The Adventures of Mr. Walker, Mr. Docke, and Ms. Smith

Let me just say: only in Australia...

My weekend adventure started when Al picked me up after work on Saturday afternoon and we drove back to his neck of the woods: Coolangata. I know I have mentioned this city before but just for a refresher, this is a beach city about 30 min south of Surfers. It is the home of the Gold Coast Airport and boasts some of the best surf conditions around. Al is an avid surfer and so on the way to his apartment we drove on beach roads in order to get a feel for the waves. In the gold coast surfing is like a religion and I am slowly converting and beginning to understand when the conditions are good etc... its kinda fun and makes me feel hip ;)

After a surf (for Al) and a swim (for me) Roman (our German companion) joined us to allow the weekend festivities to begin! We went to the store and stocked up on breakfast food and beer for the evening/ next day. After all the necessities were purchased we settled down to veg for the next few hours: beautiful! :) When we finally got up enough energy to shower and put on some decent clothes we headed into Kirra (a neighboring beach town) to have dinner at the Ivory. We all enjoyed food from their $10 specials and then headed to a bar called Bread and Butter where we proceeded to sample cocktails and dance the night away. I had such an amazing time with Al and Roman and it reminded me of all the fun I used to have with my guy friends back home :)

The next day the real adventure began...

The plan was as follows: utilize the small, inflatable boat Roman borrowed off his roommates in order to make our way to Cook Island (a small piece of land about a kilometer off shore) to snorkel. As we went to check out our launching spot we looked out over the beach and looked for a place where the swell did not seem so huge. Of course waves always look exponentially smaller than they actually are and Al (who has the most experience with the ocean) looked a bit scared but still said, lets go for it! We head back to the car, pump up the boat with a little cigarette lighter pump and proceed to carry the boat and 4 horsepower engine to the water. After many stops and much huffing and puffing, we place the boat into the water, attach the engine and prepare to set off. Now we were all a bit afraid that the boat would not make it over the waves and so we were all wearing our snorkeling gear in case 2 of us had to abandon ship to lighten the load. After much trepidation and encouraging words between us, Al started up the engine and we began to put put put towards the waves. Now I had no idea how SLOW a 4 horsepower engine would go and so let me explain... we could have walked faster. The waves were easily overtaking us and so we are all clinging to the boat, trying to equalize the balance while trying not to capsize and to top it all off, stepping all over each other with our huge fins strapped to our feet. I don’t think we could have looked any more comical and I am sure the life savers (life guards) watching us thought we were complete idiots...

After only one capsize scare we managed to make it over the waves and to the island where we hooked up to a buoy and slid somewhat gracefully into the water. I always forget how beautiful and peaceful the ocean is. We began to swim closer the island where the water was shallower and the fish more plentiful. The fish were beautiful and colorful but the real treat were the sea turtles. We first spotted two small sea turtles side by side and Al, Roman and I stared at them transfixed as we floated in the water. A few minutes later we spotted the first of four HUGE sea turtles that we saw that day. They were at least three and half feet long and two and a half feet wide and absolutely breathtaking. They slowly swam through the water and would occasionally sway side to side with the tide. It was such an incredible experience: we were close enough that we could have touched them and we all stared mesmerized at these beautiful creatures below us.

After a few hours and a few rounds of snorkeling we climbed back into the boat and made our way back to shore. Once again, the waves overtook us and we could have easily made it back quicker on a surf board. At least this time the waves helped us make it safely home.

Only in Australia could I have boarded a badly inflated boat that bent beneath us with two friends and had such an incredible day/ experience.

Mr. Walker, Mr. Docke, and Ms. Smith over and out! ;)

Countdowns....

For the past few weeks I have been in constant contact with two of my friends back home (Steph and Anna) who are coming to visit me in March! All the planning with them and Kate and Becks (coming in April) is making me extremely excited for this semester! I can not wait to show all my old friends my new place :) My brain really functions on numbers at times and so below is a countdown list with remaining days until said event in order to make it all seem more real!

Countdown List:

To School Starting- 12 day (meh)

To Oscars- 18 days! (cause even though I am so far away I will be damned if I miss this! )

To Steph and Anna- 31 days!!! (we have a crazy schedule while they are here- going to cram in everything possible!)

To Becks arriving- 43 days!! (I will have a friend and new roommate for a month! SO excited! ;)

To Kate and Debbie coming- 47 days! (yes another Debbie, and then I will be going to New Zealand with them in 53 days)

Mom and Jan need to get their schedule sorted out but they should be coming in July which will be incredible. We plan on travelling around off and on for a month or so and then I depart for home on August 11^th! It is crazy how soon everything seems now. I can not wait until my visitors start rolling in! Anyone else wanna add themselves to my schedule of visitors ;)

Adelaide + ?

