Sunday, October 24, 2010
Today I went shopping. I was on a hunt to find a halloween costume for a party next week. I got into the city around 1 and decided to hit up a store called Ginger Tree. I had seen it off of Victoria st as I road the tram from school to the metro center and it appeared from the windows to be in my price range. A lot of things were, and they had nice stuff. I tried on a peacock sequince shirt which didnt work (be a peacock), and a blue dress with strippes in the center only and sailor buttons (to be a sailor). Niether worked and nothing else sparked my interest. So I moved on.
*****Culture Note: So really, they dont do halloween big in Australia. I guess its an american thing. So no big halloween costume parties, no walking door to door looking for treats or giving tricks, no carving pumpkins, and no stroking the alter ego.*****
I hopped on a tram that I figured would take me farther up to brunswick. On the train ride into the city I had texted Pearl about a store called Savers, second hand store good for costumes, and where it was located. After a while on the tram I asked the little old lady across from me whether I should get off for savers and she pointed me in the right direction. I got to savers and looked around- no luck. I checked shirts, skirts, dresses and even shoes just for fun; but i wasnt halloween inspired.
Next stop was vic market to check out some of the Halloween costumes they sell as a set costume. I looked at two different venders, and both were above my price range and i was out the door. Not about to spend 60$ on a halloween costume i would wear for a night. So I grabbed some christmas prezzies and got on the tram for home. On the way into the station I walked in real quick to a store at melb central. They had a couple of outfits for about 25/30 that I considered but told myself i wanted to sleep on it.
Once I got home I had to listen to my friday lecture from genetics, dinner and Offspring!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
NVG and Woop woop
Saturday, October 22, 2010
Today I got out to the city at about 12pm. I was to meet up with a new friend Pearl I had met at the Pub crawl a while ago. We met at flinders st station and I was fully prepared to go to a jewish museum. She had told me she wanted to go to a museum in st.kilda and I asked peter what that could mean. He said the only one there that he knew of was the jewish one and seeing as how she is jewish i figured just maybe she was dragging me there.
I was wrong... NVG
She wanted to go to the NVG, National Gallery of Victoria which is located on St.Kilda road outside flinders st where Swanston turns into St. Kilda Rd. Go figure. No jewish museum for me.
The museum is free and is filled up of all sorts of art (sorry no picts). From paintings to old glassware. It was fun and I got to know Pearl a bit better. I wasnt so sure we were going to get along but I really liked her in the end. We had just gone to see some modern chairs when I got a phone call from Bec about plans for the night. I finished up the room real fast and said goodbye to Pearl so that I could get home in time to go to a party. On my way out I stopped by a fashion exhibit, peeked my head in real fast, and thought it would be fun to see that part with chrissy.
I jumped on the train around 4 to get home around 5. I had a quick bite to eat and then got ready for party time. It was becs mate Josh from uni and he was turning 21. Micheal, Bec and I drove all the way out to woop woop, picked up lost little stephanie and got to the party together. Seriously, the party was not too far from the city time wise however, it felt like you were ages away- no lights, dirt roads, barely any exits.
I knew some of the guys from an earlier party which was nice. I had champers on the tab until it ran out. Speaches were nice. And the band, it was live, just friends, but they were fantastic. They did some of the great songs that gets everyone going. We watched as creative dancing occurred. It was fun.
At around 12 we hit the road for the hour long drive home. Bec and I dozed off on the way.
Today I got out to the city at about 12pm. I was to meet up with a new friend Pearl I had met at the Pub crawl a while ago. We met at flinders st station and I was fully prepared to go to a jewish museum. She had told me she wanted to go to a museum in st.kilda and I asked peter what that could mean. He said the only one there that he knew of was the jewish one and seeing as how she is jewish i figured just maybe she was dragging me there.
I was wrong... NVG
She wanted to go to the NVG, National Gallery of Victoria which is located on St.Kilda road outside flinders st where Swanston turns into St. Kilda Rd. Go figure. No jewish museum for me.
The museum is free and is filled up of all sorts of art (sorry no picts). From paintings to old glassware. It was fun and I got to know Pearl a bit better. I wasnt so sure we were going to get along but I really liked her in the end. We had just gone to see some modern chairs when I got a phone call from Bec about plans for the night. I finished up the room real fast and said goodbye to Pearl so that I could get home in time to go to a party. On my way out I stopped by a fashion exhibit, peeked my head in real fast, and thought it would be fun to see that part with chrissy.
I jumped on the train around 4 to get home around 5. I had a quick bite to eat and then got ready for party time. It was becs mate Josh from uni and he was turning 21. Micheal, Bec and I drove all the way out to woop woop, picked up lost little stephanie and got to the party together. Seriously, the party was not too far from the city time wise however, it felt like you were ages away- no lights, dirt roads, barely any exits.
I knew some of the guys from an earlier party which was nice. I had champers on the tab until it ran out. Speaches were nice. And the band, it was live, just friends, but they were fantastic. They did some of the great songs that gets everyone going. We watched as creative dancing occurred. It was fun.
At around 12 we hit the road for the hour long drive home. Bec and I dozed off on the way.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Monday through to Friday
Monday, October 18, 2010
Indigenous studies
Nap
Listened to fridays genetics lecture because I didnt have a chance over the weekend.
Genetics Tute
Genetics lecture
Dinner and then HW
On the ride home I read this sign that was on a shop window.
It says: Happiness is like pissing your pants- everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth.
hahahaaaa- i love melb
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Nothing interesting:
Indigenous studies
Nap
International Politics lecture
Hw
Indigenous studies tute
There has been a campaign on many of melbournes billboards and signs inside of trains about getting tested for std's. Its extreamly amusing, and here is why....
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
This week is a bit odd. I have a lab in genetics even though I had one last week. However, i have no psychology lab this week, that is next week. So i guess you could say its a half on half off week. Since there are two weeks worth of students for gen lab they need to have the lab for gen week 2 next week.
This lab was dissecting squid kinda interesting.
So Genetics lab
work on genetics review
Genetics Lecture
came home with peter
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Cognitive Psychology
Went to go have lunch with chloe and waited 20 minutes before texting to ask if we were still up for meeting. No text for a while so I went outside and sat in the sun while I ate my packed lunch. During lunch I had someone ask me to fill out a survey so I did. I then had to run to south lawn to pick up tickets for MUSEX grand farewell party.
International Politics
International Politics tute- I was mad nervous about my paper that I had submitted a few weeks ago that was worth 50% of my grade. Jack my tutor didnt make it any easier. I thought we might get ours back today but he said he only corrected a few of them. At the end of the tute he had some rant about foreigners and how horrid they were, and why cant they just stay in their own country because they arent an asset to this country seeing as how they are so dumb. well, i thought this for sure was a reference to me. some anxiety later we got out of lecture and I asked my friend what that was all about. She told me to stop worrying, he was ranting about foreigners who were illiterate. well at least im literate, maybe he wasnt talking about my horrid paper?
Friday, October 22, 2010
Today I had a good sleep in. I didnt get to sleep in on wednesday or the wednesday before so I took friday with arms wide open.
I wasnt as productive as possible. I worked on some laundry.
In the evening we had to miss Peters fish fry to go to Becs highschool friend Chloe (not the chloe im always talking about) 21st birthday party. We had some time trying to find the place but when we did we parked and checked our names off the guest list. Got in and bec and I had
Chloes martini and finger food. Then some wine. I didnt really know anyone besides Alice and her bf Dave. When we sat down with some of Chloes work mates I made friends easily.
some champers later and it was speech time. I always love it when they give speaches, even if I dont know the people very well I like to hear the funny stories and the wonderful qualities of the person.
After speeches I got up and stood with the work group and chatted and danced until it was time to go home. I felt classy getting tipsy off of champers.
Indigenous studies
Nap
Listened to fridays genetics lecture because I didnt have a chance over the weekend.
Genetics Tute
Genetics lecture
Dinner and then HW
On the ride home I read this sign that was on a shop window.
It says: Happiness is like pissing your pants- everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth.
hahahaaaa- i love melb
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Nothing interesting:
Indigenous studies
Nap
International Politics lecture
Hw
Indigenous studies tute
There has been a campaign on many of melbournes billboards and signs inside of trains about getting tested for std's. Its extreamly amusing, and here is why....
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
This week is a bit odd. I have a lab in genetics even though I had one last week. However, i have no psychology lab this week, that is next week. So i guess you could say its a half on half off week. Since there are two weeks worth of students for gen lab they need to have the lab for gen week 2 next week.
This lab was dissecting squid kinda interesting.
So Genetics lab
work on genetics review
Genetics Lecture
came home with peter
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Cognitive Psychology
Went to go have lunch with chloe and waited 20 minutes before texting to ask if we were still up for meeting. No text for a while so I went outside and sat in the sun while I ate my packed lunch. During lunch I had someone ask me to fill out a survey so I did. I then had to run to south lawn to pick up tickets for MUSEX grand farewell party.
International Politics
International Politics tute- I was mad nervous about my paper that I had submitted a few weeks ago that was worth 50% of my grade. Jack my tutor didnt make it any easier. I thought we might get ours back today but he said he only corrected a few of them. At the end of the tute he had some rant about foreigners and how horrid they were, and why cant they just stay in their own country because they arent an asset to this country seeing as how they are so dumb. well, i thought this for sure was a reference to me. some anxiety later we got out of lecture and I asked my friend what that was all about. She told me to stop worrying, he was ranting about foreigners who were illiterate. well at least im literate, maybe he wasnt talking about my horrid paper?
Friday, October 22, 2010
Today I had a good sleep in. I didnt get to sleep in on wednesday or the wednesday before so I took friday with arms wide open.
I wasnt as productive as possible. I worked on some laundry.
In the evening we had to miss Peters fish fry to go to Becs highschool friend Chloe (not the chloe im always talking about) 21st birthday party. We had some time trying to find the place but when we did we parked and checked our names off the guest list. Got in and bec and I had
Chloes martini and finger food. Then some wine. I didnt really know anyone besides Alice and her bf Dave. When we sat down with some of Chloes work mates I made friends easily.some champers later and it was speech time. I always love it when they give speaches, even if I dont know the people very well I like to hear the funny stories and the wonderful qualities of the person.
