week 4!

Already week 4 if you can believe it!  

This week started off pretty uneventful.  I started looking at cars since my roommates are getting jobs all over town, making it a lot harder to get around.  I looked at one car Monday evening, but was not overly impressed.  For starters, the guy was the owner of a store in Stocklands (like a shopping mall) called "No Diggity".  I try not to be judgmental, but when your shop it called that I can't help myself.  I disregarded that little factor momentarily and went out to have a look at the car.  My first observation was the giant naked lady sticker plastered across the back windshield.  Oh-so-classy.  In addition to that the inside was extremely messy; looked nothing like a car that you would show people if you actually wanted to sell it.  He basically just opened the door and let me look inside.  Didn't offer me to take it for a spin around the car park, didn't try and tell me about it's features, and didn't bother to show me any important documents.  Nooo thank you.  I politely asked a few questions and snuck out as soon as I could.  Next car please....

Pause.  Before I go any further in the week I want to take a minute to describe the "malls" here.  They are similar to malls in the US, with clothing stores and such, but they have grocery stores, target-like stores, and bottle shops (liquor stores) inside too.  Most of them have butchers, chemists (drug store), and posts offices as well.  It's more of a "one stop shop" as opposed to a "shop til you drop".  Just a little tid bit for you.  Okay, resume......

Later this week was the day to celebrate of my freckles....St.  Patrick's day!  I had uni all day, which left me no time to cook corned beef and cabbage. ;-)  I did, however, have time to look at another car after school.  I loved this car.  It was a small, clean car being sold by a nice couple.  They presented me with all the safety checks, registration, and papers that were needed.  They seemed like they were a trustworthy couple, unlike Mr. No Diggity.  I took the car for a little spin (which I was a tad nervous about, seeing as it was a manual and I hadn't driven a manual on this side of the road yet) and really bonded with the little blue beast.  It was a bit weird at first to shift with my left hand, but I adjusted quite quickly.  The weirdest thing about this car was that the blinker was on the left side and the wipers were on the right side, just like in th US.  It's amazing how easily your brain switches over when you hop into a drivers seat on the right side of the car.  You feels as if you've been driving that way for years, until you go to turn your blinker on.  When I first started driveing here I turn the wipers on instead of the blinkers, and now that I have adjusted I had the same problem with this car.  Nothing that can't be adapted to though.

After my test drive I was flying high with love for that car.  So it was back to Wulguru to celebrate St. Patrick's day with my roomies.  No green beer for me this year, I opted for goon (boxed wine) and midori!  It was mmm mmm good!  Lindsay had to work that night at a pub down the road so the rest of the house decided to head down to where she works and chill with her for the night.  Not without putting our festive attire on though!  We thought about going to town for a Guiness (even though I'm not a fan) but we figured people would have been drinking since the morning, and that we probably wouldn't have that much fun.  We had a  lot of fun visiting Lindsay.  We shared a jug of (non-green...boo) beer and waited for her to get off.  Once she was off it was back to the house for a quick swim before bed.  It's too cold to swim at night here now, which is such a bummer!

The next day, thurday, I looked at another car.  It was the same price as the one I looked at yesterday, but it was 3 years older, in worse condition, and had no power steering.  The girl selling it was great, really nice and friendly, it just didn't compare to the other one.

Later that night we decided to check uni club out since Lindsay actually had the night off.  We got there around 10pm and it was dead.  Literally the slowest I have ever seen it.  I don't know if people were too tired after St. Patty's day or what, but it was pretty ridiculous.  The Jagermeister people were there, which was kind of fun.  Chris and I had a shot of jag and got to have a go at a guitar pick toss.  I won a guitar shaped bottle opener keychain.  It's pretty sweet if I do say so myself. :)  Uni club picked up a little bit but it wasnt it's normal atmosphere, so we headed home.  

I had planned to keep Friday as a low key night since I had no plans, but when I got home Emily invited me to join her and her boyfriend, Graeme, to tag along with his college (dorm) pubcrawl.  One of the clubs in town was hosting a heaven and hell night and Graeme's college was allowed free access in, 2 hours earlier than anyone else.  They get really into their themed pub crawls here but since I hadn't been planning on going, I had no outfit to wear!  In a last minute effort I decided to wear my lab coat....because if you have ever been stuck in a 3 hour lab/prac you know it is pure hell.  It turned out to be a really fun night.  We started at the Consortium, where the heaven/hell event was going on, and then Emily and I hopped around on our own.  I'm sure we looked strange apart of the rest of the group since I was in a lab coat and she was dressed as a devil, haha.  That didn't stop us from dancing the night away at the Shed, Molly's, Bully's, and Mad Cow though!  It was a blast!

