Crystal Creek & Building Anticipation

Wow! Today is September 21.. meaning that I will be back at home in only two months! I can't believe how fast this trip has flew by! In only 3 days I will be headed off to the OUTBACK! I am soooooooooo excited!! I feel like a little kid a few days before going to an amusement park! Every Australian that I have talked to about the trip has said that it is an amazingly spiritual place. I just can't wait to get out there and finally understand what everyone keeps talking about! When we go out there, we will be sleeping in 'swags' cooking our own food, and really just experiencing the 'true' Australia!

My biggest fear?... the animals out there that have enough poison in them to KILL me. (But I am sure I will survive ;))

At any rate... this past weekend was a blast. I was invited to go up to Crystal Creek with some of the frisbee players. Friday night we left Uni around 5pm and stopped at one of the BIGGEST liquor stores I have ever seen!! They had such a variety in there! Then we went to Woolworths and got food to cook for everyone. From there, it was off to Dave's house. It was my first time in an Aussie's house. (Their houses aren't much different--by the way) We ate dinner--hot dogs and potato crips (which are just chips in the US). Then we had a party. I got to meet a lot of Australian's and we all had a blast! FINALLY, we went to sleep.

The next morning I woke up to the sounds of pots and pans banging together. It wasn't a nice sound to wake up to at 9am. At any rate, I got up and had breakfast and then we were off to Crystal Creek. During the Mission Beach excursion we stopped at Paradise Swimming Hole, which is in Paluma and is a part of Crystal Creek. This time we went to Big and Little Crystal Creek.



Big crystal creek was a great place for climbing around on the rocks and working the way up the mountains. And as always, there were tons of GORGEOUS pictures to be taken...









Sunday I had a field trip back up to Paluma. This time we were around the same place in Paluma, but higher in altitude! Some of my classmates and I went to play on the playground that was there.. we also got to see an echidna! and I actually got to take a good picture from the bus!



and check out this road that the bus was FLYING down! (At one point we actually ran into a sign!!! for the sake of the bus driver i will admit that the sign was pretty close to the road...) Meanwhile.. this road is a VERY narrow two-way street... and on the left-side (the side that I was sitting on. remember: they drive on the left side here) there was a GIANT cliff going STRAIGHT down about 800 meters (2400ft)!!







I hope that these pics show the gist of what I am saying about this road!!!

Coming up REAL soon...

THE OUTBACK!!

Kiara

Magnetic Island

This past weekend was pretty interesting..

We decided a couple of week sago that we would go out to magnetic island for a weekend. Well we FINALLY made it! And following a week where I had to write two papers and had a midterm.. it was well deserved. We left for Maggie on Friday after class... the island is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!. It is right across from Townsville, and it is paradise!



Once we got to Maggie, we went checked in our hostel and went to the beach! Geoffrey Bay was very nice. The water was warm and clear.. and there was plenty of dead coral to examine (for the nerdy bio majors!!). That night we went to the night market and had dinner. I had cashew chicken and rice noodles. I was REALLY good. Then we sat out on the beach and talked about everything that came up... Cara did her 8 minute abs (after drinking). It was pretty funny.. Once we walked back to the hostel from the beach, we met some cute Aussie islanders. We played a couple of games of pool with them and then went off to TRY to go to sleep. Once we finally got settled into bed and were about to go to sleep, Alex hops down off of his bed and yells "Oh My GOD! Kiara, Kiara!!" I had no idea what was going on and had my ipod in. I asked him what was wrong and he says..."idk but there is something crawling ALL over me." We all bust out laughing b/c there was clearly NOTHING on his bed... at least from what we could see. It was absolutely HILARIOUS that he tried to get me of all people to help him. I HATE bugs!! That was probably the funniest part of the trip, by far.

We woke up really early Saturday morning to go horseback riding.. unfortunately, the reservation website was down and they didn't get the information. We were kinda bummed out.. but we went a jumped in the pool at Magnum's (our hostel) and then went out to Alma Bay. We spent most of the day at the beach and then went to rent SCOOTERS!!! The scooters were really great..



I had a pink one named Paris (yes hilton).. I must say that she rides good.. no pun intended. We rode around the island on our scooters for a bit and then went to get some dinner.



One the way back from dinner, I was following Alex on my scooter, and I see a light go down a cliff. Thank goodness he wasn't hurt, and lucky for him, the scooter started up again and only had a few scratches. Not bad at all looking at the cliff. After the big scare, we went to the hostel and just chilled out.

Today, or Sunday, we got up early and tried horseback riding again. The ride was ABSOLUTELY wonderful!. We went thru the bush on a track and ran into some wallabys and a few snakes. My horse's name was Matilda. She is a very pretty horse. We went into the water too... I think someone took the pic, but I will have to share it later! But the scenery was beyond words...




