So Far At Flinders Ranges

Hey everyone, I don't have time to write a post but here are some photos so far!

Writing our (Jen, Steph, JD and I's) essays at Federation Square in Melbourne while watching the championship match of the Australian Open. It was packed.

Sunset in Melbourne

Hello South Australia!

Steph trying to work the GPS

Tree in the middle of the road...

Driving to Flinders Ranges.

These guys aren't too bright. We saw 18 of them on the road- very dead. 

where we're staying.

I saw my first wild emus while driving to our cabin. I think I handled it pretty well- I woke Jen up by shrieking in excitement from the back seat.

These weren't the first we saw- but they were in the driveway of where we're staying. The kangaroos are everywhere too.

The lady here said that it's been a bit cold for snakes, but she did see a python recently. A python!

She also said that if she saw any around she'd tell me. I'm still trying to find someone who will take me out herping with them. We will see!

Thanks for reading!

Love Where You Live

Hello again,

I forgot to say in the last post that my phone has been disconnected and I wont be able to call anyone until I get settled in New Zealand on the 6th or 7th. I'll have Internet for sure until the 29th, but I might not during my travel week.

Sorry to all of those I promised I'd call!

Anyway, today the morning and early afternoon were muggy and hot, and then it got windy and cool in the evening. It literally went from the worst of the worst to extremely pleasant. I'm not complaining!

But I was looking yesterday at my aunt's blog, Raven and Sparrow, as well as my dad's, Corner of the Block, and I saw a lot of pictures of what my home currently looks like. Stuck in the deep, dark, sleepy grip of January, I can't think of a more beautiful place.

Most of the people I talk to when I call home complain about the weather there- and it's understandable. Too much of something, especially rain and cold, can chip away at high spirits.

One thing I've realized while I've been gone is that we should all appreciate our homes. Whether it's warm and summery or bitter and winter, home is home, and there is a beauty in that- in having a place that will always be yours, rain or shine, no matter what.

In a way Melbourne is also my home- and I know I'll come back someday. But I have a new appreciation for Seattle, and Washington in general. Before I left for Aussie all I could think about was getting away, but now sticking around doesn't seem so bad. I'll always be a traveler, but I'll also always need a home to come back to.

I think Seattle will do perfectly.

What I see as I'm writing this. There's just a bit of sun left.

Thanks

Why A 13 Year Old Girl Should Not Own A Komodo Dragon

Reason number one: They're terrible snugglers.

I'm not actually going to write a post about teen girls and monster lizards. The only person who will actually get the title of this post and (hopefully) laugh is my little (or not so little- 16!) brother Conner. It was so nice talking to him for so long yesterday and I just wanted to post about how much I miss him.

I miss all a' yalls too- so don't come whining asking "don't you miss me!?"

I do. I'm just not going to make a post about it.

Anywho! This would have been the title of this post:

Australians Hate Lemonade

This probably isn't true- I have a feeling Australians would quite enjoy a cool glass, especially on a day like today (hot, muggy and cloudy). But every were I've been they only have lemon flavored soda, which is absolutely not the same. I've asked in restaurants and looked in every convenience store, but alas- nothing. Maybe I'll make some in New Zealand; they'll have a kitchen there (or maybe they'll just have lemonade). We'll see!

Today after class I went with friends Michelle, Harpreet and Cassie to the Queen Victoria Market. It was okay- but it has nothing on Pike Place.

I love this picture. Here I am, 18 years old, hogging mini coin operated rides. Right after this picture I told that little girl to get lost. 

Michelle, Cassie, and Harpreet

I don't think I've ever been so close to a car accident before. This guy was taking pictures for insurance, I was taking them for my blog. I am pitiless. 

I got a lot of things at the market today, but this was the only thing I bought for myself. All the other items are gifts and thus surprises!

Thanks for reading!

Donna Buang & Water For Believers

Hello!

This past Tuesday we went on a field trip to Mt. Donna Buang. We drove for about an hour and a half to the summit and proceeded down the mountain, stopping three times in total, to see how the flora and fauna changes from higher elevations to the base of the mountain. I loved this trip more than any of the others because it reminded me how BIG Australia is, and that I've only seen a teeny tiny bit of it. The forest was amazing; unlike Melbourne getting out into the wild really reminded me of how far from home I was- and it was exciting!

At our second stop halfway down the mountain there was a small stream, where a metal box-contraption sat pumping out cold water for hikers to drink. A man then pulled up in a big red truck and proceeded to fill about seven or eight ten-gallon jugs full of the water. I asked him what for and he said he makes his coffee and tea with it! He also said that the water has healing abilities- I know some of you will think that's ridiculous, but trust me, if you tasted this water you'd believe it too!