After speeches I got up and stood with the work group and chatted and danced until it was time to go home. I felt classy getting tipsy off of champers.
Forget me, not
October 17, 2010
Today I woke up to spend the day with chris. He was supposed to come around at 11am according to texting the night before. However, he was drunk at the time so I had reason to believe he would forget. I called him at 1130am and he didnt forget about me, no, he had just woken up... aka I had woken him up. He told me that If i didnt mind waiting he would get his car and drive over. So I waited, and waited, and waited. And by the time he came around i was a bit pissed becuase it seemed like he had taken his gd time. He finally came around at 1ish and we sat around and chatted for a bit before going out to go watch a movie.
We got to the movie theater and decided upon resident evil at like 4ish. We had a while to go so we went to the food court and as Chris flirted with the cashier we ordered souvlaki (aka gyros). We ate and talked and then went to go see the movie.
Resident evil was good, but i hadnt seen res evil 1 so i was a bit confused in the beginning. It was a 3-d movie which was kinda cool. After the movie I came home for dinner. Chris came in for a bit to say hi to everyone and then peaced out. We ate tea and then time for Offspring!!
Today I woke up to spend the day with chris. He was supposed to come around at 11am according to texting the night before. However, he was drunk at the time so I had reason to believe he would forget. I called him at 1130am and he didnt forget about me, no, he had just woken up... aka I had woken him up. He told me that If i didnt mind waiting he would get his car and drive over. So I waited, and waited, and waited. And by the time he came around i was a bit pissed becuase it seemed like he had taken his gd time. He finally came around at 1ish and we sat around and chatted for a bit before going out to go watch a movie.
We got to the movie theater and decided upon resident evil at like 4ish. We had a while to go so we went to the food court and as Chris flirted with the cashier we ordered souvlaki (aka gyros). We ate and talked and then went to go see the movie.
Resident evil was good, but i hadnt seen res evil 1 so i was a bit confused in the beginning. It was a 3-d movie which was kinda cool. After the movie I came home for dinner. Chris came in for a bit to say hi to everyone and then peaced out. We ate tea and then time for Offspring!!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Winer Tour
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Today was the winery tour which meant I had to wake up early to be on the train by 8 so that I could get to the city, pick up some lunch and get to the meeting place on campus. I grabbed some hungry jacks double cheeseburger and chicken sandwich.
I got to south lawn on campus and there were some people already there. Nobody I really knew but I make friends easily. I was soon chatting with two people from france before we were moved undercover to get out of the rain. I then started talking with 3 guys from germany and a girl from sweeden. We joked that we had made it to the first out of three wineries because everyone started drinking goon already. We then moved to another overhange we called our second winery. Some more drinking and then moved to a third location, ie the third winery, before hopping on the bus. I sat down and a kid from italy sat next to me who lived in belgium.
We chatted and drank goon on our way to our first winery... Chandon. When we got there everyone on the bus was busting to take a piss so we took a bathroom break before going on a tour of the facilities and learning about wine. God, there is so much I didnt know about wine.... the dents in the bottle are for the fermentation process and not just bc they want to give you less wine, different wood making the barrels make the wine taste different, they turn the bottles a quarter of an inch one way and then rotate it back 1/8th of an inch.
Now for some history about Chandon: Chandon was established by one fo the most famous champagne houses, Moet and Chandon which was founded in 1743 in the Champagne region of France.
Ok thats it about history.
Here is our cute tour guy who is also possibly gay but i seriously cant tell sometimes here.
Here is what the grapes go through all during the different seasons:
Spring- September to November:
Bud Burst- As the temperature begin to rise, the vines awaken from their winter dormancy. Buds begin to burst and new shoots appear, each one destined to produce on or two bunches of grapes. The new shoots are spread along the trellis which ensures ideal exposure of both leaves and bunches to the sun. If spring frosts threaten, hellicopters can be called in to prevent frost damage by mixing warm air from above with the freezing air near the ground.
Summer- December to February:
Vine growth and Berry development: When the warmth of smmer arrives, growth accelerates. This is when our viticulturists are at their most vigilant to ensure the leaf canopy allows the fruit to even exposure to sunlight and to manage disease risk. If the crop is high, bunches are removed to ensure that the remaining grapes reach their optimum flavor. As they begin to ripen (veraison), the grapes soften, start to change colour, sugar levels increase, acidity decreases and most importantly, ripe fruit flavours develop.
Fall- March to May:
Harvest: Autumn is the business end of the vintage. Harvest is the culmination of a whole year of dedicated labour and there is a sense of excitement and urgency throughout the vineyard and winery. Grapes for our sparkling wines are picked first and Cabernet Sauvignon for still wines always the last. Once the harvest is over, the leaves on the vines turn a spectacular golden yellow and then, like a final curtain call, fall gently to the earth.
Winter- April to August
Dormancy and Pruning: During winter when the vines are dormant they are spur pruned. This is long and exacting manual work. The strongest shoots are selected and cut back to one or two buds which establishes balanced growth and the right crop level for the following vintage. Once pruning is completed, the neat rows of pruned, dormant vines are ready for spring and the start of the cycle again.
There were signs of this on the wall and i took photos but they came out readable but mad blurry. I was like, I am a bit tipsy right now and can probs read it on my camera right now, if i cant read it when i sober up then ill just get a bit tipsy so that i can read it again and put it in my blog. lol
Here is a pict of the area where they "stomp on the grapes" cept well they dont step on them no more.
The Barrel Room:
The Influence of the Barrels-
When wine is aged or fermented in barrel there are three important influences:
1) addition of desireable oak flavours (eg Vanillin) and oak tannins into the wine.
2) The rounding of the mouth feel and integration of the oak and grape flavours and
3) the slow and desirable maturation of the wine.
The choice of oak:
The winemakers challenge is to match the wines fruit flavours and tannin structure to an
appropriate type of oak- one with natural aroma and personality that will complement and enhance the character of the wine. As our signature style is one of elegance and restraint, French oak is usually the oak barrel of choice, with wines aged in both new and aged barriques. Chardonnay, our only white wine to receive barrel fermentation, is aged for 9 to 12 months in oak barrels before being blended and bottled, while our red wines receive between 9 
to 18 months barrel ageing, depending on the grape variety.
After this we went to the shop to buy some if we liked and they also sat us down to have a sample glass of one of their three available wines. I had a sparkling sweet white : )
They also gave us a free peice of cheese and bread!! ohh ahhh, so generous.
After this people could go buy some or wander outside. I wandered outside and tried to take a jumping shot with the vines in the back.
We then got back in the bus, drank some more goon on our way to the next one. This winery was a bit different. We essentailly got our glass and could have any wine/as much wine as we wanted. I tasted a lot of wines and learned some interesting things. I do not like sweet red dessert wines. I do not enjoy Savengon as much as Chardonnay. I completely find Shiraz too woody. Moscota is still my fave.
I used the bathroom and something minor and funny happened that I laughed the whole time. I then realized I was drunk.
We got back on the bus and went to some little town to have lunch. I already had mine but some others didnt. So we sat outside a restaurant (bc they had no room inside) and I ate my hungry jacks while others ate or bought theres.
We then got back on the bus for our final wine stop. I was a bit tired of sweet wine at this time and the food in my stomach soaked up some of the booze, sobering me up. The third winery had a hens night going on. Everyone was a bit rambunctious at this point. I tried to have a glass of Riesling but tasted it and knew i was done for the day. I put it in the big as spit pot that was sitting there. To me the wine tasted pretty bad, but idk if it truely was bad quality or i was just over it. some things in the 3rd winery...
I like the sign, not so sure about the moose.
After some of the guys almost got thrown out and we finished we headed to a side trip to go to a brewery just to mix it up a little. It wasnt officially part of the trip and you had to pay for the beer so I stayed out of it. They sold some choc beer which sounded interesting but I didnt want to have to pay. I stood outside with two aussies and an american as they drank their beers, told stories of them and their girlfriends new cats, etc etc.
After this we got on the bus to head home. I sat next to the group i talked with at the beer bar. After the winery everyone planned on going to some all you can eat buffet of dumplings which was 15$. However, I had lasagna waiting for me at home which i couldnt pass up.
I got home in time to run into bec bf she was out for the night. I had had a long day and not enough time to get ready to go out with her so i stayed back. We just relaxed at dinner and watched tv afterwards. I had a few good glasses of milk to get rid of the sweetness left in my mouth from the wine.
Today was the winery tour which meant I had to wake up early to be on the train by 8 so that I could get to the city, pick up some lunch and get to the meeting place on campus. I grabbed some hungry jacks double cheeseburger and chicken sandwich.
I got to south lawn on campus and there were some people already there. Nobody I really knew but I make friends easily. I was soon chatting with two people from france before we were moved undercover to get out of the rain. I then started talking with 3 guys from germany and a girl from sweeden. We joked that we had made it to the first out of three wineries because everyone started drinking goon already. We then moved to another overhange we called our second winery. Some more drinking and then moved to a third location, ie the third winery, before hopping on the bus. I sat down and a kid from italy sat next to me who lived in belgium.
We chatted and drank goon on our way to our first winery... Chandon. When we got there everyone on the bus was busting to take a piss so we took a bathroom break before going on a tour of the facilities and learning about wine. God, there is so much I didnt know about wine.... the dents in the bottle are for the fermentation process and not just bc they want to give you less wine, different wood making the barrels make the wine taste different, they turn the bottles a quarter of an inch one way and then rotate it back 1/8th of an inch.
Now for some history about Chandon: Chandon was established by one fo the most famous champagne houses, Moet and Chandon which was founded in 1743 in the Champagne region of France.
Ok thats it about history.
Here is our cute tour guy who is also possibly gay but i seriously cant tell sometimes here.
