quiet, but I keep looking the wrong way before I cross the road! If you didn’t know, they drive on the opposite side of the road here. After 20 years of looking left-right-left it’s hard to change to right-left-right overnight. I survivied the crazy traffic in Honduras, Spain, and China, but of course Australian cars are giving me the most trouble. And because the aussies drive on the opposite side, they also walk on the opposite side, which you never really think about. In the US when you’re walking on the sidewalk (if you are a courteous person) you stay to the right and let faster walkers pass. After a few days of walking around and meeting much resistance I realized that Aussies also walk on the left side of the sidewalk. Another thing that really messed me up was a revolving door

Favorite Aussie Saying #1: “How ya going?”
Ex: You are checking out at the grocery store, the clerk says “How ya going?” (like, what’s up? Or how are you?)

Sorry I haven’t put up any pictures lately. For some reason ACDSee (the program I use to reduce the file size) keeps locking up when I try to open my pictures. I’m trying to figure out another program to use to do batch file reduction

Sunday, March 4 10:35am

This weekend was really fun! On Friday, Lizzy, Christine, Sonny and I took the train into Brisbane for the day. Sonny needed to get an English translation of her driver’s license from the German Embassy. That didn’t take very long, so afterwards we walked around these beautiful Botanical Gardens at the south end of the river. We had smoothies at this cute tea cafe in the middle of the gardens. Then we walked around Queen Street where there are tons of shops, and we did some shopping. Then we took the train home! It was a nice trip.

Saturday was Lizzy’s birthday so we made a cake for her! Then we went to spend the evening in Mooloolaba on the esplande, which is this long street of restaurants, shops, cafes and stuff facing the beach. We ate a delicious dinner at a Morroccan restaurant, and we were all really happy to be carnivores and eat some meat. (we haven’t been cooking much meat, but we bought some big juicy steaks to grill this week!) The moon was extremely bright and looked so pretty over the water on the ocean. We sat on the beach for about an hour, and then tried to catch the bus back home but we then realized I had read the timetable wrong, haha, so we took a taxi home, which isn’t too expensive.

Today I think Christine and I are going to go get our hair cut! Yay! Then I need to do some homework…but let me tell ya, it takes a lot more motivation and dedication to study when the weather is so beautiful all of the time! I’ve started doing my reading on our porch so I can watch the kangaroos and ducks.

Thurs, March 1 3:34pm
Sometimes I can’t believe that I’m really in Australia and I have to sit for a second and let it sink in. Like just now. I was walking to the library on an absolutely beautiful day (the prettiest day yet, I think). I was walking on the boardwalk through the pond wetland area, and saw this big wading bird mosey by, then I noticed several large kangroos hopping across this field about 100 yards away. It’s in moments like that that I just cannot believe it.