A Canuck in Oz

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Home Sweet Home!

The Stanley!

I've just moved in to my new digs at Bondi! It's a four bedroom, one bathroom apartment in a complex building called The Stanley. I'm currently living with two guys, one Aussie and one from Britain. The Aussie, Mark, is from Perth and has his degree in architectural design which he did for a few years and is now focusing on creating a men's clothing line. The Brit, Tom, is in school and I can't remember right now what he's taking.. oops! I haven't seen Tom as much the past few days as he's been at school. They are both really good guys, no need to worry brothers and father :p Hopefully another girl will be moving in to the extra room soon but for now it's working out really well! The next step is to find a job... fingers crossed!

I've got all my pictures from home up :)

The living room/kitchen, look Dad I've even got a la-z boy!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Contiki Comes To A Close

So the day has finally come to say goodbye to the contiki crew. Can't believe how much we did in such a short amount of time and how fast it flew by! This was definitely one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I will never forget any of what I did or who I met. I am so fortunate to have had such a great group of people who were all so kind and welcoming to one another. Although I came out with a few bumps and bruises I wouldn't change any of it for the world. Dad, I don't have to get a tattoo to remember the trip now.. I'll have a wicked scar instead! A part of me doesn't want the trip to end but I'm also ready to get back to Sydney and start looking for work. I think my favourite part of the trip was sailing in the Whitsundays but it's a tough call! I had so much fun everywhere we went and it was so great to see so much more of Australia. The country is so huge though, I've barely made an indent in it! Overall, this was a great tour and I would reccomend it to anyone thinking of doing it!

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Bungee Jumping

After my accident on the river you would think I would take it easy, right? Of course not! Have you never met me before? I was already signed up for bungee jumping and I really did consider not doing it because of my knee but about half an hour before we were to leave I decided I could do it. We climbed 164 feet to the top of the tower and got our harnesses on. It was two girls and two guys doing it from our group myself included. The other girl is tough as nails and I have never seen her back down from anything but when she got to the edge her face went white as a ghost and she said she couldn't do it! That immediately made me worried. When it was my turn to go I think you could have heard my heart beating at the bottom of the tower. They counted down from 5 and I couldn't do it but the second time I just jumped! I have never screamed so loud in my life but once the rope snapped up it felt amazing! My knee was hurting a bit but the adrenaline helped take my mind off of it.
I got to the building to watch my DVD I had purchased and it wasn't coming up. I waited a bit and then someone who worked there came up to me and told me the guy hadn't recorded my jump so I had to go do it again for free. Lucky me!! Not. I did not want to do it at all, knowing what's coming is way worse even if you think it would be the other way around. I was talked into doing it backwards by the guys at the top so I could have a different feeling. Bad choice. Going backwards was so much worse! It took me a lot longer to jump the second time as you can tell by my video. I will try to get my video up soon but I'm not sure how long it will take and I am running out of internet time! Here are some shots a friend got for me though. I should have listened to my mother though because it ended up making my knee a lot worse and consequently I am now on crutches for the next few days. Oh well, it was an amazing experience!

Before the jump with Josh and Julia, missing Tom

Back to safety!

We survived!!

White Water Rafting (Dun Dun Dun..)

We arrived in Cairns on a Wednesday afternoon and had a pub crawl that night through four bars. The next morning I had signed up for white water rafting with about ten other people. I wasn't feeling too well after the pub crawl anyway not to mention the nerves for the rafting. It was a two hour drive to Tully where the river is so I had a good nap the whole way and woke up feeling better and ready to go! I didn't really have any idea what to expect but after the first rapids I loved it and was having a great time. And then it wasn't so great..
We got to a set of rapids called The Staircase and it was classified as Stage 4 out of a possible 6 on a scale of the intensity of them. We got down the first bit and our boat turned to the right so that my side of the boat was backwards. When we hit the bottom a guy on the opposite side fell forward hitting the person beside me who then fell on top of me knocking me into the water and underneath the raft. I was stuck under the raft for about ten seconds. Others on the raft said they were really worried when the two guys' heads popped up but I was nowhere to be found. After what felt like AGES I came up beside the raft but before anyone could grab me I was swept off by the rapids. I was told to put your feet up facing downstream and stay calm but whenever I got my feet up I was taken underwater and flipped around so much that it didn't make much difference. I have never felt like I was going to die before that but there was a moment where I barely had any breath left and I honestly thought that was it. Finally I caught onto a rock long enough to catch my breath and then I was taken down to the end of the rapids where I heaved myself onto shore and just started bawling and hyperventilating. I had a pretty bad cut on my knee and ankle and sore bits all over my body. After calming down I wanted to keep going but the pain was too much so I had to spend the rest of the day on the bus. It was a fun experience at first but it's safe to say I will never be white water rafting again!!

Before the first rapids

We survived the first set!

After my accident, being transported back to safety

Cyclone Yasi Damage

On our way up to Cairns from Daydream Island we passed through the areas hit the hardest by cyclone Yasi. The eye of the cyclone was so huge that there was half an hour of time between the two sides so people had time to get out of their house and look at the damage but then they had to go back in for the other half! The damage was crazy to see, the bark was completely stripped from most of the trees and roofs everywhere were caved in.

Farewell Party

When we got back from our sailing trip we had one night on Daydream Island where 7 people from the trip were leaving including my closest friend Kristen. We had a pool party planned but it ended up pouring rain so we had to bring it indoors so the DJ equipment wouldn't get wet. In the end we did end up in the pool but not till later. We had a buffet dinner at the resort and then dancing. It was sad to see her go but we've made plans to keep in touch and she wants me to come down to the shore in the summer. Maybe I can be on TV :p. We had a lot of laughs and it just wasn't the same without her but we'll always have the memories!

Our view at Daydream Island

The "Living Reef" pool, you do NOT want to swim in here!

Kristen and I

Farewell dinner

Dancing the night away

An appropriate last photo for us

Sailing the Whitsundays Part Two: A Full Day

Condor!

In the morning I signed up for scuba diving with 5 other people on the boat. I'd never been able to do it on vacations before because I was too young but I'd always wanted to give it a try. It was so cool! I liked it a lot better than snorkeling because you can actually swim down with the fish and go through the coral walls. A couple people in the group had troubles with their ears or the breathing but I figured it out pretty quickly. We had to wear stinger suits (basically just a latex/nylon suit, not as thick as a wetsuit) whenever we went in the water in the Whitsundays because there are tiny jellyfish everywhere that can shut down your immune system within an hour if you get stung.
After the diving we went over to Whitehaven Beach which everyone has said you have to see and believe me, you do. The sand is 98% silicone making it the finest sand in the world. It was so soft and after rolling around in it my skin felt so nice. The water was like bath water which wasn't very nice after being in the heat all day but it was still gorgeous! After that we sailed to our next anchor point, had dinner and spent the night partying on the boat with the crew, lots of fun! On both nights we took our pillows and blankets onto the deck and slept under the stars. This whole trip went by so fast but the two days on the boat felt so much longer and I wish we could have been there longer. I loved it!