Afterwards we went back to the beach for the day.. Somehow, I ended up getting sunburnt. I am pretty hurt from the burn and sore from the horse ride. But overall, a good weekend!

Outback is coming up soon... I am beyond excited!

Till next time,
Kiara

Riverside & The Climb

Another successful weekend in Oz!! This weekend has, by far, been THE most fun weekend since I have been here. And the irony of it is that we didn't think that we would be doing much of anything... boy were we wrong.

Saturday we decided to walk down to the river behind the school. The walk only took about 20 or so minutes. Down by the river there is a rope swing and plenty of room to just jump in and enjoy the water. Of course I was a little weirded out by all of the creatures that could be found in this river.. you know standard stuff like freshys (freshwater crocodiles), eels and snapper turtles. I finally got enough courage to jump in off of the tree (with a little encouragement from my friend Sarah ;)... It was def. worth it!! The water was really warm and it felt REALLY good to let go...



We all went back to the dorms a little later. The next plan was to hike up castle hill downtown. At first I didn't really want to go because I was pretty tired, but I am glad that I did!! The climb up was pretty rough and rather difficult. But we made it! The view was absolutely gorgeous! And we got up there just in time to catch a wedding and the sunset.. both of which were very pretty sights!







Once we got back from the hike we all got ready for the nighttime activity. I thought that we would have ended up going out, but we didnt.. and i dont think that anyone was upset that we didnt. We just hung out around campus and played various games and talked and had a really GREAT time.. it wont be a forgotten night, for most of us, and thats for sure.. and an even more memorable weekend!!!

until next time,
kiara

BBQ on the Beach (and the past weekend)

My, my, my.. time is FLYING!!! Last Saturday marked my first month in Australia! I can't believe that it has already been a month! I feel like I have done so much already...! Let me start with last weekend..

Friday we went to a Cowboys Rugby game. It was actually pretty neat even though I don't understand the game at all. But watching big 'football' guys running around in shorts and sweating and smiling at the camera was pretty fun! ;). After the game we went into town for a little bit, which we have been doing a lot of lately. But it was pretty fun actually. Saturday we went to the Townsville Annual Culture Festival. I really enjoyed the festival.



They had performances, a small market, FOOD, and face painting (which I almost did but got cotton candy, or fairy floss, instead).



It was right on the beach and it was such a hot day that we decided to go for a swim. It turned out to be a really nice day. My favorite part of the festival were the performances, and my favorite one of those was the dancers from the Cook Islands. They danced similar to Hawaiian dancers, but I'm sure there were small details that were different. The girls were pretty young that were dancing which made it that much better. It was a lot of fun to watch.



Sunday I had to do school work =(. But it was a very productive day although I really wanted to go to the beach with everyone else. School work has really started to pick up lately. I just have to remember that I am here for school and NOT R&R.

This week I found out that I will be able to go to the Outback during Spring Break!! The trip will be 10 days long and will consist of camping out in the desert and cooking our own food by campfire!.. I know what your thinking if you know me, WHAT?? But I figure that even if I do come back to Oz again, I will probably not be able to go to the Outback for 10 days. And if you know me even better then you would know that I used to camp ALL the time in girls scouts and LOVED it! At any rate, I am really excited about the trip and look forward to spending my spring break in central Oz.

But today was a really fun day as well.. Our cafeteria at Uni Hall put up a menu that tells us what we will be having for the week. One of my friends saw what we were having for dinner tonight and decided to pull together a BBQ on the beach! It was a GREAT idea and we all pitched in to buy food and stuff. I decided to get a steak and put it on the Barbie.. absolutely WONDERFUL if I must say so myself! Afterwards we all went out on the beach and played around for a little bit. It was a really nice night!

So all in all I am still thoroughly enjoying my time in Australia. Tomorrow we are going to go hike up Castle Hill downtown and go swimming at the river. Hopefully we will get some great photo ops and have a great time.

Until later,
Kiara

Kegs on the Lawn

I don't think that I have a picture to put up for this one, but I wish I did.

Yesterday we were harassed at 6am to wake up and run a track that was 6km. We had already heard that they were going to do this to us, but I think that in the back of my mind I didn't really believe that they were going to do it. So picture this: full moon party on Magnetic Island and we got back around 3 or 4am, then they come around and BANG on doors, set off door alarms, and sing university hall chants. So I decided to go ahead and get up just in case I wanted to head to kegs on the lawn. So a few of my friends got up as well. Some people ran the course, but we walked it (it was like 7am). Afterwards, we went to brekkie and then it was about time for kegs on the lawn. I must say that Saturday afternoon will definitely stay in my most fun days for a LOOOOONG time.

