Kayaking with Dolphins!

Saturday, March 26th, 2011

What is more fun to do than on a Saturday go get some exercise, fresh air, dosage of salt water, oh and I forgot to mention wild dolphins!!!???!!! It was so much fun! A group of friends and I signed up for this day adventure through the International Office at our school. They put on a few programs a month for us, international students, as a way to experience new things at a reasonably good price! We drove about an hour to this Dolphin Sanctuary in Port Adelaide, where we spent a good part of the morning and afternoon kayaking around and watching dolphins. One in particular that is very friendly named Twinkles. It is a protected area for the dolphins so not many people know about or are around on a regular basis. A very cool experience, and after a week of rain, the sun decided to come out for us! :)

TOP GEAR LIVE!!!!!!

March 11-13, 2011

Eddie and I took a trip back to Melbourne to visit with friends and family and to also attend Top Gear Live!!! :) It was the best show ever! We got to see Jeremy Clarkson and James May, sadly Richard Hammond wasn't there. There were jokes, fast cars, challenges, the Stig, fire, the Cool Wall and more! We both enjoyed it very very much! Also, on the showgrounds surrounding the main show were tons of cars, a race track, and many exhibitions to check out. What a great way to spend a day, looking at fun cars! I was in heaven! I took tons of photos and videos!

The night before, we all had a nice family BBQ over at Eddie's brother Ben's place. Great food and great company! So good to catch up with everyone since we had been gone for a couple of weeks by that point. It was sooo nice to be back in Melbourne. I like it there much more than Adelaide! Also, after Top Gear, we met up with my good friend Phoebe in the city at a fun bar along the river for a few drinks and a great catch up. Miss her a lot! Sadly, it was back to Adelaide on Sunday afternoon and back to the daily grind of class and studying! Wooo!!

Surfing!!!

During O-Week, a group of us signed up to take surfing lessons for 4 hours! What an adventure that was! You need to have so so so much upper body strength and core strength to keep yourself balanced on the board. I was able to finally stand up once but overall, I was really good at getting to my knees and riding the wave that way! I certainly want to try again but I'm thinking with a lot smaller group. Walked away feeling pretty accomplished, exhausted, sore, sun/wind burned face and cuts on my feet, but it was worth it!! :)

p.s. Also during O-week, I was feeling adventurous because I jumped off a pier (screaming the whole way down) and climbed a huge mountain/cliff by the ocean.

Life Around Flinders Uni

Moved in Sunday, March 20th, 2011
O-week: March 21-27th, 2011
Classes begin: March 28th, 2011

I'm living in a nice, older, townhouse on campus with three bedrooms and one bath upstairs, and the living room, kitchen, and half bath downstairs. The bed is tiny... TINY! I swear its smaller than what we call a twin. My feet reach the end haha On the plus side, it is relatively comfortable so I have been sleeping pretty well. We have AC but it doesn't reach upstairs. Joy! Overall, I have lots of storage space and everything fits in just fine because I really don't have that much! Pictures are up on my desk and on the walls so that makes it feel much more homey.

The main campus is a fair walk away (about 15+ mins) but we do get to cross a beautiful bridge with views of the ocean and city. The grounds are very lush and green, due to all the rain, but locals say it normally isn't this green. We have a lake in the middle of campus and I swear you have to walk up a hill to get to every lecture theater or classroom. I love belonging to the gym and go almost every day either to a class or for my own workout. I have fallen in love with spin classes! WoW such a good workout! Also, we have a lot of beautiful, but noisy (in the early morning) birds all around.

O-week was a lot of fun of meeting people, laying on the beach, free BBQs, a dance, surfing lessons, and much more.

Twelve Apostles

February 18th, 2011

Today, we went on a nice road trip to see one of the most beautiful natural wonders in the World! Sadly, there are no longer twelve standing, I could only count nine. The rock formations out in the water were breathtaking and all I could do was either stare or take a million photos. We spent a good two hours walking around the paths that wind you along the coast. The long drive was totally worth it. I ended up getting pretty car sick on the very windy road, so I spent most time driving because that seemed to help greatly. Also, when we were walking around taking photos, a gentleman (with an American accent) asked me if I was Australian and new about the body of water etc., I answered no! Sorry! His reason why he thought I was was because I was so tan! YAH!! :) Luckily, my friend Phoebe (who is Australian) knew all the answers to this gentleman's questions. I was just happy he thought I was tan and an Aussie! haha

Later that evening on our way home, we stopped into Eddie's parents house for a goodbye tea of fish & chips as we left for Adelaide the following day.

Enjoy the photos!!! I have many, many more!

Hot Air Balloon Ride Over Melbourne!

February 17, 2011

After returning from my fun mini-holiday in Sydney, Eddie and I had our scheduled Hot Air Balloon ride! Early in the month we tried to schedule the flight, but it had to be rescheduled due to poor weather. This time we were up and going at 4:30am in order to meet the company at the launch site. We got to help with almost every aspect of the flight, setting up the balloon and filling it with air, loading in, helping land, and putting the huge balloon and basket away. How amazing were the views! Within a few seconds we were up high in the air watching the ground below disappear. We had made it up in the air just before sunrise so we were able to watch the best views EVER of the sun, city, water, and everything as far as the eyes could see. I was going photo and video crazy, and sadly even before we took off, i had gone through my battery!! But, thankfully Eddie brought his camera so we were set for taking heaps of photos. At the end of the trip, they brought us back to where we all met up, fed as a large proper Aussie brekky, gave us really nice flight certificate's, and I even bought the video/slide show of all the photos taken while in-flight. Sooo cool!!! Best way to see anything!! :) Thanks Eddie for the adventure!!