The next day was spent cyclone proofing our house!  The path of Ului was unclear, but it was potentially going to hit Townsville.  So, in preparation, we moved everything loose from outside and flipped all tables. We live about 8kms from the shore and are up on a hill, so there was really nothing to worry about...but just in case!  That night we spent inside awaiting the hyped up cyclone.  Emily's sister was temporarily living with us so her, Em, and I played a game called fishbowl (it's like catch phrase, pictionary, and charades all in one) for awhile.  Chris' brother, Anthony, and his friend, Rogan, joined us later for a big group game of fishbowl.

The next day was spend enduring the "vicious" cyclone....pshh.  There wasn't a drop of rain in sight nor a hint of a breeze.  All that hype for nothing.  I guess it's better that way, but I was hoping to experience a cyclone!  Maybe next time...

Week 3!

This week was a bit chaotic because I switched my courses around and had to adjust to a new schedule.  I was taking an Environmental Planning class, but it just wasn't a fit for me.  So my official roster is in!  I am taking: Conservation Biology, Coral Reef Geomorphology, Foundations of Natural Resource Management, and Conserving Marine Wildlife.  I really like my classes!

That Tuesday we met some people in town for some two dollar drinks.  Lindsay met us after she got off work and we danced away at the Mad Cow again, all 5 of the Wulguru crew!  We had walked to the casino so the boys could attempt to win some money, but on the way home it started pouring on us.  Not fun.  We dried off by shaking it!  

Jordan, me, Lindsay, Chris, and Emily

The next couple of days I locked myself in my room and worked on my marine conservation assignment.  I had to take the viewpoint a gas company wanting to drill in an area detrimental to ecosystems and animals.  Not the easiest argument to make in a conservation class!  Plus it is worth 15% of my entire semester grade.  yeeks!  

I also helped Emily with her honours project this week; she is doing research on fish otolith growth.  I tried taking some otoliths out myself but just mutilated the fish's head.  They are so small!  Soooo I just stuck to measuring and recording the fish lengths. lol.  I felt pretty cool helping out with marine biology research though.  :)

On Friday there were 2 reasons to celebrate:  I was done with my assignment AND it was my half birthday!  Wooo!  I headed on campus to hang out with a friend from class, Lindsey (not to be confused with LindsAy haha).  We went to bludgers, which is the Friday night event at uni club, and met up with Emily and some of her friends.  Bludgers has live bands and is a more relaxed, chill environment.  Not so much a dance club like it is on Thursdays....though there was one guy who danced, alone, to rock music for pretty much the entire night!  It's was a really fun night.  We shared a jug of beer and enjoyed the band, which was actually pretty good.  I only went to blunders once when I studied here last time and now I wish I had gone more, it's a nice way to wind down after the week.

The next day was Chris' birthday and I spent most of the day making pumpkin pies.  Since they don't have proper pumpkins they don't have pumpkin pie here.  They have squash, which they call pumpkin, but not your typical jack-o-lantern kind.  Secondly they can't imagine taking something of that nature and putting it into a dessert.  Well, I proved some Aussies wrong last time I was here and was ready to prove some wrong again!


My friend Lindsey and her friend Suz, Emily's boyfried Graeme, Anne, and my house-mates friends from rotary Connor and Richard came over to join the party.  Jordan had to go home unexpectedly so he missed out on the pie and festivities. :(  We played some apples to apples, swam in the pool, joked about chocolate rain, played shot roulette (my b-day gift to Chris), ate some pumpkin pie (which turned out quite delicious!), and then headed to town!  Chris had been sick all week so by the time we were ready to head off to town he wasn't feeling too well, and opted to stay home.  Bummer.  We still went out and had an absolute blast.  We got to town pretty late and didn't want to pay any covers, so we headed to Flynns Irish Pub.  We listened to a live band there for awhile and decided to move on and do some dancing.  We decided to give this new place, called The Shed, a go.  It used to be a sports bar that just recently remodeled as a dance club.  We were pretty much the only ones in there, but that made it even more fun!  This place had crazy laser lights and some pretty good music, actually.  There were a few other people, including a guy dancing all by himself (kind of like the girl from Seinfeld) and another guy (who turned out to be a girl) totally raving out to glow sticks.  We eventually convinced the glow stick girl/guy's friend to give us some glowsticks (which is awkward that he carries spares around....?) and danced the night away....like complete idiots! hahaha.  It was too too much fun!

everybody's workin' for the weekend!