Here is what the grapes go through all during the different seasons:
Spring- September to November:
Bud Burst- As the temperature begin to rise, the vines awaken from their winter dormancy. Buds begin to burst and new shoots appear, each one destined to produce on or two bunches of grapes. The new shoots are spread along the trellis which ensures ideal exposure of both leaves and bunches to the sun. If spring frosts threaten, hellicopters can be called in to prevent frost damage by mixing warm air from above with the freezing air near the ground.
Summer- December to February:
Vine growth and Berry development: When the warmth of smmer arrives, growth accelerates. This is when our viticulturists are at their most vigilant to ensure the leaf canopy allows the fruit to even exposure to sunlight and to manage disease risk. If the crop is high, bunches are removed to ensure that the remaining grapes reach their optimum flavor. As they begin to ripen (veraison), the grapes soften, start to change colour, sugar levels increase, acidity decreases and most importantly, ripe fruit flavours develop.
Fall- March to May:
Harvest: Autumn is the business end of the vintage. Harvest is the culmination of a whole year of dedicated labour and there is a sense of excitement and urgency throughout the vineyard and winery. Grapes for our sparkling wines are picked first and Cabernet Sauvignon for still wines always the last. Once the harvest is over, the leaves on the vines turn a spectacular golden yellow and then, like a final curtain call, fall gently to the earth.
Winter- April to August
Dormancy and Pruning: During winter when the vines are dormant they are spur pruned. This is long and exacting manual work. The strongest shoots are selected and cut back to one or two buds which establishes balanced growth and the right crop level for the following vintage. Once pruning is completed, the neat rows of pruned, dormant vines are ready for spring and the start of the cycle again.
There were signs of this on the wall and i took photos but they came out readable but mad blurry. I was like, I am a bit tipsy right now and can probs read it on my camera right now, if i cant read it when i sober up then ill just get a bit tipsy so that i can read it again and put it in my blog. lol
Here is a pict of the area where they "stomp on the grapes" cept well they dont step on them no more.
The Barrel Room:
The Influence of the Barrels-
When wine is aged or fermented in barrel there are three important influences:
1) addition of desireable oak flavours (eg Vanillin) and oak tannins into the wine.
2) The rounding of the mouth feel and integration of the oak and grape flavours and
3) the slow and desirable maturation of the wine.
The choice of oak:
The winemakers challenge is to match the wines fruit flavours and tannin structure to an
appropriate type of oak- one with natural aroma and personality that will complement and enhance the character of the wine. As our signature style is one of elegance and restraint, French oak is usually the oak barrel of choice, with wines aged in both new and aged barriques. Chardonnay, our only white wine to receive barrel fermentation, is aged for 9 to 12 months in oak barrels before being blended and bottled, while our red wines receive between 9 
to 18 months barrel ageing, depending on the grape variety.After this we went to the shop to buy some if we liked and they also sat us down to have a sample glass of one of their three available wines. I had a sparkling sweet white : )
They also gave us a free peice of cheese and bread!! ohh ahhh, so generous.
After this people could go buy some or wander outside. I wandered outside and tried to take a jumping shot with the vines in the back.
We then got back in the bus, drank some more goon on our way to the next one. This winery was a bit different. We essentailly got our glass and could have any wine/as much wine as we wanted. I tasted a lot of wines and learned some interesting things. I do not like sweet red dessert wines. I do not enjoy Savengon as much as Chardonnay. I completely find Shiraz too woody. Moscota is still my fave.
I used the bathroom and something minor and funny happened that I laughed the whole time. I then realized I was drunk.
We got back on the bus and went to some little town to have lunch. I already had mine but some others didnt. So we sat outside a restaurant (bc they had no room inside) and I ate my hungry jacks while others ate or bought theres.
We then got back on the bus for our final wine stop. I was a bit tired of sweet wine at this time and the food in my stomach soaked up some of the booze, sobering me up. The third winery had a hens night going on. Everyone was a bit rambunctious at this point. I tried to have a glass of Riesling but tasted it and knew i was done for the day. I put it in the big as spit pot that was sitting there. To me the wine tasted pretty bad, but idk if it truely was bad quality or i was just over it. some things in the 3rd winery...
I like the sign, not so sure about the moose.
After some of the guys almost got thrown out and we finished we headed to a side trip to go to a brewery just to mix it up a little. It wasnt officially part of the trip and you had to pay for the beer so I stayed out of it. They sold some choc beer which sounded interesting but I didnt want to have to pay. I stood outside with two aussies and an american as they drank their beers, told stories of them and their girlfriends new cats, etc etc.
After this we got on the bus to head home. I sat next to the group i talked with at the beer bar. After the winery everyone planned on going to some all you can eat buffet of dumplings which was 15$. However, I had lasagna waiting for me at home which i couldnt pass up.
I got home in time to run into bec bf she was out for the night. I had had a long day and not enough time to get ready to go out with her so i stayed back. We just relaxed at dinner and watched tv afterwards. I had a few good glasses of milk to get rid of the sweetness left in my mouth from the wine.
Soccer time
Friday, October 15, 2010
So I was going to go to the immigration museum and then realized, A. I was tired and B. It was raining cats and dogs outside. So instead I stayed home and attempted to get some homework done. I wasnt as productive as possible though.
Once bec came home I grabbed a bit to eat and then Micheal, Bec and I went off to go play soccer indoors. Brett, Jaimie, Jess, Dale, Daniel, Laura, Mic and Sarah were all there. I played on a team with Jamie, Micheal, Daniel while Brett was a sub for either team while some guy i didnt know, Laura, Dale, and Bec played on the other team. All the rest showed their support by cheering us on. There was a rule that a girl had to touch the ball before someone scored. Halfway through when our team put Jaimie on goalie which meant i had to touch the ball all the time. they decided just to set me up so that i would just be the one who scored. This worked for me. If it wasnt for the team I wouldnt have been able to score as well as I did (and I def missed a good bit of the time). none the less the team thought i did such a good job (i guess) that at the end of the game when we won I got the trophy for being MVP. I seriously wasnt the most valuable player but they wouldnt take no for an answer.
After the game we played until our time ran out. It was essentially just kicking the ball around. We then went over to the bar for some drinks and I got myself a cooler which was refreshing. I had a fantastic time, have a new trophy to bring home, and realize how much i need to work out when i get back!
So I was going to go to the immigration museum and then realized, A. I was tired and B. It was raining cats and dogs outside. So instead I stayed home and attempted to get some homework done. I wasnt as productive as possible though.
Once bec came home I grabbed a bit to eat and then Micheal, Bec and I went off to go play soccer indoors. Brett, Jaimie, Jess, Dale, Daniel, Laura, Mic and Sarah were all there. I played on a team with Jamie, Micheal, Daniel while Brett was a sub for either team while some guy i didnt know, Laura, Dale, and Bec played on the other team. All the rest showed their support by cheering us on. There was a rule that a girl had to touch the ball before someone scored. Halfway through when our team put Jaimie on goalie which meant i had to touch the ball all the time. they decided just to set me up so that i would just be the one who scored. This worked for me. If it wasnt for the team I wouldnt have been able to score as well as I did (and I def missed a good bit of the time). none the less the team thought i did such a good job (i guess) that at the end of the game when we won I got the trophy for being MVP. I seriously wasnt the most valuable player but they wouldnt take no for an answer.
After the game we played until our time ran out. It was essentially just kicking the ball around. We then went over to the bar for some drinks and I got myself a cooler which was refreshing. I had a fantastic time, have a new trophy to bring home, and realize how much i need to work out when i get back!
Monday, November 22, 2010
Ye Gawds
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Today I had Psychology as usual.
Before lunch with Chloe and friends I made a phone call to chrissy to go over trip details. I booked the hostel as well and we are basically ready to go.
I went to go see Chloe and friends and chatted with them for a bit before leaving momentarily to go buy winery tour tickets for myself with MUSEX. I ran into Pearl on the way and we promised we would hang out. I had some issues finding MUSEX and ran into a french guy I had made friends with at the Pub crawl. He didnt know where I was supposed to go either and said he thought I was too late. Well he was wrong, and I found them a few yards away from him. I paid my 60$ and grabbed my ticket and then grabbed a Lemon squash from the barbie going on on south lawn.
Back to Chloe till class at 230. Politics. After politics I got ahold of Anu to get my money back. I had to run to the building she had class in and she finally gave it to me,half of it was in change.
I decided to just hang out outside my politics tute. Its on the second to tallest floor in the building and it has a great view...
Ive never been that far on that side of the city, but one day ill go exploring.
Politics was kinda fun as usual.
When I got back from school I jumped on my computer and it had some issues. I was faced with the same type of problem I had last friday. I tried to get on to dell through connecting by the same means as last time but it didnt work. I got on to dell right away on chat and fixed the problem temporarily. I was told that the company who installed my stuff on the new hard drive installed my drivers incorrectly. He said i needed it reinstalled especially if it happens agian. GOD!!
I later got on the phone to chris.
Today I had Psychology as usual.
Before lunch with Chloe and friends I made a phone call to chrissy to go over trip details. I booked the hostel as well and we are basically ready to go.
I went to go see Chloe and friends and chatted with them for a bit before leaving momentarily to go buy winery tour tickets for myself with MUSEX. I ran into Pearl on the way and we promised we would hang out. I had some issues finding MUSEX and ran into a french guy I had made friends with at the Pub crawl. He didnt know where I was supposed to go either and said he thought I was too late. Well he was wrong, and I found them a few yards away from him. I paid my 60$ and grabbed my ticket and then grabbed a Lemon squash from the barbie going on on south lawn.
Back to Chloe till class at 230. Politics. After politics I got ahold of Anu to get my money back. I had to run to the building she had class in and she finally gave it to me,half of it was in change.
I decided to just hang out outside my politics tute. Its on the second to tallest floor in the building and it has a great view...
Ive never been that far on that side of the city, but one day ill go exploring.Politics was kinda fun as usual.
When I got back from school I jumped on my computer and it had some issues. I was faced with the same type of problem I had last friday. I tried to get on to dell through connecting by the same means as last time but it didnt work. I got on to dell right away on chat and fixed the problem temporarily. I was told that the company who installed my stuff on the new hard drive installed my drivers incorrectly. He said i needed it reinstalled especially if it happens agian. GOD!!
