I'm home!

After 24 hours of flying (36 hours of total travel time) I made it to Chicago O'Hare airport. I was walking to the baggage claim and I heard "There she is!!!" and clapping and cheering! I was greeted by Matt and my parents. All three were wearing the Australian stuff I sent them (hats and shirts). Matt also had a big sign and flowers for me. They helped me collect my bags and we headed home. 2 hours later I made it home and was greeted by 4 barking dogs. I'm sure they would have been a big hit at the airport!

I wanted to post sooner but I never had time at the airports during layovers because of customs and what not. When I got home to mom and dad's the internet was so bad I just gave up. Sorry it took so long for my last post. Thanks for following me on my amazing adventurous journey! I'm in Indiana for 6 weeks and then I head down to San Marcos, TX!!! (that is between San Antonio and Austin) I'll be in Texas doing my dietetic internship for the next 10 months.

Last day in Australia :(

I woke up and treated myself to some homemade cinnamon pancakes in bed. After getting up and ready for the day I went to downtown Perth to the Apple store that just opened up 2 days prior. I made and appointment for noon (they only had 5 spots left for that day, so I was lucky. I went to the nearby bank and closed my account and did a little souvenir shopping waiting until noon.

I made my way back to the apple store for my appointment. I was #3 on the list at 11:55am. At 12:25pm I was #2. Apparently having an appointment around lunch time in a brand new store was a bad idea. I made the journey to the apple store because my extra laptop battery died. Not a big deal since it was an extra but yes a big deal for a 24 hour flight. That battery was 4 hours of entertainment. I got the battery right before I left to come over to Australia and it died 8 days before I was to leave to go back home. Finally, at 12:35pm I was able to get someone to look at the battery. They said that because it was a 3^rd party battery (as in bought off of ebay) it was no longer under warranty. CRAP! They did offer to sell me a new battery for $199! YIKES! Not worth 4 hours of entertainment in my opinion.

I was hungry and went to a restaurant across the street called MYO Make Your Own. It was really cool! You walk in and 1. Pick your base. This can be a wrap, pizza base, bread, or just a plain plate. 2. Make your own sandwich, wrap, pizza or salad by walking around the buffets and placing lunch meat, cheese, various vegetables, dressings, and what not on your base. 3. Heat it up if you choose. Great for pizzas or if you want a hot sandwich. 4. Pay for your creation. It is priced per weight. I was very impressed and my wrap was very tasty!

I then tackled the task of last minute souvenir shopping. After 2 hours of looking and find deals I was finally done.

I then headed back to campus and over to Anna’s flat where I hung out with Anna and Ariel for about 1.5 hours and said our goodbyes. I then went across the street and bought some stuff for dinner (because I was down to just a hodgepodge of random stuff). I also might have stocked up on Tim Tams to bring back to the US!!!

I had a nice spaghetti dinner and a shower and said my final goodbye to Suzie. Andrew came and picked me up and took me to the airport. This saved me a $50 taxi. I also had 2 full suitcases a duffle bag and a back pack. So I was glad that Andrew was able to help me carry my stuff in. In Australia you can get through security without a boarding pass. You can wait at the gate too! So Andrew came and kept me company which was very nice because my flight wasn’t for another 2 hours.

We had some Chai tea and hot chocolate and my last caramel slice. It was then boarding time and I said my final goodbye. It was really hard because I just didn’t want to go. I really enjoyed my time here. I loved the people, the laid back attitude, the weather, and most importantly all of the friends that I will probably never get to see again. I then headed off for my 24 hours of flying (36 hours of traveling total).

Goodbye Australia! I had the most amazing adventures and the time of my life.

Pack up and clean up

Woke up and ate fruit and toast in bed. Still cold so I stayed in bed as long as possible. I got dressed and ready. I then went and helped Andrew return all of the gear that we rented for the trip. I then came back home and packed up my room, did laundry, and cleaned EVERYTHING. For 6 hours I had to sort through everything I owned over here and decide what to take home, what to throw away, what to give away, and how to get it to fit in my 2 suitcases. I have 2 suitcases and a duffle bag. When I came over here the duffle bag was a carry on. Since then United Airlines has merged with Continental and the size regulations for carry-ons have changed. Im only alloted 2 bags. So Im not sure what to do with the duffle bag. I might try to take it as a carry on. I really want to bring over some more Tim Tam cookies though and am not able to fit them in my suitcase (because I have reached my weight limit and there is no space, and they will get crushed).

Today Nicky left for her trip to Cairns with Gavin and his family. They will be gone for 2 weeks and then she will come back and leave to go back to South Africa for the rest of the winter break. So SAD :( It was very hard to say goodbye to her. At least I was able to give her a small bracelet before she left. She gave me a necklace and ring to remember her by. I'm going to miss her so much. She was a big part of my experience over here.