First week of uni done?  Check!

Time for the weekend!  After working at the zoo for a year I'm not used to having Saturday and Sunday off, it's a nice change!  We had planned a housewarming bbq/pool party on Saturday but the weather didn't cooperate for us.  It rained alllll day long.  :(  We wouldn't let that stop us though, we still swam, had some goon punch, and grilled some sausages!  Chris' family stopped over for a bit and some of our friends came over for the evening.  All in all is was a nice day.

After all the rain on Saturday, tubing conditions were ideal on Sunday.  It was off to Alligator creek again!  With all the rain the water was much higher and faster then last week, making for an exiting trip down.  I only had one little tumble where I flipped completely backwards, losing my hat, but managed to catch it on the flip back up.  I impressed myself with that little trick!  We actually went down 3 times that day, so by the time we got home it was time for dinner and homework.

Linking tubes for one of the rapids!

Second week at uni done?  Check!

The next week wasn't too eventful, just spent it trying to get back into the swing of school.

We did meet up with some of Jordan's mates for some cheap oysters on Tuesday.  I tried one, but wasn't the biggest fan.  My goal this semester is to grow a taste for seafood...but I guess I need to take it one step at a time. 

That next weekend we spent by the pool....shocking. :)  On Saturday we had some friends over and spent the day in the sun getting a tan.  My friend Conrad, who I knew from last time I was abroad, came over for a bit.  He is still dating my Mexican friend, Azul, so it was nice to catch up with him.  After spending all day in the sun I was exhausted.  Lindsay and I got some pizza for dinner and the boys headed to town to hit up the casino.  I got Lindsay hooked on the show "Modern Family" and I was in bed by 10pm.  It was a thrilling Saturday night!

Sunday wasn't much more eventful.  I started my day off with a swim in the pool, read my book all afternoon, and then finished my day with a swim in the pool. haha.  That night Jordan had some of his mates over for poker and a bbq.  I hung out with them for a bit, but then retreated to my room for my usual Sunday homework regime.  

:)

First week of uni!

School's back in session!

Man, after a year off it feels so weird to say that.

In true Jamie fashion it was an interesting start to the semester. There was no tutorial or practicals the first week so my first class wasn't until Tuesday.  There was an unbelievable amount of traffic on campus that morning and I got there a tad late.  Pause.  Before I go any further, let me vent about something that urked me last time I studied here...and it still urks me.  The way they have most of their lecture halls set up just doesn't make sense.  When you sit down and pull the desk part up, it blocks the entire path so you no one can get by.  Some idiots sit on the end, pull their desk up and make the middle empty seats inaccessible.  Okay, resume story.  So I walk into the classroom, after the professor has started the lecture, and look for a seat.  This class is filled with those people I just talked about, the ones who make poor seating choices.  There is a path along the back row and a few open seats in the middle of that, so I make the executive decision to try and climb over the back instead of making everyone stand up and make a scene.  Except, being Jamie, I made a scene anyways.  I tried to gracefully climb over the back but ended up getting my foot stuck.  I did and awkward shuffle, lost my shoe, and drew attention to myself.  Mission failed.  I refused to make eye contact with anyone in that class, not until I changed my clothes at least.

That night I took the bus down to the Strand and met another one of my American friends, Kayley.   Kayley studied abroad with me last time I was here and decided to stay and finish her degree at JCU, so she's been here ever since.  So I met her for some cheap pizza on the beach and then we went downtown for some cheap drinks.  Australians are kind of weird in the sense that certain days are designated for things.  Tuesdays are cheap days.  A lot of restaurants and stores do cheap deals as well as bars downtown do $2 drinks.  Thursday is late shopping day, where everything is open until 9pm.   It's just odd to have designated days, country-wide, like that.  Anyway, Kayley and I went to town and met up with some of her friends and then later I met up with Chris, Lindsay, and Jordan.  We danced the night away at Mad Cow, a club on Flinders St.