I later got on the phone to chris.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Genetics Wednesday
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
This is a week for getting back unacceptable grades!
Since its an "on" week I had Genetics Lab. First thing that happens when we get in is I get my old lab grade back which was graded off of diagrams we had drawn last lab. I got a 5, out of 10. its a pass but thats it. Disappointing but not completely surprising bc I was never told how to make a proper diagram. Still i shouldnt have excuses.
The lab today was about plants. we did a lot of cutting up of flowers and such. not difficult but not extremely interesting either. At the end of the lab we had our usual test, this one was worth the full amount of points and I didnt really have enough time to really finish it. I finished it but I could have used more time. (turns out I actually got an 8 on this one, not to shabby).
It was raining outside when I was done with the lab. MUSEX the exchange club im in had a bbq on southlawn for us so I headed over to that. I got a chicken and then a beef sausage with onions and tomato sauce (aka ketchup). I ran into Cedric in line but he disapeared after he got his food. After I ate I went to the library to work on my Genetics study guide.
Genetics Lecture and then I was on the train to get home. Peter was still out so I didnt go to his work for a drive home.
Quiet evening at the house tonight.
This is a week for getting back unacceptable grades!
Since its an "on" week I had Genetics Lab. First thing that happens when we get in is I get my old lab grade back which was graded off of diagrams we had drawn last lab. I got a 5, out of 10. its a pass but thats it. Disappointing but not completely surprising bc I was never told how to make a proper diagram. Still i shouldnt have excuses.
The lab today was about plants. we did a lot of cutting up of flowers and such. not difficult but not extremely interesting either. At the end of the lab we had our usual test, this one was worth the full amount of points and I didnt really have enough time to really finish it. I finished it but I could have used more time. (turns out I actually got an 8 on this one, not to shabby).
It was raining outside when I was done with the lab. MUSEX the exchange club im in had a bbq on southlawn for us so I headed over to that. I got a chicken and then a beef sausage with onions and tomato sauce (aka ketchup). I ran into Cedric in line but he disapeared after he got his food. After I ate I went to the library to work on my Genetics study guide.
Genetics Lecture and then I was on the train to get home. Peter was still out so I didnt go to his work for a drive home.
Quiet evening at the house tonight.
What is a Human Centipede??
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Indigenous Studies and then nap time in the library!
International Politics
Iced choc! as i worked on my genetics study guide
Indigenous Studies Tute
I got home and Peter had left for a mini vacay. It was just us girls and instead of doing hw Bec and I spent a good long time looking up scary movie trailers and asking, have you seen it. I think the movie trailer that sticks most in my mind now is The Human Centipede (dont watch if you seriously dont want to be freaked out, seriously chrissy probs not for you) (if you look can you find where there is a picture of a "dog centipede"?).
Indigenous Studies and then nap time in the library!
International Politics
Iced choc! as i worked on my genetics study guide
Indigenous Studies Tute
I got home and Peter had left for a mini vacay. It was just us girls and instead of doing hw Bec and I spent a good long time looking up scary movie trailers and asking, have you seen it. I think the movie trailer that sticks most in my mind now is The Human Centipede (dont watch if you seriously dont want to be freaked out, seriously chrissy probs not for you) (if you look can you find where there is a picture of a "dog centipede"?).
This is unnaceptable
Monday, October 11, 2010
An On week... : (
I had indigenous studies, nothing new or interesting there.
Then lunch outside in the sun.
I had Cognitive Psychology Prac and it was a bit of fun. We watched attention tests like this one. However, at the end of the prac we got our labs back. I was expecting a good grade on it and was a bit crushed when I got a Pass (which is the last thing above a fail). soo disappointed. I looked it over and it wasnt like I had really f-ed it up. It was more like I didnt know what they expected. I guess you learn how to write these things in Psych 100 levels.
Anyway, I went to genetics prac and then genetics lecture.
I got home and I was just a bit down. I seriously havent gotten a grade that low since, well, forever. (not really, it just feels like that). I tried to stay as in a good mood as I could muster and I was too ashamed to share it with anyone anyway.
Today is Jess's bday fam party. Bec, Chloe and I drove out to Fasta Pasta for dinner and met up with Jess and her fam, dale, daniel, laura, Jaimie, brett, jana, mel etc etc. I got gnoochi which was good. We all ate and then they brought out three ice cream cakes. We sang happy birthday and then our table got a whole cake. we demolished it. She then opened her prezzy's. She got some cool stuff. I had a chat with her grandparents when she was doing this and they were super sweet.
After Fasta Pasta we put the prezzy's in her car and then drove across the street to a bar. Most of us got alc granadas which were delish. We sat around chatting for a bit till we realized there was free pool till a certian time. We indulged. Dale played Daniel and he simultaneously played a game with me. He won, but we were the last to finish, yes i was that bad and i must have given some of my bad luck to him too. After our games we said our goodbyes and went our own ways.
An On week... : (
I had indigenous studies, nothing new or interesting there.
Then lunch outside in the sun.
I had Cognitive Psychology Prac and it was a bit of fun. We watched attention tests like this one. However, at the end of the prac we got our labs back. I was expecting a good grade on it and was a bit crushed when I got a Pass (which is the last thing above a fail). soo disappointed. I looked it over and it wasnt like I had really f-ed it up. It was more like I didnt know what they expected. I guess you learn how to write these things in Psych 100 levels.
Anyway, I went to genetics prac and then genetics lecture.
I got home and I was just a bit down. I seriously havent gotten a grade that low since, well, forever. (not really, it just feels like that). I tried to stay as in a good mood as I could muster and I was too ashamed to share it with anyone anyway.
Today is Jess's bday fam party. Bec, Chloe and I drove out to Fasta Pasta for dinner and met up with Jess and her fam, dale, daniel, laura, Jaimie, brett, jana, mel etc etc. I got gnoochi which was good. We all ate and then they brought out three ice cream cakes. We sang happy birthday and then our table got a whole cake. we demolished it. She then opened her prezzy's. She got some cool stuff. I had a chat with her grandparents when she was doing this and they were super sweet.
After Fasta Pasta we put the prezzy's in her car and then drove across the street to a bar. Most of us got alc granadas which were delish. We sat around chatting for a bit till we realized there was free pool till a certian time. We indulged. Dale played Daniel and he simultaneously played a game with me. He won, but we were the last to finish, yes i was that bad and i must have given some of my bad luck to him too. After our games we said our goodbyes and went our own ways.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Out with Chris
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Today I went out with Chris. It must have been around 12 or 1 when he picked me up from the house and we went over to his area a good 20 minutes away. We stopped in the mall to grab him some lunch and we chatted as he ate heaps of food. Afterward we had to run over to the Kmart to pick up some socks for Chris so that we could go bowling across the street.
We grabbed the socks and then got back in the car to drive to the bowling place. We signed up for two rounds of bowling and grabbed our adorable shoes (not). he had to search around the room to find a correct weight ball with the right finger holes but my "perfect" ball was already on our table thingy. He had told me he was pretty bad so I was a bit surprised when he rocked it out. At the same time he was rocking it out, I was so totally not. But first round was practice anyway (which is good because I was like half of his score).
Second round, the real round, was a bit better... aka I was winning in the beginning. At the end he started getting some headway and in the end he won by just 3 points.
After the game we got back in the car, after checking the stats of the racing going on. We drove to Jb-Hi Fi to check out something he wanted to see. There was some video game that he wanted to buy but then didnt want to spend the money on. He didnt end up getting anything.
We didnt know what to do so we went to go see a movie. We ended up watching the Sorcerers Apprentice which was actually pretty good for a kids film. A bit predictable but fun and exciting all the same. After the movie I called home right away. I had missed a call from Anita asking if I was going to be home for tea.
I came home for tea and we watched offspring. I had a good time, but it was a bit odd. I thought it was a date, and maybe it was but it seemed more like we were hanging out as friends by the way he interacted with me.
Today I went out with Chris. It must have been around 12 or 1 when he picked me up from the house and we went over to his area a good 20 minutes away. We stopped in the mall to grab him some lunch and we chatted as he ate heaps of food. Afterward we had to run over to the Kmart to pick up some socks for Chris so that we could go bowling across the street.
We grabbed the socks and then got back in the car to drive to the bowling place. We signed up for two rounds of bowling and grabbed our adorable shoes (not). he had to search around the room to find a correct weight ball with the right finger holes but my "perfect" ball was already on our table thingy. He had told me he was pretty bad so I was a bit surprised when he rocked it out. At the same time he was rocking it out, I was so totally not. But first round was practice anyway (which is good because I was like half of his score).
Second round, the real round, was a bit better... aka I was winning in the beginning. At the end he started getting some headway and in the end he won by just 3 points.
After the game we got back in the car, after checking the stats of the racing going on. We drove to Jb-Hi Fi to check out something he wanted to see. There was some video game that he wanted to buy but then didnt want to spend the money on. He didnt end up getting anything.
We didnt know what to do so we went to go see a movie. We ended up watching the Sorcerers Apprentice which was actually pretty good for a kids film. A bit predictable but fun and exciting all the same. After the movie I called home right away. I had missed a call from Anita asking if I was going to be home for tea.
I came home for tea and we watched offspring. I had a good time, but it was a bit odd. I thought it was a date, and maybe it was but it seemed more like we were hanging out as friends by the way he interacted with me.
birthday x4 -1
Saturday, October 9, 2010
As I was going to bed last night my computer was having issues so I turned it off only to be confronted with it this morning.
In the morning when I faced the issue I put the computer in safe mode with networking and had the people at dell "take control" of my computer from their computer, very convenient but some people are scared of what they can do. I have absolutely no issue with this concept as it has helped me in the past. Anyway, they fixed my computer by re-installing my driver or something.
today was the day of birthday parties, 4 to be exact; mic's, jess's, micheal's, and Jessica's.
