Skydiving and Village Life

Today I went skydiving, and it was amazing! They made us fill out a bunch of paperwork and sign our lives away. Elisabeth was a little nervous, because she has some issues with height, so we decided to get her to jump first, so there would be no time for hesitation. Our instructors were awesome, so friendly, and Elisabeth's kept making cracks about us dying on the way down. Ha?

We got in the bus to the airport, and when we got there, both Elisabeth and I tried to get out of our seats without undoing or seatbelt. Safe to say, our minds were probably elsewhere. Once in, we all started making fun of the pilot, which is probably not the smartest thing to do. Elisabeth was really happy when I pointed out all the duct tape 'holding' the plane together.

Usually you are only in the air for about 10 minutes, but we had to circle around for about 30 minutes because planes kept flying underneath us, and apparently you aren't supposed to free fall past other planes; freaks them out a bit. It was an awkward 30 minutes since I was all strapped up to my dive instructor. We had to keep shifting around to sit comfortably, which meant I was sitting on his lap for about half the time.

Once we got the go ahead, Elizabeth and Steve moved into position. Her scream when she jumped was epic, and got me really excited to go! Then it was time for Muttely and I to take the plunge. With one last parting insult to Nick the pilot (your driving's crap, mate!) we were out the door and free falling.

The free fall lasted about 45 seconds, and included some funny faces at the camera, then he pulled the parachute and we drifted slowly for about 5 minutes. During this time we watched Elisabeth fall, Muttely pointed out the scenery to me, I drove the chute for a bit, and we talked about how Muttely dropped our of business school to be a parachute instructor. Sorry, Mom and Dad, maybe I'll do that instead!

We came in quick on the X and were able to do a standing landing, which was rad because then I didn't have to land on my butt.

The experience was exhilarating, exciting, and completely fantastic! I am so happy to check that off my bucket list! Plus, it was a great way to bond with my roomie Elisabeth

Besides throwing myself from planes, things have been busy adjusting to live here in the village. I've met a multitude of people from all around the world, including (but not limited to): Iceland, Paris, South Carolina, Australia (duh), Norway, Denmark, South Africa, and so on. I have yet to meet a person I haven't liked, everyone here is so happy. We'll see if that lasts once the exams roll in.

My days have been spent finding my way around campus, going to orientation sessions, searching out the local banks, supermarkets, restaurants, looking for a job, prepping for school, and meeting as many people as I possibly can. I've been to the beach a few times, into Surfer's Paradise with the Village on Tuesdays, because they have a bus that takes us there and back that night, and had a few movie nights in, because Elisabeth is a master movie downloader. I am having a great time, and I hope that everyone back home is having just as good a time as I am! If not, you should get here ASAP, because its great!

All my roommates have moved in now. I've got 2 roommates from Sydney (originally India), one from South Carolina, and Elisabeth from Iceland. And, since Elisabeth and I are the only girls, we get our own bathroom! Fantastic.

Real life starts on Monday, so I am going to spend tonight (Saturday) with a few of friends I've met here, before I have a 10 am wake up call tomorrow to have another Skype session with the whole family, Grandparents included this time.

Once I get into school I am still going to try to keep busy exploring this new city around me. The Hinterlands were amazing from that one tour I've done, and I've had a couple people express an interest in going back to Springbrook Park to do the 4 hour hike that takes you behind a waterfall. I will let you all know when I do anything exciting, until then, no worries!

Here is a link to some of the skydiving photos.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=623403&id=570255133&l=0114fd0479

First 2 weeks

I'm here! Get ready for my pasty body, Australia! We landed at 7:30am, February 2nd, Brisbane time, around 3:30pm, February 1, Edmonton time, after about 26 hours traveling, 18 hours flying, but I felt great! I probably slept for about 2/3 of the 13 and a half hour flight from LAX to Brisbane.

The weather here is very warm, around 30 Celsius, and very humid. The cyclone in North Queensland is the cause of the humidity. Don't worry, I am in South Queensland! A lot of the Aussies I have talked to are actually complaining about the weather, but I'm soaking it all in (literally!) My skin feels great, and it's nice to see some sunshine.

Karen and I had a busy day Wednesday. We picked up some things that were too big to pack, set up a bank account, set up a cellphone plan, got me a cookbook of local Aussie cooking so I can feed myself with some of the food they eat here, and found where we will take the train to Gold Coast tomorrow, and its only 4pm!

I read my wonderful book that so many great people took the time to write in. Every entry was so much fun, and I love how creative everyone got! I haven't had a lot of time to pour over it, as I have found myself very busy, but I can't wait to read it again and again! Thank you so much, everyone, you have really made my day, week, maybe even year (I'll let you know!)

Karen is determined to find a koala and a kangaroo before I bid her adieu... This may be an interesting quest!