So today I cracked an egg in my hair. It isn’t exactly as it sounds. I did it on purpose and I was quite organized about it. I was perusing my email inbox this morning when I glanced at one of my many websites/blogs that I get email notifications from and the subject “what to do with your egg yolks” caught my eye. Another food item that I greatly miss is egg whites in a carton. I know it sounds gross but I love egg white omelets and not having to think about what to do with the yolk is a blessing. One amazing thing about the supermarket supplies here is the shredded cheese. They actually carry pre- shredded cheese with amazing flavor! Anyways off track… back to the egg… I eat a lot of egg white omelets and therefore discard a lot of egg yolks. This article’s solution to a discarded egg yolk was to use it as a glaze when making breads or pastries or homemade mayonnaise or use it in your hair as a conditioning product. Well I have noticed that my hair has seemed kinda lackluster lately and so into my hair it went. I let the yolk sink in for 10 min and then washed my hair with cold water (not warm in case it would cook the egg, gross!) and I have to say that after 2 washings I still smell like egg. The upside is that I think my hair does look a little better today but I could just be grasping out for a silver lining…

Back track a few days before I resorted to eggy hair for entertainment- I went to Adelaide last week and had a really nice time. Adelaide is a city of a little over 1 million and the 5^th biggest city in Australia. The central area of the city is called King Williams Street and Steff and I (and her friend Sy) spent two days walking around this area, window shopping and taking in the local culture. It reminded me of Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica: an outdoor mall area with people trying to earn money through various tricks and musical shows. It was nice to have a new place to walk around and hang out with friends. One day Steff’s friend Kristin drove us to hills behind Adelaide and we went for a nice hike up to the top where we could see the city sprawling before us. After sweating a bit Kristin took us to the best pie shop in Adelaide (meat pies, not fruit) and we all sat down with pies and pasties (which is another food Australia is known for but can really credit to the British). To be honest, I am not a huge fan of overcooked meat wrapped in puff pastry but if it is good enough for Harry Potter it is good enough for me!

We stayed with Steff’s friend Steph… ok this is getting a bit confusing, let me explain. Steff’s (my Canadian friend) step mother went on sabbatical in Adelaide a few years ago and they lived next door to Steph. Over the course of this trip Steff met Steph and Kristin who showed her around and then Steph and Steff and Kristin did the same for me. Make sense? : ) Steff and I stayed with Steph (the next door neighbor) who is an incredible woman with 2 adorable and rowdy children. Steph is recently divorced and her new fiancé owns a restaurant in town called Scoozie which had some of the most incredible pasta dishes I have ever had. We ate there two out of the total five nights I was there and I devoured two different dishes. Both had a light tomato sauce with a different mix of veggies and one was topped with shrimp while the other was topped with fresh crab meat. Truly incredible and it was not over priced! I am so used to the over priced gold coast food that these meals seemed almost cheap in comparison! I think that the food (and Steff’s company of course) made the trip 100% worth it!

P.s. I am trying to post more pictures but the blogger thing is misbehaving so I will try again later but I have also posted Adelaide pics on my facebook so check them out there! :)

Spice it Up...?

Well I have been absent from this blog for more than a week because I have honestly had nothing to write about... I guess that is the way of things though. I mean I can't be having crazy adventures every single day of my life here. And I think the reason is that this is currently my life... and that is not always so interesting... ha ha. Anyways, as a way to utilize my current freedom from all restrictions and requirements in life I have booked a flight to Adelaide to visit my Canadian friend Steff. She has been traveling around Australia since December: staying at family friends' houses and generally couch surfing. In short, she is having a blast and I have decided to join her! I have heard many mixed things about Adelaide. Mainly things like: "oh don't go there, it's boring" to "ahhhh that is a very cute little city to visit." In another week I will add my own opinion to the pot. Steff and I have no set plans and I assume that we will just wander around a new city for a few days: sounds great to me especially because it has been raining in Surfers for the past week or so. In Berkeley I always loved the rain but here the rain does not cool the air down and the mugginess has gone from stifling to fairly unbearable. I know Adelaide is currently a warm 100 degrees or so but at least we can go jump in the water there!

I will be in Adelaide until Sunday which will allow me to visit with Steff and get a good feel for the place. I will revert back to my old fashioned journaling in a (gasp) notebook and then let you all know how it is when I get back!