Mic's was at the crown in a private function room at about 2. he had a fantastic cake that looked like a car model, finger food and drinks on the tab. I didnt really know anyone besides the obvious, Bec, Micheal, Tammy (micheals sister), Mics family (which i met at Arons bday party), Mic and Sarah but I chatted it up with some co-workers of Mics that were interesting will sipping on vodka lemon limes. There was good music and a slide show on in the background. I spent the most time standing and talking but towards the end sat down with everyone as my feet needed a break. We left about 5ish to go home and get changed.
We got to micheals and Bec and Micheal decided that I should go home to grab my passport in case (seeing as how I got rejected at the Stamo last night). After grabbing my passport from the house, changing at micheals, and grabbing a snack, we had no time to get to Jessicas (Becs cousin on Anitas side) Bday party that was across the town. So we headed off back to Crown Jess's bday party.
Jess's party was in the bar section of Crown. There were some people that I knew, and others that I didnt. I made friends with a cute couple that jess met through dance competitions. The group was kinda scattered and everyone was constantly migrating inside, outside, upstairs, bar, bathroom, etc. At one point we were outside and Micheal the birthday boy came out. We exchanged birthday remarks and chatted for a bit bf I headed upstairs with jess. Jess asked Dale her bf to get her a drink, and he went downstairs. Some guy started talking to me and we chatted for a while until everyone upstairs went downstairs. He said he was going to get drink from a bar and offered me one, I said no, and he assured me it was no problem, he knew what it was like to be a poor exchange student. He went to go get a vodka raspberry when Bec came up stairs to get me so we could go home. I quickly tried to asker her what I should do, accept the drink and leave or not accept and leave, as i had seen that he already paid for it and was walking up the stairs. In the confusion, I thought she said accept it so I did. I also tried to say I needed to go talk to jess, so they both followed me down the stairs. I tried to slip away from him as best as I could while saying goodbye to everyone. It wasnt very smooth but w/e. I quickly said goodbye to Micheal and we were on our way home.
As I was going to bed last night my computer was having issues so I turned it off only to be confronted with it this morning.
In the morning when I faced the issue I put the computer in safe mode with networking and had the people at dell "take control" of my computer from their computer, very convenient but some people are scared of what they can do. I have absolutely no issue with this concept as it has helped me in the past. Anyway, they fixed my computer by re-installing my driver or something.
today was the day of birthday parties, 4 to be exact; mic's, jess's, micheal's, and Jessica's.
Mic's was at the crown in a private function room at about 2. he had a fantastic cake that looked like a car model, finger food and drinks on the tab. I didnt really know anyone besides the obvious, Bec, Micheal, Tammy (micheals sister), Mics family (which i met at Arons bday party), Mic and Sarah but I chatted it up with some co-workers of Mics that were interesting will sipping on vodka lemon limes. There was good music and a slide show on in the background. I spent the most time standing and talking but towards the end sat down with everyone as my feet needed a break. We left about 5ish to go home and get changed.
We got to micheals and Bec and Micheal decided that I should go home to grab my passport in case (seeing as how I got rejected at the Stamo last night). After grabbing my passport from the house, changing at micheals, and grabbing a snack, we had no time to get to Jessicas (Becs cousin on Anitas side) Bday party that was across the town. So we headed off back to Crown Jess's bday party.
Jess's party was in the bar section of Crown. There were some people that I knew, and others that I didnt. I made friends with a cute couple that jess met through dance competitions. The group was kinda scattered and everyone was constantly migrating inside, outside, upstairs, bar, bathroom, etc. At one point we were outside and Micheal the birthday boy came out. We exchanged birthday remarks and chatted for a bit bf I headed upstairs with jess. Jess asked Dale her bf to get her a drink, and he went downstairs. Some guy started talking to me and we chatted for a while until everyone upstairs went downstairs. He said he was going to get drink from a bar and offered me one, I said no, and he assured me it was no problem, he knew what it was like to be a poor exchange student. He went to go get a vodka raspberry when Bec came up stairs to get me so we could go home. I quickly tried to asker her what I should do, accept the drink and leave or not accept and leave, as i had seen that he already paid for it and was walking up the stairs. In the confusion, I thought she said accept it so I did. I also tried to say I needed to go talk to jess, so they both followed me down the stairs. I tried to slip away from him as best as I could while saying goodbye to everyone. It wasnt very smooth but w/e. I quickly said goodbye to Micheal and we were on our way home.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Footy Party
Friday, October 8, 2010
Today I got to sleep in and then do Hw outside. Pretty good life.
This evening bec and I had plans to go to the Sandown footy ceremony so we missed out on Peters amazing fish fry.
The footy ceremony was fun. All the guys were there looking their best, but acting all the same, which i the way id have it anyway. They went through all the games for the different levels who they played and who won. They also chose MVP for each game and at the end the individual who got the most MVP for the year got awarded. There were also awards for most improved, best effort, stuff like that.
Dinner wasnt too bad. They had lamb and chicken along with cheese potatoes and peas.
I didnt drink that much because I only brought a 20. bec shouted the first round, I went to go get the second round and riddy got it. I had to get the next one then but i couldnt afford one for myself because i had to shout back riddy and bec. didnt have a problem with that bc I got the same amount of drinks and all anyway. Later on one of the older guys got us both drinks which was super sweet of him.
After the ceremony all the guys were going to head over to the Stanford Hotel and it sounded fun so we decided to go. We hitched a rid with one of the guys and then got in the super huge line at the Stamo. Some of the guys knew the band so we tried to get in with that but they only let like 5 of us in, not including either bec or I. This meant back to the line. We waited in line for like 45minutes. When we got to the front of the line bec showed her id and got in bf me. I showed my id and the guy was like, i need you to speak with my boss. ?? he gave my id to his boss and the boss looked at my id and said, noo you cant come in, you dont have proper id. Excuse me? He said he would need to see my Passport or international id. we tried compromising, arguing, and pointing out why i should be allowed in but it was a no go. So bec and i caught a taxi home and had an earlier night than planned.
Today I got to sleep in and then do Hw outside. Pretty good life.
This evening bec and I had plans to go to the Sandown footy ceremony so we missed out on Peters amazing fish fry.
The footy ceremony was fun. All the guys were there looking their best, but acting all the same, which i the way id have it anyway. They went through all the games for the different levels who they played and who won. They also chose MVP for each game and at the end the individual who got the most MVP for the year got awarded. There were also awards for most improved, best effort, stuff like that.
Dinner wasnt too bad. They had lamb and chicken along with cheese potatoes and peas.
I didnt drink that much because I only brought a 20. bec shouted the first round, I went to go get the second round and riddy got it. I had to get the next one then but i couldnt afford one for myself because i had to shout back riddy and bec. didnt have a problem with that bc I got the same amount of drinks and all anyway. Later on one of the older guys got us both drinks which was super sweet of him.
After the ceremony all the guys were going to head over to the Stanford Hotel and it sounded fun so we decided to go. We hitched a rid with one of the guys and then got in the super huge line at the Stamo. Some of the guys knew the band so we tried to get in with that but they only let like 5 of us in, not including either bec or I. This meant back to the line. We waited in line for like 45minutes. When we got to the front of the line bec showed her id and got in bf me. I showed my id and the guy was like, i need you to speak with my boss. ?? he gave my id to his boss and the boss looked at my id and said, noo you cant come in, you dont have proper id. Excuse me? He said he would need to see my Passport or international id. we tried compromising, arguing, and pointing out why i should be allowed in but it was a no go. So bec and i caught a taxi home and had an earlier night than planned.
My phone be going crazy
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Class in the morning (seems like its been forever since ive been to school bc I only went on monday since I got back).
After psych lecture I did my own thing because Chloe couldnt do lunch. I talked to Chrissy a bit about our plans and later mom as she filled me in about NY. I texted Chris a bit in between (like all day).
International Politics
After Int Politics I ran to the Asia center to meet Anu to get my 20$ back. Almost there and she texted me, "I have to go to class now". I tried calling her back right away but she didnt pick up.
I walked to my International Politics tute instead.
After class I came home and worked on HW mostly. Ive been debating going to the salsa thing but my class gets out at 515 and the class starts at 530 so its cutting it a bit close. maybe one day...
Class in the morning (seems like its been forever since ive been to school bc I only went on monday since I got back).
After psych lecture I did my own thing because Chloe couldnt do lunch. I talked to Chrissy a bit about our plans and later mom as she filled me in about NY. I texted Chris a bit in between (like all day).
International Politics
After Int Politics I ran to the Asia center to meet Anu to get my 20$ back. Almost there and she texted me, "I have to go to class now". I tried calling her back right away but she didnt pick up.
I walked to my International Politics tute instead.
After class I came home and worked on HW mostly. Ive been debating going to the salsa thing but my class gets out at 515 and the class starts at 530 so its cutting it a bit close. maybe one day...
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Didnt I pay you to do this??
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
My sleep was crap, I couldnt sleep well because I was all like, where the hell are my files. I came up with some hypothesis, 1. that it was somewhere on my computer that i just couldnt find, 2. that it was still on my old hard drive, 3. they had given me an external hard drive box and i hadnt looked inside and they had put the info on an external hard drive which was why the bill was so expensive.
Woke up around 10 or 11 and submitted my Indigenous paper online. I was a bit surprised I never heard anything about the extension, even a rejection I just expected something.
I called Wawan about not having my files on the computer. He told me they were on my old hard drive inside the box. I got the box out and it said external hard drive so i plugged it in and figured it out on my own. now isnt this what i paid them to do? It took all morning but I did it.
And once that was done I had to polish off an essay I had written before break for politics.
After dinner I chatted with Briana via skype which was fantastic bc I hadnt talked to her since her trip. I also got a fb friend request from Chris, the guy from Becs party a while ago, and chatted with him. We set a date to see each other and I was excited.
Slept a little bit better that night
My sleep was crap, I couldnt sleep well because I was all like, where the hell are my files. I came up with some hypothesis, 1. that it was somewhere on my computer that i just couldnt find, 2. that it was still on my old hard drive, 3. they had given me an external hard drive box and i hadnt looked inside and they had put the info on an external hard drive which was why the bill was so expensive.