I took this photo from the bus

Jordan filling his bottle

Thanks for reading!

Oh, and for those who have tried to comment but were unable to- I've changed the settings to allow all comments! I'd love to hear from you!

Photos So Far

Here are some photos!

The Church in Front of Newman College, where we're staying.

Cool statue of JC- it looks a bit like a mummy, though.

Katherine, Britha, Hannah, Ella, Kayla, Hannah, Emily, Michelle, Sophia, Cassie and Katie.

Having our first beers in Aussie! Carter was a lovely hand model.

Two German guys. This is for you, Hannagan!

(and yes, I asked to take this photo)

I feel bad for not knowing what this building is. It's in Melbourne. I'll look it up and post it later.

Jadison, Britha, me, Mackenzie, Evan, and Steph on our scavenger hunt

Hannah E. and Ella making faces

A lovely find in Costco. Too bad it was $400

Cape Schanck lighthouse

CS

Jen. So smiley!

Cassie, Hannah and Hannah at the CS beach.

Where the tide pools were.

Ming at the beach

Surprised by a wave

Skink on our way to the beach

Sassy roos!

That's all for now, folks!

Maddy

Sydney Happenings And Plans A' Changin'

Hello!

I'll start off with my adventures in Sydney-

The first day we went to Cochee Beach, which was packed with people. We found a nice spot to lay down our towels and then proceeded to head straight into the water. You know how I said the waves at Cape Shank were aggressive? These were way, way worse. Not only were they taller, but if you got caught while the wave was breaking you were immediately pulled under and grated like cheese against the sand. I swallowed so much salt water I thought I was going to end up hallucinating like those lost-at-sea sailors do. Has anyone seen that TV show 'I shouldn't be Alive?' They have a lot of stories where people drink salt water.

Anyway.

Besides being beat up by crazy waves (You think we would learn and get out of the water. Nope.) I also did some sun bathing, and, like always, despite putting on and re-applying loads of sunscreen, I still got burnt. Not terribly, but I did. We probably picked the worst day to roast on the beach, though, since I'm pretty sure that was the day it reached 115 degrees.

The last thing I'll mention about Cochee is the jellyfish. They weren't a problem early in the day, but as the tide came in so did, literally, my worst nightmares. Jellyfish freak me out, and when I have bad dreams there are always, ALWAYS jellyfish in them.  Technically they weren't just jellyfish though, there were also bluebottles, which are siphonophores- meaning that they aren't an individual organism, but a colony all working together. I avoided getting stung (there were times where I was dodging jellyfish-filled waves- I probably look really cool.) but several in my group weren't so lucky. They rinsed off and toughed it out, though.

But enough about the protoplasmic, jelly-like creatures of death **shivers**.

I don't really remember the rest of that day- I walked around Sydney a bit and went to the City Market. It was huge and packed full of cheap touristy items.

I think I went to bed that night without going out. Other people did the Sydney Harbor bridge climb, which sounded cool but it was some two hundred dollars. So I was cool with staying in and resting.

The next day I did a lot of reading for school and then went out to see a Burlesque-kinda show in the Sydney Opera House. We had standing seats, which cost thirty bucks. Money well spent! The show was very circusy, and so. fun.

After that everyone went out to a near by bar called Side Bar, but I stayed back. Why was I so tired that weekend?!

We checked out of our hostel at about 10:30 am on Sunday and spent the next nine hours roaming around Sydney before we got on The Bus of Hell and headed back home to Melbourne.

Moving on to the next topic-

I had a good hard think about what I had done in Australia so far and how I felt over all as a person. Almost half way through the trip, I kind of expected to feel... different. Changed. Maybe I am and I just don't know it? Or maybe it's something I'll notice more when I get home? Or maybe my expectations are just too darn high.

Either way, during this think fest I asked myself what I really wanted to do in Australia, before I actually came here or even knew about this trip. And the answer was go to the Outback and see myself some venomous snakes! I of course, realized then that I had already booked my travel week up in Cairns (the Great Barrier Reef anyone?) and then had to go to The Friendly Backpacker where Travel Josh (bless his soul!) spent several hours canceling and re-planning my new trip to Adelaide.

So, as it stands, I am leaving on the 29th with my friends Steph and Jen, and we are all flying out to Adelaide, South Australia, where we will rent a car and drive out to the outback and stay in a cabin for three days.

I know all the horror stories you've ever heard about young, naive travelers getting lost in the desert just popped into your head. Don't worry! We'll hardly be roughing it in these cabins- I haven't seen pictures but someone described in detail what it would be like- it's twice as nice as our dorms here at Newman college. Of course as soon as the lady said 'toaster' over the phone everyhting else she said from then on was biased.