Things didn't really slow down once we got to Gold Coast. We caught the express train down, went straight to my dorm and dropped off most of the luggage. Then it was off to the hotel/apartment. We're staying at the Breakers, and we are right on the beach. Once we settled in, we headed south to 'The Oasis' at Broadbeach Mall for some lunch, it was around 2pm and we were dying. Then we did a little shopping, and went for a nice walk down the beach. We spent the evening exploring our local neighbourhood, which included the Italian restaurant, the bar in the lawn bowling club, and the BWS (Beer Wine and Spirits) before settling in for the night. On our way back to the hotel, however, I pointed out a bat to Karen, it was huge! She did not believe me, saying it was probably a crow. 2 minutes down the road, another HUGE bat flew low over our heads, and lets just say Karen was a little more than freaked out.

Friday was our big accomplishment day. Got all my bedding, crockery, and odds and ends for the dorm room, then spent about 2 and a half hours unpacking, futzing, and just generally getting everything set up. It was soooo hot in there, because it had pretty much been closed up since beginning of December. It was nice to get most of our work done, only groceries left to do there, so we probably won't be back in the dorm until Friday the 11th.

On Friday night we went for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe in Surfer's Paradise, and we were up on the 2nd floor patio. It was full of kids running around, hanging over the balcony ledge, and Karen started to get nervous, saying she doesn't want to see the kids fall. Once we ordered our food, we were told to move out of the smoking area (didn't even know we were in there!), to another air, right in the middle of the playing children. This made Karen even more nervous, until we looked over the edge and saw that about 3 feet down there was a plexi glass roof separating the balcony and the ground, which reassured Karen that no children would die on her watch. She must be oddly psychic, or just a super observant mom, because about 5 minutes later and kid ran straight into the balcony, a piece of glass in the rail popped out, and he fell straight onto the plexi glass! The whole restaurant exploded into chaos, as most people thought the kid had died. Karen and I just sat there in shock, and then once we all saw the kid was ok, we could not stop laughing. Not very nice, but hey, she called it!

Saturday was a day just for us. We spent the day in Surfers Paradise, checking out the shops, the food, eating TONS of gelati and just relaxing. Sunday was more of the same. We both were up early, so while Karen checked her e-mails, I went for a run. It was so humid I didn't need to bring a bottle of water. On the way into the hotel I ran into 2 massive iguanas sunning themselves on the patio. I WISH I had my camera. We spent the rest of the day checking out the outdoor mall to the south, Pacific Fair, and then spent the afternoon lounging on the beach. We found Stephanie's doppelganger, and Karen, being the creep she is, took a picture of the girl, so we could prove it to everyone. Sunday night was low key, tacos in the room while we did Laundry and packed our stuff to move further down the beach, closer to Surfers Paradise.

We decided to head to one of the 6 theme parks in Gold Coast on Monday, and hung around at Movie World. Karen was a trooper and rode all the roller coasters with me. Unfortunately, the Superman Roller Coaster (known as the best roller coaster in the southern hemisphere) was closed, so I guess that is for another time.

Got groceries on Tuesday for the dorm, all the non perishables so that was done, and I met my first roommate. Her name is Elisabeth, she is from Iceland, no she is not the trainer for the Iceland team from Mighty Ducks 2 (sorry Mike), and she is getting her Bachelors in Event Management. That night we saw a dinner show called 'The Australian Outback Spectacular," which Karen and I figured was our crash course in all things Australian.

Wednesday we took a tour through the hinterlands, and it was amazing. First we went to Tropical Fruit World, and I tried a custard apple for the very first time. It is AMAZING, and described as the closing thing to ice cream growing on a tree. Yum. Then, we went to the Natural Bridge, which was formed by a waterfall eroding away rocks, creating (duh) a Natural Bridge). Next we went to the Best of All Lookouts, where you can see the entire valley (created by a volcano 20 million years ago) and Mount Warring, which is the 'plug' for that Volcano. We stopped at a couple other lookouts and did a few short hikes through Springbrook Park, and then went to Springbrook Manor for a great lunch and a look around the grounds. We also saw a Pademelon (small kangaroo) on our way up the mountain, which was super exciting for Karen and I!

Thursday we took an Aquaduck tour through the Nerang River, and saw some celebrities fancy houses, including Jackie Chan's vacation spot, and Kylie Minouge old penthouse. Very exciting!

Mom and I spent our last weekend together back in Brisbane, we saw Wicked, visited the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, and just hung out for our last couple of days. On Sunday, I took the train back to Gold Coast, and now I'm here!

Here is a link to the pictures Karen and I took on our mini trek through Gold Coast and Brisbane! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=612141&id=570255133&l=61802d43e5

Sorry this post is so long, the Internet was iffy on the trek, but I'll keep them shorter from now on! Orientation Week starts next Monday, so hopefully I will have some fun tales for everyone!