Woke up around 10 or 11 and submitted my Indigenous paper online. I was a bit surprised I never heard anything about the extension, even a rejection I just expected something.
I called Wawan about not having my files on the computer. He told me they were on my old hard drive inside the box. I got the box out and it said external hard drive so i plugged it in and figured it out on my own. now isnt this what i paid them to do? It took all morning but I did it.
And once that was done I had to polish off an essay I had written before break for politics.
After dinner I chatted with Briana via skype which was fantastic bc I hadnt talked to her since her trip. I also got a fb friend request from Chris, the guy from Becs party a while ago, and chatted with him. We set a date to see each other and I was excited.
Slept a little bit better that night
Skipping Class to fix the Comp
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Today I skipped uni to stay home and fix my comp.
I got up and tried to see if I could track the package any farther than it was last night. No change. Anita was out double checking the post so I waited for her to get back before calling the computer people and telling them I would just pay for the operating system.
I checked my email for a message from my lecturer about the extension I applied for. Nothing. I decided, since the paper was due tomorrow, that I had to get started on it. I started rewriting the 3 paragraphs that I had written over 2 weeks ago.
Anita came home and almost made me cry. She had my package in hand!!! Apparently the post had my package (maybe even yesterday) but they didnt put a slip into the mail box telling us to pick it up. She went to the counter and asked if anything came in for me. They said no. She asked if they could check the packages at their feet and it was in them. It really makes you wonder, why cant people just do their job??
Anyway we set off right away to bring it to the computer people. We dropped it off and he said that it would be done in the next two days (god). I asked if there was anyway to rush it that would be amazing but he didnt seem like he knew much of anything on the topic of what was going on so I didnt have much hope. I went home to continue writting my essay on Indigenous land rights.
I got a phone call at about 3pm from a guy named Wawan that my computer was fixed and if I wouldnt mind waiting till 5 to pick it up so that he could be there when I picked it up. ? Sure why not. At about 4 we left the house to drop Peter off at the car dealer and pick up the comp. We got there 25 min bf 5 and Wawan wasnt there. I was handed all my stuff, old hard drive and some more stuff and was given a bill of 154$. I told him I was told it would be 60$ for the service and then he went into some complex explanation of why it was 154. I was so happy to have my comp back that I just paid it and left.
At night I finally turned on my computer and to my surprise there was nothing on it in the form of files or music or pictures. There was nothing I could do at that hour so I had to wait till the morning.
Today I skipped uni to stay home and fix my comp.
I got up and tried to see if I could track the package any farther than it was last night. No change. Anita was out double checking the post so I waited for her to get back before calling the computer people and telling them I would just pay for the operating system.
I checked my email for a message from my lecturer about the extension I applied for. Nothing. I decided, since the paper was due tomorrow, that I had to get started on it. I started rewriting the 3 paragraphs that I had written over 2 weeks ago.
Anita came home and almost made me cry. She had my package in hand!!! Apparently the post had my package (maybe even yesterday) but they didnt put a slip into the mail box telling us to pick it up. She went to the counter and asked if anything came in for me. They said no. She asked if they could check the packages at their feet and it was in them. It really makes you wonder, why cant people just do their job??
Anyway we set off right away to bring it to the computer people. We dropped it off and he said that it would be done in the next two days (god). I asked if there was anyway to rush it that would be amazing but he didnt seem like he knew much of anything on the topic of what was going on so I didnt have much hope. I went home to continue writting my essay on Indigenous land rights.
I got a phone call at about 3pm from a guy named Wawan that my computer was fixed and if I wouldnt mind waiting till 5 to pick it up so that he could be there when I picked it up. ? Sure why not. At about 4 we left the house to drop Peter off at the car dealer and pick up the comp. We got there 25 min bf 5 and Wawan wasnt there. I was handed all my stuff, old hard drive and some more stuff and was given a bill of 154$. I told him I was told it would be 60$ for the service and then he went into some complex explanation of why it was 154. I was so happy to have my comp back that I just paid it and left.
At night I finally turned on my computer and to my surprise there was nothing on it in the form of files or music or pictures. There was nothing I could do at that hour so I had to wait till the morning.
Off Week!
Monday, October 4, 2010
I had school today but my package from home was supposed to arrive so I gave Anita some instructions before I left.
I had class like normal on an off week:
Indigenous studies
Gen tute
Gen lecture
When I got home I asked about how the comp went. Apparently, the package wasnt in the mail box at the post office.....??? What happened to guaranteed delivery date? This was not cool so I called up the USPS service to talk to someone. I was told they didnt know where it was, they had tracked it up till NY and then lost it. UHHH, not cool. I gave my dad a call once it was about 8am EST and told him to call USPS because they would only look into it further if the sender called. I took a shower for bed while he did that. When I got out I gave him another call. He told me that they would look into and have it tracked in at most a week. There was nothing I could do about it, I figured I would just pay the extra to buy the operating system again so I could get my comp back. I decided I would stay home on tuesday, miss my classes and tute so i could figure everything out for real.
I had school today but my package from home was supposed to arrive so I gave Anita some instructions before I left.
I had class like normal on an off week:
Indigenous studies
Gen tute
Gen lecture
When I got home I asked about how the comp went. Apparently, the package wasnt in the mail box at the post office.....??? What happened to guaranteed delivery date? This was not cool so I called up the USPS service to talk to someone. I was told they didnt know where it was, they had tracked it up till NY and then lost it. UHHH, not cool. I gave my dad a call once it was about 8am EST and told him to call USPS because they would only look into it further if the sender called. I took a shower for bed while he did that. When I got out I gave him another call. He told me that they would look into and have it tracked in at most a week. There was nothing I could do about it, I figured I would just pay the extra to buy the operating system again so I could get my comp back. I decided I would stay home on tuesday, miss my classes and tute so i could figure everything out for real.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Last Days of Spring Break
The next three days in retrospect
Where is it??
Friday, October 1, 2010
I woke up at 10am. First thing I did was check up about my computer. My dad sent me an email letting me know he sent me a package full of my computer stuffs, ie operating system, and computer programs. I went online and did package tracker which showed me that the package would be here at least by monday. Last thing tracked on it was that it was in NY a bit ago bf being sent over sees. So really, nothing I can do about it now.
After that me and bec went out to see Anita and ran some errands, shopping mostly at chaddys. We went shopping for pens. When I was little I thought I had a pen collection bc I thought I had some cool pens (ie a pen that lights up, a baseball pen from a Keys game, and a pen that looked like a gecko). However, I didnt understand what a real pen collection looked like until now.
We grabbed some pizzas on the way home with Micheal and the four of us had dinner.
Go Collinwood and Mic!!
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Anita is back!
While I was gone I had missed the Footy finals between St.Kilda and Collingwood. However, that didnt seem to matter because the game was a tie and they had to have another one seeing as how they dont do overtime. So today was the big game and we met up at Micheals house to watch the game for Mics bday with Mic and Sarah. We watched the game with either beer, black russian, malabu and coke, or rum and coke in hand. We had a fantastic feast for lunch with Gyros that were delish. Collingwood ended up winning (yay) but everyone besides me was for St. Kilda so they werent pleased.
After the game we chilled for a bit before going out to a place for dinner. We met up with some of Mics family (dad, sisters, and Aron) and Josh. The five of us were stuffed so we sat and chatted while others ate dinner or snacked. It was a good time. Somewhere during the live singer me and josh thought she was going to break out in Just the two of us by Will Smith. Well she didnt, but we did, every single verse... hahaha.
In the end I drove back with Josh to the house and we talked music, important subject.
Ketchup
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Today was spent doing a bit of catch up because it was my last day of Spring Break. I catched up on Fridays lecture, wrote some postcards in the sun, painted my nails, and in between did my wash. Peter was proud I used the line.
I applied for an extension for my indigenous paper that was due on the coming Wednesday. I had wrote the first 3 paragraphs on my comp before it died and I was hopping that I wouldnt have to rewrite it.
Where is it??
Friday, October 1, 2010
I woke up at 10am. First thing I did was check up about my computer. My dad sent me an email letting me know he sent me a package full of my computer stuffs, ie operating system, and computer programs. I went online and did package tracker which showed me that the package would be here at least by monday. Last thing tracked on it was that it was in NY a bit ago bf being sent over sees. So really, nothing I can do about it now.
After that me and bec went out to see Anita and ran some errands, shopping mostly at chaddys. We went shopping for pens. When I was little I thought I had a pen collection bc I thought I had some cool pens (ie a pen that lights up, a baseball pen from a Keys game, and a pen that looked like a gecko). However, I didnt understand what a real pen collection looked like until now.
We grabbed some pizzas on the way home with Micheal and the four of us had dinner.
Go Collinwood and Mic!!
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Anita is back!
While I was gone I had missed the Footy finals between St.Kilda and Collingwood. However, that didnt seem to matter because the game was a tie and they had to have another one seeing as how they dont do overtime. So today was the big game and we met up at Micheals house to watch the game for Mics bday with Mic and Sarah. We watched the game with either beer, black russian, malabu and coke, or rum and coke in hand. We had a fantastic feast for lunch with Gyros that were delish. Collingwood ended up winning (yay) but everyone besides me was for St. Kilda so they werent pleased.
After the game we chilled for a bit before going out to a place for dinner. We met up with some of Mics family (dad, sisters, and Aron) and Josh. The five of us were stuffed so we sat and chatted while others ate dinner or snacked. It was a good time. Somewhere during the live singer me and josh thought she was going to break out in Just the two of us by Will Smith. Well she didnt, but we did, every single verse... hahaha.
In the end I drove back with Josh to the house and we talked music, important subject.
Ketchup
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Today was spent doing a bit of catch up because it was my last day of Spring Break. I catched up on Fridays lecture, wrote some postcards in the sun, painted my nails, and in between did my wash. Peter was proud I used the line.
I applied for an extension for my indigenous paper that was due on the coming Wednesday. I had wrote the first 3 paragraphs on my comp before it died and I was hopping that I wouldnt have to rewrite it.
