Last three or so weeks....

Well, I have decided to skip some the Outback adventure (when I find time, I’ll finish the story). So much more is happening, so here is a quick recap.

The first weekend back from the Outback, I went to my first of three sailing lessons (well, actually only 2 because the last one was crappy weather, and I didn’t feel like sitting in the rain for 4 hours in the harbor); however, the two that I did go to where absolutely amazing. I took the lessons with Sarah, and some other kids from Sydney Uni. Overall, I think I like the main (the big sail) the best. Steering was just too stressful.

Also, during that weekend, I went horseback riding with the Equestrian Club at Uni. I thought it would be a cool way to meet some new people. Didn’t really meet anyone that I wished to stay in contact with, but I did trot on a horse. That was shocking because the way the event was described, it seemed like it was be just a stroll. Trotting was a bit terrifying at first as the horse listened to virtually none of the commands I gave to it and two, it was a bit quicker than I liked. However, after a while it became somewhat fun.

April 12th – 13th

The next weekend I went to the Blue Mountains with Arcadia. This trip was free for all the Arcadia kids at Sydney Uni. This weekend, there were about 25 of us who went. We met at the Sydney train station and drove about an hour to Featherdale Wildlife Park. Here we were able to pet koalas, wallabies, and kangaroos! I also had a run in with Japanese tourists in the bathroom line who insisted on being so close to me to touch me. Honestly, this isn’t Japan. They have personal bubbles in Australia! Every time I would move away from the women behind me, they would move with me. It drove me crazy.






Then, we drove a bit more, stopped at a small town for lunch, and then we on a bush walk. I didn’t really like the bush walk. First, we were not informed of the terrain. It was steep and rocky. Most of us thought it would be a stroll, and therefore wore the wrong clothes and brought the wrong type of bags. Additionally, the guy was suppose to be teaching us about the Aboriginals, but he seemed like a want-to-be hippie in my eyes. The highlight, though, was using ochre to face paint.


Becca painted my face...it was pretty cool.
After the walk, we headed to the YHA for the night and grabbed dinner. I went with Nicole, Erin, and Becca and we all got fish and chips. Pretty good. I’m bitter though that I had to pay for ketchup (30 cents a packet…though cheaper than the eatery on campus which charges 40 cents).

On Sunday, we went abseiling. We did the first 3 abseils, but were unable to do the 50 meter one. It stormed and everything got soaked. They deemed it unsafe once the rain passed, as the rocks and the equipment were wet. I have gone repelling once before this and was absolutely terrified. This time was much more enjoyable and less scary.

The next stop was the national park. The highlight here was the three sisters. You can actually walk out to them, but I didn’t have time as some of my friends and I checked out some other areas of the park. Also, it was a ridiculous amount of steps, something in the ballpark of a thousand to get out there. I wasn’t terribly sad I missed those.

The three sisters.

April 16th

Tonight was the John’s informal (aka a frat party). I went with my roommate. This was our attempt to be “involved” in John’s life. I paid $25 to do this. While I was annoyed at first that I was paying to go to a party at a residence I live at and more importantly for the equivalent of a frat party (which are FREE at home), I heard that there were live bands, so I thought the money wouldn’t be too bad. Well, “bands” here I have since learned, can also mean DJs. Yes, yes, I paid $25 to go to a party that only had a DJ, where you had to pay for drinks, and all in all was a pretty boring time. They really need to look into adopting the frat party system here. Though that would never fly, because they don’t really get the concept of free (see the ketchup incident above) or cheap here.

April 17th

MY BIRTHDAY!

In the evening, I went out to dinner with some friends at a pizza joint. Then, some of us headed to drinks at a local bar for a late happy hour. After which, I had to go around and take photos with a list of subjects my friends had made up. There were 21 for the 21st birthday. It was fun and creative. I quite enjoyed it.

April 20th

Today, I went skydiving with John’s! About 30 of us went, not all from John’s, but mostly. It was nice to go with John’s as none of my regular friends wanted to go and we got a group discount which saved me about 100 bucks.

I wasn’t too nervous before we got there, but I started to get nervous when I was suiting up. And, I was definitely nervous in the plane and leaving the plane. You don’t really jump out of the plane; rather you get sucked out. The first few seconds are pretty hard to describe. It very much a mixture of emotions. And, once you get over the "Oh my god, I just jumped out a plane" it is pretty cool. All in all though, an amazing experience. Something you should definitely do at least once.







Things to come: The Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb, a rugby game, Western Australia!