Jordan, Lindsay, and Chris at Mad Cow

The next day I was off to school and embarrassing myself yet again.  My first class was pretty harmless.  I was late again (different class then yesterday) and made a slight scene when I battled some guys backpack in order to pull my chair out.  I could still make eye contact with people after that one though.  It was my later class that I was mortified about.  I got to class early and did what I wish everyone else would do, I sat in the middle of the row so that I wouldn't block people from getting seats.  People start filing in and were being super friendly, filling all the seats on both sides of me.  Asking my my name, what I do, etc.  I was thinking "gosh, these people are so nice.  I'm going to make a ton of friends in this class!".  Everyone seemed to be all chummy with each other and that's when I started to get concerned.  Whyyy does everyone know everyone?  The girl next to me whips out her notes and I thought I saw the word medicine out of the corner of my eye.  I quickly ask her what class this is and she tells me its a med school class....not where I want to be.  One more little tid-bit about the med students at JCU.  They all have the same schedule.  They take the same classes at the same time every semester with all the same people.  Once I realize I am in the wrong class (as do the people around me) the girl next to me shares that she though I was a guest with the teacher.  That's why everyone was trying to be so friendly with me, they were trying to suck up to the teacher!  Except now I had people on both sides of me with their desks out (in these stupid lecture rooms!) and I needed to make an exit.  Any other class I would have sucked it up and sat through the whole thing, but not this one.  Everyone in there knew I wasn't supposed to be there.  Everyone.  I tried to make a quick exit before class started but as I stood up and was making my neighbors lift their desks and stand, the teacher quieted the room down.  Nothing but the sound of my flip flops as I walked out the door.  Awesome.  hahaha.  What's even better is that I was in the right room, just an hour too early.  When I came back an hour later for my class I was sure to hide behind a pillar as their lecture let out.  Oi....

Luckily the next two days were painless.  No more embarrassment.  Phew.

That Thursday night Emily, Jordan, and I decided to go to uni club and get our dance on!  

Last weekend before uni starts!

Now, before I go any further I should get you familiar with my house-mates since I'll be dropping their name quite a bit. 

Lindsay: A good friend I met when I was out here last time.  America.

Chris: Lindsay's boyfriend.  I knew him through a different friend when I was out here last time.  Australian.

Emily: She was at JCU when I was here last, but I didn't hang out with her much.  Australian.

Jordan: Lived with Emily and Lindsay after I left, so I hadn't met him until I came out here this year. Australian.

Okay, moving on....

That night Chris and Jordan had some of their mates over and it turned into an "all the boys play poker while Jamie and Lindsay swim in the pool" kind of night.  haha.  It was a lot of fun though!  

The next morning I went tubing down Alligator creek with Emily and her friends.  It was a blast!  Alligator creek is about 20 minutes outside of Townsville.  It's a beautiful area with heaps of trees and rock cliffs.  Its a popular swimming area for swimming in the summer when the ocean isn't an option.  Further down from the swimming hole is where we hopped in on our tubes with our eskies of beer and we were on our merry way.  It's not quite as intense as white water rafting, but more exciting than a lazy river.  I did lose my sunnies and acquire a few new bruises on one of the rapids though!  We went down twice and then headed to a friends house for a bbq.  They sure do love their bbqs here!  After that it was back home for a mini little pool party with some friends.  

The next day, Sunday, was a pretty lazy day.  Lindsay introduced me to NoodleBox, which is a to-go stir fry place where you customize your order on a touch screen kiosk, print the slip off and bring it up for them to make.  I love me some stir fry so I was in heaven!  The rest of the afternoon was filled with some more pool time and relaxing on my last day before school started! Have I mentioned that I love having a pool? ;)

Destination: Townsville

I arrived in Townsville earlier than my mom and decided to grab a toastie (essentially a grilled cheese, but they have lots of different fillings) and a flat white (like a latte, but not haha) while waiting.  Once my mom arrived, with her thousand pound (duty free alcohol filled) carry on, we were on our way.  My friend and future house-mate Lindsay was our personal chauffeur that day, helping us lug our caravan of luggage. 

There had been some ongoing issues with moving in to our house.  Lindsay and Chris were supposed to move in weeks before any of us arrived...but that fell through.  Then they were supposed to move in the weekend before we arrived...but that fell through.  I then got a call when we were in Sydney that the house wouldn't be ready when my mom and I arrived and that we'd have to stay with Chris' family for a couple days.   They have a beautiful house with great views, but it was a bit of a bugger not being able to unpack.  I had things packed so strategically that there was no way of reaching them without unpacking everything.  And with 200lbs of luggage I did not want to do that!  One more thing to note: it was hot as hell!  It had been warm in Sydney, especially coming from a wintery Minnesota, but it was hot AND humid in Townsville.  I could not (and still can't) stop sweating.  After we got settled in (as much as we could) my mom, Lindsay, Chris, and I went to the Tavern (a popular pub near Uni, right on the Ross River) for a couple jugs of beer, calamari, and some catching up.  It was great!   