I made it
Thursday, September 30, 2010
I set my alarm for 4:30am but really didnt get up till about 5am. I quickly and silently packed up the last of my belongings after dressing and brushing my teeth. One of the guys burst into my room while I was getting ready. He was on a quest for more booze... we/him/everyone had drunk everything and there wasnt anything left. He got a bit upset but me and Phil tried to get him out of the room so everyone could sleep. I finished getting ready and said goodbye as Phil tried to beg me to stay and Alyssa waved from under the covers.
Checked out, got my train pass and walked a block to get to the station. I was hoping to get the 5:40am train and I did. Totally wanted to sleep on the train but I waited till I was into the airport to try and take a nap.
My flight wasnt till 8:55am and I got through everything by like 7am so I chilled for a bit. When I got on my flight I tried to sleep as well. Not very well tho.
~~~Opps: Forgot to include this a couple of days ago- When we were sailing in the whitsundays a song came on over the speakers, I Made It. It reminds me of my trip here to Australia. I didnt really get much assistance from others to come here and so really I didnt just make it, but I made it mostly on my own. Its very much a nice feeling knowing that I can pretty much do as I wish here (within reason) because I dont owe anyone anything for being here. I made it, and thats really just the beginning.~~~
I touched down at around 12:30, got on the Skybus to the train station, then the train to springvale where Anita picked me up. She filled me in on what I had missed in the car ride about the family, how my computer wasnt completely fixed etc. So much had happened since I was gone. Once I got home around 3pm I went to bed for a "nap". 6 hours later at 9pm I woke up. I got some pasta and since no one seemed to be up I went back to bed.
Thats what I get for getting only 3 hours of sleep.
I set my alarm for 4:30am but really didnt get up till about 5am. I quickly and silently packed up the last of my belongings after dressing and brushing my teeth. One of the guys burst into my room while I was getting ready. He was on a quest for more booze... we/him/everyone had drunk everything and there wasnt anything left. He got a bit upset but me and Phil tried to get him out of the room so everyone could sleep. I finished getting ready and said goodbye as Phil tried to beg me to stay and Alyssa waved from under the covers.
Checked out, got my train pass and walked a block to get to the station. I was hoping to get the 5:40am train and I did. Totally wanted to sleep on the train but I waited till I was into the airport to try and take a nap.
My flight wasnt till 8:55am and I got through everything by like 7am so I chilled for a bit. When I got on my flight I tried to sleep as well. Not very well tho.
~~~Opps: Forgot to include this a couple of days ago- When we were sailing in the whitsundays a song came on over the speakers, I Made It. It reminds me of my trip here to Australia. I didnt really get much assistance from others to come here and so really I didnt just make it, but I made it mostly on my own. Its very much a nice feeling knowing that I can pretty much do as I wish here (within reason) because I dont owe anyone anything for being here. I made it, and thats really just the beginning.~~~
I touched down at around 12:30, got on the Skybus to the train station, then the train to springvale where Anita picked me up. She filled me in on what I had missed in the car ride about the family, how my computer wasnt completely fixed etc. So much had happened since I was gone. Once I got home around 3pm I went to bed for a "nap". 6 hours later at 9pm I woke up. I got some pasta and since no one seemed to be up I went back to bed.
Thats what I get for getting only 3 hours of sleep.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
This is Brizzy Baby
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Our bus got into to brizzy at 6:30am. GOD. We stumbled out of the bus trying to figure out where to go (you might say we had our baby eyes on, if ya know what i mean). We made our way to our next hostel a block from the terminal, called Tinbilly. Alyssa and I checked in while Anu tried bargaining with the desk clerk to have him hold on to her luggage. She wasnt staying the night so he said no.
We all went up stairs and found our room. It was an 8 person share with 4 bunk beds and an ensuite bathroom. Anu took a shower and Alyssa and I took a nap. I woke up around 8:45am and tried to nudge Alyssa. She wanted to take a shower before we went out and she kept saying shed get up in a bit. When a bit became too long I told her we would meet with her when she was ready. The whole room sleeping I went out to find Anu.
After talking to the people at the desk we decided to go to the Brisbane Museum of Modern Art. It was closed when we got there so after some walking around we found the Brizzy Library and Anu sat down to eat Cheesecake and a sandwich for brekky at 9am.
Here are some cool art pieces I came upon while we were meandering/trying to lose time till we waited for the Art museum to open at 10am.She finished her brekky and after some walking around we made it to the M.M.A. They had an exhibit there on Versache (sp?) but neither of us wanted to spend the time waiting in the line to pay for an overly priced ticket, so we went to see the free exhibits. We parted ways in the museum bc she didnt want to see a display of the wining pieces of an art competition. I got a phone call from Alyssa somewhere while I was in the museum bc she wanted to tell me she was going to go on a walking tour of the city at 12. I wanted to join her but I also wanted to see a bit more so I told her to go and I would meet up with her.
Here are some of the art pieces I saw and could sneak a photo of.
L: "this bag will not change the world" -soo true. How many people spend heaps of money on shit that in the end doesnt matter... Like spending thousands of dollars on Gucci purses will actually have a good effect on the world. well not really. ive got my coach purse like everyone else tho. C: a winner of one of the competitions. R: an optical illusion, looks like its round but its just a painting on a wall.
L: different types and colors of paintbrushes.R: flip-flops with directions on how to put on a condom....????
I got through a bit of the museum and was just about to call Anu to let her know the plans when I ran into her. She wanted to stay and finish the museum, and she didnt like walking tours anyway so I went to go meet up with Alyssa on my own.
Image from when I crossed the bridge over the Brisbane River.I met up with her near the clock in brizzy central. I missed the intro but I jumped in as soon as I could. First thing I saw with the tour guide was a memorial for South West Pacific Campaign.
1942-1945 This memorial depicts a wounded Australian solder descending the Kokoda Trail assisted by a strong dependable Papua New Guinean leading him to Safety. They arr being passed by a fresh, determined solder resolute in the task ahead. - Japan was going to invade Australia so they decided to meet them before they got to their soil during the Gallipoli event of WWI. Japanese were already on the island of P.N. Guinea when the australians arrive and were meet by a steep wall. It took days for them to get over it and during that time Japs were at an advantage to wound the Aussies. Once Australia finally made it over, it was the fuzzy wuzzy angels who helped them. Named for their fuzzy hair and the divine intervention that they gave, Australian soldiers were helped back to health and taken around the island. Although food parcels, weapons and such were dropped on the Island for the soldiers to use, they were ofter handed into the wrong hands bc the trees were so thick and the planes didnt know where to drop the parcels.
This is the Australian Seal. It has the kangaroo and emu on it because like australia, these animals cannot walk backwards. Australia is constantly moving forewards, just like the animals on the crest.
Stairs to the ANZAC Square war memorial Shrine of Remembrance with Eternal Flame inside. There are 19 stairs in the the front and 18 on the sides for the year 1918, the year of peace.
Here is the good ol' bottle tree, named so because it looks like a bottle. The tree is filled with water which comes out in the form of goo. Sometimes the goo is extremely slippery and ppl fall on their bums when they step on it. Other times the goo is sticky and people get stuck to the goo. Either way, its not the most pleassant and shouldnt be placed where individuals walk. At one point they used the bottle tree as a sort of jail- cutting out a hole, letting the water drain out, and placing people inside (yes sometime more than one).
This is an overlook on top of the ANZAC memorial area.At this point in the tour I got a text from my sister, asking me, if i was still alive, to call them at home. I proceeded to call them and I talked to them for a couple of minutes while he talked about poison animals and such.
Here is an image of the Brisbane Arcade, this comes with an interesting story....
In 1848, a man rowing up the Brisbane River saw a body. At least, parts of it. It was just the legs and the loins of a man. That was at seven o'clock. It took them another hour to find the upper part of the body which was in long grass. Eventually they found the head, propped up so it would look at whoever found it. And then, horror upon horrors, over the -- the, um, milk and butter and cheese in the well behind the hotel, there were the entrails decorating them.The body (parts) belonged to a man, Mr Cox who had been boozing in the Bush Inn for a couple of hours. He was known to be rich, but no one knew where his money was. A man named Fyfe was imprisoned for the murder and even to his death bed, he claimed he was innocent. Fyfe was hung for the murder of Cox.
A year after Mr. Cox's death, Patrick Mayne, a slaughtermen, produced exactly the amount of money that had been robbed from the murder victim to buy land for his butcher business on Queen St. Every time he made another 10 shillings, he bought an acre or two of property around town. Eventually, he owned about a thousand acres in the CBD. He was one of the richest men in the colony. He became one of the foundation aldermen of the municipality of Brisbane. But it became pretty evident, in his last years, that all was not well with Patrick. He was vicious, he used to hit people with his stock-whip, and signs of madness were pretty clear.
When he did die in 1865, ah, it had been so evident that he was mentally disturbed that Mary, his wife, decided that it would be better if the children at no time married. Patrick Mayne said, in his confession, that he'd murdered a man for whom the wrong person had been hanged. He had all 6 of his children promise not to have offspring. 2 of his children were mentally ill, 2 others committed suicide. The other 2 didnt get married or have children, the guilt of what their father did laid heavy on their hearts. They were rich children because of their father and decided to give much of their wealth back to the city. They built the Brizzy Arcade, and all of the stores within it do not have to pay for the shop room.
The Queen, enough said. (but why does she need a purse???? surly there is someone who works for her that can carry her lipstick and powder?)
This is "the red light district" reminds me of a song.... Red light district by LUDACRIS!!!!
Anyway.... (going from memory) during the war (idk which one) they found that their soldiers were a bit restless. Why? Because they werent getting the love they needed from a woman. Apparently there was a lack of women in Brizzy so they sent out adverts to Melb and Sydney for prostitutes to come and make a life. The idea was that they would have the men burn off steam with the prostitutes and then come to work, refreshed and ready to focus. Some of them realized that if you contracted an STD you didnt have to be in the war, so then men were purely having sex to get an STD to get out of the war. Genius
This is parliament of Queensland.
Flags on the L are Australian flag and Queensland flag.Flags on the R are Indigenous and Torres Straight islander flags.