So we'll stay three days in the desert- not sure what we'll do there but hiking is probable. After that we'll drive back to Adelaide and stay two nights in a hostel, enjoying the night life! We'll get back to Melbourne a few days before we have to leave for New Zealand.

All in all I saved $100 dollars by switching trips! I am so excited and I know I made the right decision.

But there is still a week left of school, and I have papers to write!

I'll try and post pictures in the next post!

But for now....

Britha and I at Cape Schanck

Thanks for reading!

Worn Out But Still Moving

Barely.

I'm writing this post in a state of pure fatigue. The last few... well, I don't even know when it started. Maybe it was a week and  half ago (the days all blend together) that both our school schedule and our off-school outings started taking up more and more time and energy.

Let's see,

On Tuesday we went to Cape Shank and spent a wee 45 minutes looking at tide pools and recording our thoughts in our little yellow journals. The pools were pretty basic (well, compared to what I'm use to) and yet I was one of the last people pried from the beach. After that we had lunch (which was almost as long as the tide pool experience...) and then we hiked a shortish distance (not short enough in the hot sun!) to a lovely little beach. There the waves were big and aggressive, but still we jumped in and laughed when we were over taken by waves too large to handle.

The tide pools weren't all that interesting, but I did get to see a (and I'm not 100% on this) a wild blue tongued skink. I know it was a skink, but I regrettably didn't get a good enough view to confidently confirm it's identity. Still, it was huge, and it was cool, and yes, I did get a picture. Other than that I saw a huge mob of kangaroos just over a fence heading back from the beach. There were SO many. They all poked their heads up over the tall grass and shook their heads, causing their ears to flop from side to side (Aw, so charming!). They were generally on the defense, but when I walked up close to the fence a big one near to me did NOT look afraid enough, or at all, and in fact stood up a bit and gave me a death glare. I quickly took a few noisy pictures (take that you malicious roo!) and loped away back to the safety of the trail.

On Thursday we all had to wake up early and catch the train (two hour long ride!) To Bendigo, a town I know my dad would like very much! We saw a Chinese history museum together as a class, and then we were loosely instructed to go to two more museums, one of war history and the other art. They were okay. Nothing too spectacular.

What was spectacular was the heat! It was at least 100 degrees in Bendigo that day, and walking around lead to a very scary moment in which I was sure I would pass out. Luckily I got a cold water bottle and air conditioning just in time!

The train ride home took extra time, since the train can't run at full speed in the heat. So that was unpleasant, but what was more unpleasant was having to get straight off the train and get right on a Firefly bus (well, we ate something first) and proceeded to drive a horrendous 12 hours to Sydney. Luckily we all had each other to entertain ourselves (have I mentioned how much I love my fellow travelers? I get along with EVERYONE!) and most of the time was spent laughing obnoxiously and having immature fun. I have to admit that I feel sorry for the other group of people at the front of the bus. They seemed very conservative. Surely we did a horrible job at trying to clear the 'American' reputation.

We stopped twice on our long ride, I only got off the bus at the first at about 10:30 at night. We were at a truck stop and they had one of those standard gas station/cafe things- but this one was oh so special. Huge, and I mean, HUGE beetles that looked kind of like golden-metallic scarab beetles were flying around in a terrifying frenzy. I didn't notice this until I was stepping through the door into the building and one flew right at my face! I, oh so gracefully and with all the tact in the world, tripped forward and fell to the ground uttering a four letter word too loudly for my conservative acquaintance's taste. Not a proud moment. Other than that the ride was VERY cold, despite the temperature outside, and sleeping was difficult.

We made it, though, and I already have one day in Sydney under my belt. But I'll write about that in my next post.

I think I'll take a day off this weekend and rest. I don't want to make myself sick!

Thanks for reading,

Maddy

Hello!

Hello all!

Welcome to my new blog- I'm so excited to be able to share my thoughts with you!

Let me start by explaining the name of my blog. It's nothing special; I tend to fail a lot at a lot of things, but with all of those failures there are some really great lessons learned. I could have easily named it "Falling Down (and learning from it)" but that sounds a little negative. And despite all of my little losses, I'm always moving forward.

Or up, I guess.

Now that I think about it, the title I chose totally reminds me of falling up the stairs. We've all done it. Don't judge.

Anyway, I'm starting out this blog in Australia, where most of you know I'm currently studying. I hope to keep this blog long after this adventure ends, though.

I'm so excited!

Thank you for reading, I'll post more soon.

Maddy