The next day Linday, my mom, and I went to the strand.  The strand is a long walking path that lines the beach in Townsville.  It's really a neat area with lots of bbqs, benches, beaches, shops, and restaurants.  We grabbed some gelato and started walking.  Unfortunately on this particular day it was hot as.  I literally though I was going to dehydrate due to the fact that I was sweating every last ounce of liquid out.  I wanted to jump in the water so bad but you cant this time of year.  The stingers will get you!  Quite ironic that in the hottest months of the year you cant swim in the ocean.  Ugh.  Anyway, after the strand it was off to campus for orientation.

Since I had studied here before I was hopeful that I could skip out on orientation (also because I didn't want to meet anyone after sweating my life away at the strand) but no, I had to do it.  It was fairly painless but it was definitely a lot of stuff I already knew.  The room was air conditioned so I guess I can't complain too much.  One of the staff brought her daughter, which ruined my streak of attention.  I couldn't focus during the one and only section I needed to because of this girls markers. They were the coolest things ever!  They clipped to each other on the side to form a circle.  I watched her make two circles and then fit one inside the other.  Then use her circular markers to color her unbelievably organized binder of coloring sheets.  She had tabs that divided what theme the coloring sheets were and a list of French vocabulary in the front.  Who is this girl?!  I am starting my masters and I'm not even half as organized as her.  Geez.  


And that is why I didn't know how to enroll in my classes.

The next couple days were filled with upsets.  We were meant to go to Magnetic Island (an island right off the coast of Townsville) on Monday but the weather didn't cooperate.  We were meant to move in on Tuesday, but the real estate agent pushed the move in date back AGAIN.  We were meant to go to the school toga party on Tuesday night, but since we were at Chris' parents still we couldn't.  It was not the way the week was supposed to go.  My poor mother traveled half way across the world to sit inside and watch me attempt to register for 2 days straight.  (All thanks to the marker girl)  


I'm being a bit dramatic, I'll admit.  We did get quite a lot accomplished.  I did a lot of shopping that I needed to do (bed sheets, hangers, bins, etc) and got some other important things done as well (setting up my bank account, turning in my rental application, etc.).  On Monday we had Lindsay drop us off at stockland shopping center where mom got some trinkets and other little things she was looking for and Tuesday mom and I spent an afternoon at the Reef HQ aquarium downtown.  We got to see a little added bonus at the Reef HQ, the turtle hospital behind scenes.  That was really neat!  After that we walked over to Palmer Street, the big restaurant street in town, and had the fisherman's basket at a little seafood joint.  We tried bug for the first time (which is like a lobster) and enjoyed a couple pure blondes (which is a delicious beer here in AU).  It was a lovely day after all!  Funny story: while my mom was up waiting for the food, this old guy sitting across the patio flagged me down and pointed to his arms.  I thought he was a lunatic at first and looked away, but he kept doing it.  I finally realized that he was trying to comment on my sunburn (from our day on the strand. whoops.) from 20 feet away.  Thanks a lot pal, like I hadn't noticed it was there!  No need to judge me and my delicate, northern skin. 

Wednesday arrived and we were FINALLY able to move in to the house.  About damn time!  It's a huge 6 bedroom house with a 3 car garage, pool room, two living rooms, a pool and spa, and beautiful creek out the back yard.  

The next two days were filled with moving and unpacking...and a dip or two in the pool!  My mom tried to fly out Thursday afternoon but every flight was booked.  AC/DC apparently had a concert in Sydney that weekend and was stuffing everything up.  Bugger. So, after quantas rejected us it was back to the house. That night we had a "family" meal of fish and chips and headed out to Uni Club for the semester kick off.  Poor mom stayed home alone, but she had some time to relax with a glass of wine.  It was great to be back at Uni club, such a blast from the past!  The next morning I took my mom to the airport bright and early for her looong day of travel.  in order to get to Sydney she had to fly Townsville-Mackay-Rockhampton-Gladstone-Brisbane-Sydney.  Yikes.  After all our adventures together it was time to say goodbye to my mom.  :(   I tried my best not to blubber in the airport, but was pretty unsuccessful....

