Australian Adventure

since I'm starting a new adventure and what not I figure why not a new blog? Its aqui...... lww52.travellerspoint.com . To those of you who read this and/or commented, thanks! Its been fun. adios amigos

Well. I'm back in the states as of about 2 days ago. I got home safe and sound on monday. ( it was my second monday coincidentally. ) I left the hotel in cairns at 4am monday to brisbane, left brisbane at 11am, got into LA at 7 am monday, left at 11 and got into vegas at 12.15. Confusing, no? So since I got home, I was able to see my family, which was fantastic, but Then I had to leave yesterday (boo). But, i now im at pwild (yay). We didn't really do much today training wise, but tommorow we head to the mountains to find out our roles as leaders and who we will be leading with. kk, I'm tired. Gnight.

So white water rafting today was pretty much amazing. ( I figure I'll talk about it now, and fill in the earlier bits of the trip later.... so much for chronology).

We woke up this morning at about 6 or 615. Jay was rather reluctant to get out from under the covers. All I could think to say was... Wakey Wakey. Hands off snakey. Didn't do much. but he got up eventually. We went downstairs at about 628 for brekkie only to find out that the bus left at 6.35, not 6.45. It was a quick meal. We hopped on the bus, there were probably about 14 duke students and at least that many students from other programs. The guide on the bus was really animated and told us about the thrilling hour and half bus ride ahead of past some of the most exciting cane fields around. TheN, banana fields, then, more sugar cane. It was just as exciting as he promised. When we reached teh town, at least 3/4 of the bus was out like a light. He jolted us awake with a fun little saying, if I do say so myself. "WAKEY WAKEY, hands off Snakey." I guess he watches my name is earl too. We got shoes and wetsuits (for those who needed em [not i, nor jay]) then got back on the bus for another exciting half hour of banana fields.

Eventually the bananas did give way to beautiful misty mountains, covered in lush tropical rainforest. Some where along the way one of the other dukies decided it would be best if she arranged the rafts. and while she had the best intentions, wendy, jay, and I eventually ended up with 3 people who, while very enjoyable to be around for short periods of time, tend to: A. complain about silly things like being wet, cold, and even sometimes nature in general- and B. weigh less than your average koala C. included an affectionate couple. I was, at first, a bit skeptical, but then decided it would just make for a very entertaining ride. Wendy on the other hand was not so easily swayed. During the bus ride she help to orchestrate the successfull partial take over of our raft by three others. (Brian, Stewart, and Anastasia). I think it all worked out fairly well and there weren't any hard feelings. yay for that.

We met our guide, Kate. She was probably the most reserved guide ive ever had, but she was really good at what she did. We found out later her hesitancey was probably due in part to the fact that she had flipped a raft 2 days earlier, just fooling around ( while wearing a tall where's waldo type hat and fake beard). It was a pretty small rapid too. lol. An interesting note about this trip was the complete lack of emphasis of holding onto your paddle if you fell out. No one ever mentioned it, but it seems like every other place I've been values the paddles at about the same worth as the participants.

The river itself was really nice. None of the rapids were super intense. It seemed liek the tulley river was full of lots of short, exciting, closely spaced rapids. but no huge ones. It was still incredibly fun. The water was pretty warm, not quite to the point where I felt comfortable not paddling, but close. At about the third rapid (I think it was class 2?) we jumped out and went down feet first. Thats always fun. Then we got back in the boat and kept on going, down, hitting rapid after rapid.

Ahhhhhh.......... the internet place closes at 11. I'll have to finish later. but this was fun. we should do it again. deal? deal. k, bye.

Hi everyone. I've not got much time so this will be short, sweet, and complete. I'll start with an overview then see what happens from there. I hope everyone is doing just peachy. Oh. I should tell you, I should tell you. I should tell you, I should tell you. (rent). our plane was delayed. I got harry potter, read it in two days, and thoroughly enjoyed myself and it. k. now onto the rest

I had the last week in Sydney. I finished my bio assignments (got full points!), finished history of sports entirely, went on a field trip to the botanical gardens, went to an intertidal pool at the beach, and then, on the last day, went to the blue mountains (fantastic! can't wait to have more time to type), and i went to a fun german restaurant for dinner followed by some dancing. Then we went to Lady Elliot Island (LEI) via bundaberg (yes. The Bundaberg! home of the world renowned bundaberg ginger beer. [ its a tasty concoction similar too, but not entirely like ginerale. it has much more of that fresh ginger zing]). LEI was a tiny little island with barely enough room for our 8 person prop plane to land. We spent the days snorkling, chiling on the beach, eating buffet food, i went kayaking. The nights we watched movies and did hw. Coolest thing i saw snorkling were as follows stingray, green sea turtle (4 ft long), black tip reef shark (5ft and I had a bleeding open wound. fun.) Enough about that though. we left LEI and went up the coast to cairns where I have been very able to do not that much. Though, I did do some wandering in the city (its so tame compared to darwin). Today, we went to the rainforest and played in a creek. It was awesome. Tommorow comes the big fun though. White water rafting down the tulley river. We leave at 645 and get back at about 630. Its gonna be fun. class 4 rapids, cliff jumping, rapid swimming. oh man. excited.

Time to go. Hopefully I'll be able to have an update or two before too long. K. love you all. keepin ya in my prayers. Adios.

Hey all. Its about 2:30am and I am tired so...... I'm gonna go to bed soon. Tommorow we go to Lady Elliot Island, which is off the southern tip of the great barrier reef. It's really isolated, and tropical, and nice. Im looking forward to it. But............ in frustrating news. very frustrating news. We get our last plane for the island before 9am which just happens to be the time Harry potter is released. So, we can't get it. I'll be traveling and then stuck lounging on an island for 5 days with nothing to do but play, work, and read read read, but no harry potter even though its out. The horror. the horror.

K, i think that should do it for now. goodnight, its time for me to take my nap.