After everything was all packed up I turned on the light in the living room and the light bulb exploded! Glass went everywhere! So I had to deal with cleaning that up.

Around 6pm I left and took off to meet up with Anna and Alyssa for dinner at Hilary's Boat Harbor. About 10 minutes into the 30min trip I realized I forgot my camera. I was really upset. Alyssa leaves tonight at 5:45am to go home to Wisconsin. I wasn't able to get a picture of our last night out :( We ended up eating at a restaurant called the Reid Lounge. We got gourmet pizzas and potato wedges. So delicious! Afterword we walked to a gelatto place (Italian ice cream) I ordered 1 scoop of cookies and cream. It was chocolate based ice cream with teddy graham cookies and chocolate chunks (much different than our cookies and cream but really good) They gave me 1 scoop equivalent to 3 scoops! There was so much! I had troubles eating it and that was with Anna's help!

I then came home and am just chilling and absorbing all I can of Australia. Tomorrow is full of chores (closing bank accounts, last minute souvenir shopping, getting the battery of my computer fixed before the very long plane ride, etc...)

Good night

Last day Kalbarri (Tourist day/ headed home)

Woke up in a nice warm room, and comfy bed. We wanted to go to sleep at 9pm but made ourselves stay up until 10pm. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that when we got the hostel room, we turned on the tv to find out that Australia had named their first female prime minister. A very big and monumental moment in Australia's history. Kevin Rudd the previous prime minister was challenged and Julie Guilard took his place.

Anyway. Since we went to bed super early we woke up pretty early as well (6am) Andrew slept in until 8am. We had a hodge podge of food left. So for breakfast we ate gummy candies, marshmallows, beef jerky, cheddar and chive crackers, MnMs, granola bars and what not.

We then packed up and checked out and took off to the souvenir shops. There is a flower here called a frangipani. I wanted to find some jewelry with this flower on it. I did find some but is was all made our of plastic and for little girls. I wanted some nice jewelry, but no luck. I did get some souvenirs for people back home. So less shopping to do right before I leave.

Oh yeah, here a lot of cars have roo bars (to deflect the kangaroos) and a snorkel for when they cross rivers in the outback. I kept meaning to get a picture and never did. So I took one this morning outside the souvenir shops.

After the shops we went to a place called Rainbow Jungle. This is a bird breeding aviary. It was pretty cool to see all of the different birds in Australia.

Here is a picture of Australian Love Birds

Here is a rainbow lorikeet for mom and dad.

After Rainbow Jungle we went to a place called Red Bluff. It was a nice lookout point over the ocean. Here is the view.

We then headed for a very long drive home. On the way we got to see the sun set and moon rise at the same time to where is looked like the moon had blues and purples around it.

We arrived home late because of an accident on the highway that brought the traffice to a near stand still.

Once home we unloaded, and I chatted with Nicky and Gavin (not realizing that they leave tomorrow and I will never see them again :( I gave them their souvenir/gifts fro Kalbarri and Nicky gave me a necklace and ring to remember her by. I will miss her terribly. We will say our formal goodbyes tomorrow. (I hope I can hold it together).

Then I made dinner and took a nice warm shower and worked on all of my blogs until now. I'm headed to bed once I post this one. Tomorrow I have to pack up my room into 2 suitcases the best I can.

Kalbarri National Park Day 2

We both slept terrible last night because it was so cold. We think it got down to 5 C (around 40F?) Either way, neither of us brought proper clothing or sleeping bags for the weather. Andrew found out that a water canteen does not make for the best pillow either. We woke up about 8 and did not get our of the tent until 10am when it was finally warm enough to emerge. Andrew ate marshmallows and some more of the cheddar and chive crackers for breakfast. As a nutrition student I just laughed.

We broke camp and had some plain and nasty oatmeal for breakfast. (We bought flavored oatmeal but it still tasted bad).

We headed back to the car, exchanged our camping gear for climbing gear and hiked back into the gorge. We hike a different trail to anther side of the gorge where we were able to get to the bottom. We found a nice area to climb and set up gear. There were not big rocks to tie the rope to. So we place trad gear. Blake showed us how before we left. I know you need 2 pieces of gear to be safe. Since neither Andrew nor I had climbed with trad gear before we place a third for backup and a fourth for good measure. I then double, triple, and quadruple checked out everything to make sure it was all safe and secure.

Unfortunately, the spot we decided to climb in was in the shade and wind. We decided to eat lunch before we climbed. We moved to an area in the sun to eat. We were there for 20 minutes bundled in our jackets and we both got sunburned on our faces! Here is the view we had as we ate lunch!

After lunch we climbed! We both did really well! It was so much fun.

From where we were climbing we could see The Lookout that we had visited the previous day. It was about 150 meters away. The people looked like ants. They waved at us and we waived back. It was kind of fun.