Sydney!

We landed in Sydney at about 8am AUS time.  After 36 hours without a shower we were ready to make an impression to the lovely people of Syndey.  We gathered our bags (not without a stop at the duty free shops first), went through customs, and caught the shuttle as soon as we could.  We got to our hotel, but unfortunately our room wasn't ready.  The guy could tell we were having a rough go, so he gave us a free drink coupon to use in one of the hotels many bars.  He was my new best friend.  We left our luggage and took of to the Sydney Fish Market for a delicious lunch.  We figured the smell of fish would mask our unshowered selves. Maybe?  

The fish market was awesome; a really fun, hectic environment.  My mom and I split some sushi, fish and chips, and the most delicious calamari ring I have ever had.  My family always orders calamari when we go out and I have never like it...but this. was. incredible!  We wondered around there for a bit and then headed back to our hotel, hoping that our room was ready.  We checked in and sure enough they had a room ready for us, it was an upgraded 2 bedroom apartment room!  Yes indeed, he was my brand new very best friend.  We got to the room and just lounged around for entire too long, while enjoying our awesome view.  You can see the fish market in the distance, it's that big white roofed building in the back left.

We called everyone to let them know we had arrived, showered, and then hit the city for some dinner.  We stayed at Star City in Darling Harbour so we caught the ferry from there to Circular Quay.  I love the ferries, they are so much fun and give some really great views of the city.  From Luna Park you get an awesome view of both the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.  Plus it's cool to go right under the Harbour Bridge.  You don't realize how massive it is until you're right underneath it.  We got off and walked around around Sydney Harbour, taking some obligatory tourist photos in front of the bridge and the opera house.  I have been to Sydney a few times before but I never get tired of it.  The city has such a cool vibe.  It's metropolitan, yet being on the water gives it a laid back feel.  Any way, we walked around a bit before settling in at a nice restaurant with a great bridge view.  Mom got her seafood fix while I got reacquainted with my love for kangaroo.  mmm mmm mmmmmm!

After dinner we went back to the hotel and went straight to bed.  It had been a long day and we knew we had a busy next day as well.  I slept like a baby that night, it felt great to be in a bed...not an airplane seat.  We got up bright and early for our wine tour of Hunter Valley.  It was about a 2 hour bus ride out of Syndey, but definitely worth it!  Our tour guide was fabulous and kept us entertained the whole ride up.  We stopped at 2 vineyards, a cental "town" area (with more vineyards) for lunch, and then hit up one more organic vineyard on the way out of town. it was such a fun experience.  My mom and I got to see some beautiful scenery, drink some amazing wine, and meet some really great people.  We had lunch with an older man from South Africa who travels around the world trying out all the well known vineyard areas, which has now become my new life goal. :)   

I highly recommend it if you're planning a trip to Syndey.  

We got back to the City around 6 and decided to use our free drink coupons.  Star City has a bar on the 17th floor with a 270degree killer view of the city.  We went there to watch the sun set, have (yet another!) a glass of wine, and enjoy a delicious appetizer of garlic prawns.  We stayed up there for a little while and then went down to Harbourside, which is a strip of shops and tons of restaurants in Darling Harbour.  We shopped around trying to decide what we wanted to eat, and settled on something quick and easy (yet so very, very delicious), a kebab.  

Kebabs are one food that I fell in love with last time I was here and it's something you can't find in the US.  It's similar to a gyro, but different.  You just have to have one to understand.  It's what gets me through when I'm having intense chipotle cravings.  :)  So we ate and again went back to the hotel to rest up for another early, and busy, day.  We were moving on from Sydney to our next stop, my final one: Townsville!  We still had to adjust the luggage situation because we were already at max weight and space and had purchased quite a bit of duty free liquor and had accidentally brought our winter coats with us!  There was no hope, so we decided that we would try and sneak extremely heavy carry ons with us.

The airport shuttle picked us up at 5am, which was quite the early rise.  I prepared myself for the day with some leftover kebab and a cup of nescafe (another things I fell in love with last time I was here).  It turned out to be a bit more chaotic than planned because my mom and I were on different flight, and to our surprise, different terminals.  I got off first and hoped that it would all work out for her.  I managed to sneak my oversize carry on with me, but I later found out that my mom was not so lucky.  She got busted and had to leave some of her stuff in a locker at the Sydney airport.  No bueno.  That began the span of bad luck.