Since we went to cross country in the morning it was only 10 dollars for us to get in. But ten dollars got you all the goon (box wine), and/or beer that you wanted for 5 or so hours. Which is NOT a bad deal anywhere! After a while, we started playing beer pong and people were being thrown in and out of the pool. Then some guys made a slip-and-slide out of trash bags and soap. The slip and slide turned into a big mud pool after a while. And of course people started jumping in. Although it sounds really gross and not as fun now that I am writing about it... but let me assure you that it was a BLAST!!!! Of course the mud got all in my hair and ears, and nose, and probably every open orifice that I have, but it was SOOO worth it! The showers after that were incredibly disgusting!

All in all, not a bad afternoon!!!!

Till next time,
Kiara

PS: Pictures finally surfaced from kegs on the lawn via facebook... here it is... I am SOMEWHERE in the mix...lol

Trivia Night

I just had one of the BEST nights since I have been here! (or maybe I am still just really excited)!.. Anyway. Me and my friends went to Trivia Night at the Club on campus. The trivia that they were giving us wasn't that hard, but the were also doing door prizes and giveaways and all that stuff. And GUESS WHAT.. I won a SKYDIVE TRIP!!!!!!!!!!.. and luckily its in Byron Bay where I will be going in September! I still can't believe I won!AND on top of that.. its not the small dive. its the HIGHEST dive that they offer, 14,000ft!.. AND my other friend won the GRAND prize.. a trip from Sydney to Melbourne!!.. So I think that we may go with her.. if we can get some good deals on flights and stuff. But we def. had a PRETTY lucky night. The MC also bought me and my friend Cara drinks!.. which was really nice.

I think the funniest part of the night tho was the trivia question that the MC came over to ask me. The question was worded as "What are the names of the four railroads on the ORIGINAL english Monopoly game?" and OF COURSE I said very confidently, "short line, B&O, Reading, and Pennsylvania" and the guy laughed at me and said, what the hell is that? Apparently they meant the English as in from England Monopoly game. But that is a twisted question. So I said well the original game is from America and its in English. Everyone laughed and he said the Americans don't speak English.. But that ended up getting me a free drink...

If I must say so myself, not a bad night out.

Until later.. TTFN
Kiara

Classes/Mission Beach

So classes started last Monday. I guess we will see how that turns out. I keep hearing that classes here are much more difficult than back at home. Although, I dont think that I will have another experience similar to Duke this past summer. For the semester I am taking Australian Literature, The Love Story in Cinema, Biodiversity of Tropical Australia, and Human Development across the Lifespan. I do not think that I have a favorite so far. Everyone keeps asking em why I am not taking more biology courses, and I was going to at first, but the more that I look into biology classes, the more I realize that I can take the majority of them at Spelman. And I didn't come here to take the same classes. So far I will still be on track. The only thing that is throwing me off is physics, but I can't do much about that now.

This past weekend, the JCU crew had our excursion to Mission Beach, although we were supposed to be going to Hinchinbrook island. We took a walk through the rainforest, went snorkeling on the reef, had a bbq, went to a winery, and saw the inside of a sugar mill. We came back yesterday. We stayed in a hostel. I had never been in one before. It reminded me a lot of my girl scouts days. It was a room of 6 and the beds were bunked. The name of it was Treehouse Hostel. The place was really quite amazing. The living room was outside and set up quite similar to a treehouse. There were a lot of other travellers there too. But the place was very peaceful to say the least.

When we were on the reef I attempted scuba diving. I was so excited and I told our leader nice and early that I wanted to do it. So when the time came I listened during the intro session, put on all the gear, stepped into the water and completely FREAKED OUT... I went bizerk! I felt like I couldnt breathe and that I wasn't getting enough air. I told them to get me out of that water and probably wasn't too nice about it in retrospect. But what can I say, I would rather freak out beside the boat than to freak out underwater. But I got to see a little bit of the coral when I was stable enough the try snorkeling again (which I wasn't too good at either). But I am willing to try it again, but I think I want to take classes first. I felt like they had just thrown us out there. Plus, there is no better place in the world to learn how to scuba dive than here near the great barrier reef. I tried to take a few pictures of the scenery, but I don't think any of them came out very well.

Oh yea, on the way back from Mission Beach we stopped at a place called Paradise Wateringhole, which was very lovely. I have included a video of it because a simple picture will not do. Enjoy!

Well I must go off to class now, its Biodiversity for now. Until next time...

Kiara

PS: I promise to start blogging more!!