We were tearing down all of the gear when Andrew went to get dirt off of the rope bag by flinging it up in the air. As he did this I saw my sunglasses go flying straight up and over the edge to to bottom of the gorge about 15 meters below. So we climbed down and found them all in one piece and unscratched!!! Whoo hoo!

We then went and hiked around and explored the river bed.

We stashed our heavy bags prior to exploring. After making our way back we did have issues finding our bags. We did finally find them.

After we made our way out of the gorge and back to the car, we decided to go into town and have a nice hot heavy dinner. We ate at some local tavern. We got lemon chicken and vegetable stir fry. It was amazing. The weather was very cold again. We were trying to figure out where to set up our tent when I got the bright idea to stay in a hostel for the evening. Nice and cheap, WARM, showers, comfy bed, pillows, and WARM!

Yes, the hostel was a great investment. And yes I got to sleep in the big bed :)

Kalbarri National Park! Day 1

We woke up to such a beautiful beach!! I couldn't stop taking pictures!

We walked around about 7:30am in search of sea creatures since the tide was low. We saw 1 bird, 2 conchs (slug things in spiral shells), 1 dog with his owner, and a bunch of surfers.

We packed up our tent and stuff, because we weren't sure if we were allowed to be there or not. The bright orange tent didn't exactly help us blend it to the green and brown sand dune.

We then drove tot he visitors center and got a map of the national park and registered our information. Once in the park we drove to a place called The Lookout! Here is what we got to see!

We then went to another attraction called nature's window. It is pretty much a giant rock formation with a hole in it. It was pretty cool though.

Me climbing up out of the gorge (just kidding, I'm standing on a very wide ledge completely out of view.)

Just goofing off on our way back from Nature's window.

Next we traveled to Z-bend. This is a spot in the gorge where the river makes a Z shape. It was still quite a nice view.

Without me in the way.

We then went rock climbing. The access down to the gorge was closed. So instead we bushwacked across the top part until we found some solid rocks to tie onto. I then lowered Andrew down into the gorge and he climbed back up. He the lowered me down and I climbed up as well. We did pretty good. I had never set up a route quite like that before so it took about an hour of me setting up and double checking and triple checking to make sure I had it all thought out thoroughly.

After climbing we had to bushwack back out. It took a bit longer and was a bit more painful on the way out. We kept walking through tough plants that kept shredding our legs to pieces. Eventually we made our way back to the path and headed back to the parking lot.

We then put away our rock climbing gear and got out the camping gear and found an old abandoned campground. There is no camping in the national park unless it is down in the gorge on the river bank (which is all rock). So we found the old campsite and set up far away from the road.

We did see a rock wallaby and chased it for a bit. Then we made our way back and set up camp. Once darkness fell we got a fire going. We ate canned rigatoni with some cheddar and chive crackers that we added in for more flavor. For dessert we ate some s'mores!!! YUM!!!

The sky was clear with a full moon again. Andrew is a bit into astronomy and showed me some of the southern constilations. He pointed out a very bright star and said it was Saturn. I said that at home the bright star near where the sun set was venus. After checking with the astronomy guide it turns out I was right :) We then headed to bed.

Last final!!!! Headed to Kalbarri

I woke up and studied all the way up until my exam. At 1pm I went and took my exam. I way over studied for it. The professor made it seem like it would be harder than it actually was. Out of 30 short answer questions there were 4 that I was unsure of. I just took educated guesses. We were allotted 2 hours and I was done in 1 (so were many others). I feel pretty confident about it.

I then ran home (literally, 1 because it was raining and 2 because I was very excited to be done with undergraduate finals forever!!!) I took a quick shower and packed for my 3 day camping, backpacking, rock climbing trip!!!!

Andrew came by to pick me up at 3:30pm. We took off and filled up on gas where Andrew decided that he wanted a small iced coffee. It was a special of 2 large iced coffees for $5. So he bought 2 of them. We then had a nice conversation about opportunity cost. How he spent and extra $1.50 for 3 times the amount he wanted and how we would now have to stop 3 extra time so he could relieve himself :)

Getting started. Just left the petrol station and Andrew is holding the straws for his iced coffees, driving, and looking at the map. Way to multitask!

The drive was 6 hours north to Kalbarri national park. One the way we stopped in a town called Enebba. We stopped at the servo station (service station) and got some sandwiches. I asked for a ham cheese and pineapple sandwich. It was on the menu. Not like I asked for a crazy made up on the spot sandwich. The guy came backed and asked me what I wanted on my sandwich 3 times and then the lady (cook?) came out and asked me 2 more times. I couldn't believe it.

We arrived in Kalbarri at 10pm and decided to camp out on the beach. After we set the tent up we went and explored a little bit. The moon was full and the tide was low. We did see a cane toad. It was about the size of my hand. I was going to pick it up and show Andrew when he told me not too because they are poisonous. Good thing he caught me, otherwise it would have been a very short trip. We fell asleep to the sound of the waves and beautiful weather.