Getting to Sydney.

The adventure to Sydney began on one snowy Minnesota day.  The flights to LA, which is where the Sydney flight left from, were all full.  And seeing as we fly standby, we decided to try for the very first one in hopes that people would miss the morning flight and open seats for us.  We left 2 hours early (for a drive that normally takes 20 min) but traffic was at a stand still.  It was horrible.  We finally got to the airport with only 40 minutes until departure and had to rush my 200lbs of luggage into the check point.  I had to rush and said goodbye to my dad, which made me even more stressed.  We got to check-in and couldn't get the kiosk to work, no thanks to the biggest asshole gate agent on planet earth.  My mom asked him for help because our reservation wouldn't come up and he just snarfed at us that "there is no way you're going to make this flight."  In true Jamie form I started crying.  I think of myself as a fairly strong person who doesn't get upset easily, but when it comes to airline travel, that all goes out the window.  I don't know what it is about airports, they just make me want to cry.  My dad has told me numerous times when I'm about to travel alone, "If something goes wrong, just don't cry, it will all work out." haha.  Sorry, I can't help it.  AND, of all the people I had to talk to while I was crying, I had to call my dad to see if he had our reservation number.  I blame this tear fest on the fact that I had just said goodbye to him but nonetheless he still told me to relax because it would all work out.  So, a few minute later our bags were checked and we were running for security.  We got to the ID check guy and he looks at my moms ticket and says "oh, nope, you've got to get a new one because I can't read this".  Ummmm, excuse me, what??!  I couldn't believe my ears.  So I take my carry on and my mom's carry on through security and run to the gate (which has already boarded).  Sure enough there are 2 seats open waiting for me and my mom.  I tell the lady that my mom is coming and she tells me that we'll try and wait for her but she need to get here soon.  Minutes go by and I start to panic.  Luckily, I see my mom dart around the corner just in time.  Phew!  We hurry on to the plane and head on our way to Los Angeles. It was smooth sailing from there, save for the 12 hour layover we had (before a 15 hr flight!).  We wondered around the LAX airport, had some coffee, some grub, and a margarita. :)  We got on the plane to Sydney after being awake for 20 hours and had to stay awake for at least another 4, or it would have stuffed our sleep cycle up.  I woke up after sleeping, read my clock and thought we only had an hour left.  So I got up, freshened up in the bathroom only to find out, when I sat back down and looked on my personal little tv, that we still had 7 hours left. doh!  It was a loooong day of travels, that's for sure.

Mega recap!

I started this blog because my best friend, Erin, started one and I was envious of her awesome posts.  She's always got great little questions to ponder and other fun suggestions.  You should check her out here.  Buuuut, I have done a piss poor job at keeping up with mine.  It has been a whirlwind of events since I started this blog and haven't really had time to keep up with it.  So, here's a quick (or not so quick) 4 month recap:

In November I was still working away.  I had been at my job for 11 months, which seems crazy! I got to meet the Denver Zoo's two Asian elephants, Mimi and Dolly, as a thank you gift for the educations help with raising funds for Asian Tropics (Their new exhibit, planned to open in 2011).  Talk about a cool experience!  Other than that November was filled with fun, friends, and food.  I went skiing in Keystone for the first time and took a tour of the Molly Brown house for the first time.  All good fun!  I wasn't able to go home for Thanksgiving so Erin and I made a feast the weekend before, where I had my first thanks pocket in 2 years.  mmm mmm mmmm!   I had to work on the actual Thanksgiving day, but managed to sneak off around 1 and joined my co-worker, Katie, for an "orphan" dinner at her friends house.  I would have loved to be home with  my family, but it was a nice alternative...with delicious food! :)

December was the craziest/shittiest/most hectic of them all.  On December 2 my sister gave birth to the most beautiful baby boy, Jakob Locke.  On December 4 he passed away.  I flew home on the morning of the 2nd and was lucky enough to spend some time with my precious nephew.  It was the greatest and worst two days of my life.  Funny how that works, isn't it?  You can read my sisters story at www.teamjakob.com.  I stayed home the rest of the week to be with my family.  Family from all ends of the country flew in, which made it a bittersweet situation.  I was very glad to see them, since I wouldn't have gotten a chance before I left for Australia, but I hated that it had to be on these terms.  It was the craziest week of my life, that's the only way to put it.  There are too many thoughts to write so I will just leave it there.  Please check out my sisters site and become a member of Team Jakob and be sure to educate yourself and others on Vasa Previa.  From there it was back to Denver for a week, where my friends and co-workers were so helpful in keeping my spirits up.  A week later it was back to Minnesota for Christmas.  That was a hard hurdle.  I know my sister will read this, and that she is sick of hearing it, but her and Seth were so strong throughout the holiday season. (ha, I said it!)  Both her and Seth were still ripped up and their wounds were raw but they tried to appreciate it as much as they could, for Jake.  After Christmas it was back to Denver for my last week at the zoo!  This week was filled with fun and pictures at work.  My last few days just crept up on me.  I rang in the new year with some good friend in uptown, which was just what I needed.  It was so much fun, even though I did lose my camera memory car.  How...?


January- This month was a fresh start.  December had been such a bad one I was determined to make this a good one.  My last day at the zoo was on the 3rd, and was such a fun/sad day.  I got to hold all my favorite animals and start to train my favorite volunteer into my old position. (Kim, the keystone skiing girl, was a volunteer in our department and has now taken over my position)  It was my one last sunday funday in GAH!  But when 4pm rolled around and I had to clock out for the last time I was not having so much fun.  I was so excited to move on to my next adventure but leaving the zoo was far from an easy task.  We met up for happy hour later, which lightened the mood, and then headed off to a drag show later that night.  It was a blast!  The next day I had lunch with some more zoo friends and then packed my life up.  I went skiing one last time in Keystone and then hit the road back to MN.  I forgot to mention that after Jake we decided to book a family cruise, a mental vacation if you will, so I HAD to be back in MN in time to catch the flight to Florida.  Well, my usual travel luck kicked in and a massive snow storm covered the entire stat of Nebraska.  I made it to Lincoln (barely!) the first day and could only make it to Omaha (again, barely!) the next day.  With time running short and no weather change it sight I parked my car in NE and hopped on a plane to Minnesota.  I obviously hadn't prepared to do this, so all of my clothes were vacuumed in space bags in my car.  I was like a hurricane ripping my car apart in the parking lot.  Surprisingly I managed to grab enough to make due for the cruise, except for a bag to check it in.  I handed the lady at the luggage check a reusable grocery bag tied in a knot, she gave me quite the look.  With that crisis averted it was home to MN to pack for the cruise and then enjoy the next task of getting to Florida.  My family flies standby, so a seat is never guaranteed.  My mom, sister, and I were flying together and my dad, brother, and brother-in-law were flying together.  Lucky for the ones with me and my awesome travel luck.  We couldn't get on a flight, so we ended up having to buy a ticket to Florida (within 5 minutes of closing sales).  We ran through security and luckily made it to the gate in time.  It was smooth sailing from there to Orlando.  Not so much the for the other group we later found out.  My dad, brother, and brother-in-law's flight was delayed for an hour, they left my brothers suitcase at home, and the rental car place ran out of cars.  So maybe it isn't just me with the terrible luck, it must be a hereditary thing?  An Escalade upgrade, a night of sleep, and a day of shopping fixed that all.  So, then it was off to Miami for our bon voyage...except it was 40 degrees...and windy.  This was not starting off on the best foot.  It felt more like an Alaskan cruise, not a Caribbean cruise!  Oh well, we still had fun.  It warmed up by day 2 so overall it was just fine.  We went to Cozumel, Belize, Honduras, and Grand Cayman with 2 days at sea.  It was great, just what we needed!  After the cruise my mom, sister, and I spent a few extra days with my grandparents in Florida and then it was back to cold Minnesota.  I finally got my car back to MN (2 weeks later!) and started the massive unpack/repack process.  I didn't want to leave too much stuff at home while I was gone for the next 1.5 years, so it was a massive purging.  Boy have I collected a lot of weird, unnecessary stuff over the years!  


February started off pretty much the same as January ended.  Packing and seeing my friends before I left.  As time went by I somehow managed to fit my life into roughly 200lbs of luggage (all thanks to my mom joining me and allowing me to borrow some (or a lot) of her baggage allotment.  My last night in town was the super bowl so we combined it into a fun goodbye/football party.  The Vikings didn't make it to the bowl so we didn't really care too much. :)  It was really nice to see everyone one last time over some delicious food and good wine.  And then, after months of anticipation my next stop was Australia!