This is the old Prime Ministers house known as the Old Government House, that is until it became haunted.... The famous lemignton was "discovered" here when the PM had guests over and asked the cook to whip up something. With nothing really fantastic in the cupboards she was forced to get creative with some stale cakes and such. She came out with a dessert that pleased every one. When asked what it was called said it was called the Lemington, after the prime minister. Years and years later the secretary was in the house along with two builders who were upstairs fixing something or other. They both came down in a fuss crying and screaming, the one rushed to her and the other rushed outside to throw up. They said that they had both seen a ghost. When prompted what the ghost looked like they described the likes of an old butler. When shown a picture of different people they both pointed to the same butler who couldnt have been alive and haunting the house. She told them this and they both ran on the double out of the house, leaving their tools behind. After a few more "sightings" the house PM moved to a different house, and the old government house was given up.After seeing this we took a long walk, over a bridge and on the other side of the river. He concluded his tour as it began to rain and we called up Anu to see where she was at. We ran into her and told her that we had been told that they had movies for cheap and since it was raining...
We found the movie theater and there wasnt anything showing until an hour later. Alyssa and I bought our tickets for "girl who plays with fire" but anu didnt bc she had to catch her plane at that time. Till the movie time we went to the Brizzy museum.
This is Muttaburrasaurus langdoni- roamed the australian landscpae about 100 million years ago. the dinosaur is known from three species from norhtern and western Queensland. This dino is known for his big as nose or nasal chamber which they suggest either increase the animals sense of smell or allowing it to vocalize and communicate with other members of its species.We saw some really well done bugs (always thinking of you john). center are the biggest roaches (yay).
After seeing this we had to run to the movies. We parted ways with Anu, and she parted with my 20$. We had to stop at a muffin shop for Alyssa but we got to the theater on time. the movie cost us 5$!!! seriously!! It was a good movie.Afterwards we walked back to tinbilly. They were supposed to have a bbq for us and they did, I had two sausages to alyssas 1. we made friends with a guy at our table who was from Oklahoma or something. He was in a wedding in Port Douglas. Funny thing is, we both remember seeing a bride coming out of a church, she had blue shoes on which was funny. Apparently it was one in the same. Alyssa went up to write some post cards but I stayed at the bar to talk with whats his name and enjoy the live music. Alyssa came down like an hour later and we went to get me a slurpee. Alyssa went upstairs again and I chilled at the bar some more. At about 11pm I decided to go to bed. I got to my hostel room and it was like a party. Booze everywhere and people too. So much for going to bed. I had some drinks with them, then showered (last time i took a real shower was on the island on sunday night. today is wednesday... god. After the shower I had a few more drinks, some laughs with the ppl and then everyone seemed to head out. I went to bed around 2 which gave me about 4 hours bf wake up....
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Fraiser island
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Didnt have as good a sleep as the first overnight bus to arlie beach but thats because our bus landed in Hervey Bay, Fraiser island at 6:50am, wayyyy to early. The bus dropped us off at a bus terminal and ten minutes later our bus to take us to frasier island appeared. we got lucky that our overnight bus wasnt late and that our pick up bus wasnt early.
We got on the bus and for a bit went around picking up other people from their accommodations. We then got to a barge with a huge ferry that carried heaps of people along with private cars. I made friends with a guy from Sweden and sat with him for the hour long ride as the girls went on the top deck and sat there. It was interesting to talk to him and hear of his journey, he seemed to be making it up as he went along.
We got to the island and were told to find our color coded group, we were white and found the guy with the white t-shirt. We put our stuff under the bus and boarded. We sat in the last row with some people from germany and italy.
Our bus was a 4-wheel drive. They told us we should probably put our seat belts on bc he was going to go about 80k through the island which was pretty fast considering the bumpy terrain. I figured it would be more of an adventure without my seatbelt.
On our way our driver informed us that they have a woody forest along with a more tropical rainforest. You can actually watch as it changes from woody pines to more traditional rainforest vegetation. Kinda cool actually.
Our first stop was Lake McKenzie were we got some time to walk down to the lake, go in if we so wished and walk around a bit. I decided to ignore the idea of going in the water once i realized how freakishly cold it was. I walked around in anticipation of seeing some wildlife; aka a dingo or turtles. I didnt see either. However I did see some fish which is pretty significant because fish are very rare on the lake. The lake has a high acidity level so fish dont usually get bigger than two inches... i saw some 5 inchers! HAh.
Here are some Fraser Island Facts: Fraser Island , the largest sand island in the world, was inscribed in the World Heritage List in 1992 in recognition of its outstanding universal value as: An outstanding example representing significant ongoing geological processes and biological evolution and, An example of superlative natural phenomena. The massive sand deposits that make up the island are a continous recod of climatic and sea level changes over the past 700,000 years. The islands towering dunes, beautiful lakes, crystal clear watercourses, patterned fens, and surprised variety of vegetation types growing on sand, including impressive areas of rainforest, all contribute to its World Heritage status.
After Lake McKenzie we got back on the bus to drive to a location to look at some trees and the
most famous fern in the world. We got off at Wanggoolba Creek where he pointed out some different trees (you can see two different types in the pict to the right). The one tree on the left which has woody bark smells like molassas. The tree on the right was used as polls on a ship for the sails. The trees are very straight and useful for that purpose.
The image on the right is a picture of the well known, biggest king fern ever. It holds the guiness book of world records for this fact. We were told about it before we saw it and well, i thought it would be a bit bigger. But none the less, its pretty cool.
We then kept walking in the forest a bit
until we came out to where we started. On the way I got a cool image of river bed and trees (R). You would look in the stream and it looked like you were just looking at sand. You really couldnt see the water bc it was soo clear. It was kinda amazing.
Once we escaped the forest path and came to the bus agin he pointed out the different layers of the island. At one side of the island the sand is white where as on the other side the sand is yellow. This is because the yellow sand is filled with metal which has rusted, turning it yellow. As the sand makes its way across to the other side of the island it is purified and used by nutrient seeking plants. The sand is mostly comprised of quartz grains (silica) at 98% with less than two percent being other minerals such as rutile and zircon.
The island consists of Coastal heaths, eucalypt forests, rainforest, and wallum heath lands.
Here is a picture of the layout of the island and you can see its size.
Before getting on the bus I snapped a photo of a 
fern basket (remember them from cape trip?). Cept this one is way big.
And an image of the sign warning against dingos!
"A dingo stole my baby!"
Next stop was lunch where we went to the central station for a good meal. It was buffet style and they had heaps of food. It was such an improvement from the cruise food. I seriously ate 3 plates of food and probably only stopped bc we were going to miss the bus. God i can be such a fatty sometimes. hahahaa.
Next was a long drive on the "seventy five mile beach". This beach is a most amazing beach highway where all road rules apply, the speed limit is 80k and you must give way to airplanes landing and taking off. Spot the birds of prey and sea birds that make their home on the east coast and keep an eye out for dingoes. the fishing is excellent, but the strong undertow and sharks make it unsafe for swimming.
We saw some wales as we went. It was pretty sweet, going 100k on the beach. Things we saw included coffee rock, named not because thats where coffee comes from, but rather because when you break off a piece it crumbles like coffee.
It was cool, from the beach you could really see the sand dunes. It amazes me that a whole island is made from sand and not washed away.
We drove for a bit and then came upon the Coloured sands- comprised of 72 different colours, mostly reds and yellows. the colours are caused by the leaching of oxides that coat each grain of sand, causing bands of colour.
While most of the sand that makes up Fraser Island has come from the far south-east of Australia, some of it has traveled for thousands of kilometers and millions of years from Antarctica, stating its journey before Australia and Antarctica split from each other.
The yellow sand practically matches my yellow shirt!
Next stop was the Maheno Shipwreck: Build in scotland in 1905, the luxury cruise ship Maheno sailed between Sydney and Auckland. She was one of the first turbine-driven steamers and one of the fastest ships of her time, setting a record for the quickest crossing of the Tasman in 1907 (2 days 21 hours). During WWI she was commissioned as a hospital ship in Europe and also served in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. After the war the Maheno was recommissioned as a cruise ship. On July 8,1935 while being towed to Japan for scrapping, the Maheno was struck by an out of season cyclone and washed ashore. During WWII the wreck was used for air force target practice and by Z Force special unit who practiced planting limpet mines on her prior to the raid on Singapore Harbor.
When i uploaded the photos, alyssa saw the one with me inside the ship. She was a bit put off to know that I went inside when it had a Danger do not go inside sign. But i didnt go inside, I just had some stranger stick the camera through a port hole while i stuck my head through.
Our next stop was Eli Creek; which flows on to seventy five mile beach at a rate of about 4.2 million litres of water every hour. It is the largest fresh water creek on the east coast of Fraser Island and popular for swimming.
We were told we had some time to either go in it or walk on the board walk next to it. We walked one way on the board walk and then decided that even though it was a bit cold it didnt come up too high on us so we braved it out for the sake of the idea that we would never have an opportunity to do it again.
L: the creek facing the pacific ocean.
R: Anu and Alyssa in the creek facing away from the ocean.
We finally boarded the bus for the very last time while we were entertained with stories and passing wildlife. On our way we saw something I had been keeping my eyes pealed for all day....a DINGO!!!!!
This was very exciting.
Some stories we were told:
" European History: Fraser Island was first sighted by Captain James Cook in 1770 while traveling up the east coast of Australia, Cook named the island "great sandy peninsula" in the mistaken belief that it was connected to the mainland. In 1799 Matthew Flinders in the 'Norfolk' explored parts of Hervey Bay and discovered the peninsula was, in fact, an island. In 1836 Captain James Fraser on the brig 'Sterling Castle' was wrecked at the Swain's Reef, north of Fraser island. The survivors traveled south in a life boat and eventually found themselves marooned on Fraser Island. Of them, only Eliza Fraser, the wife of Captain Fraser, survived. Europeans named the island after Captain James Fraser. "
"Logging History: Logging was stated on Fraser Island in 1863 by 'Yankee Jack' Piggott and continued until December 1991 when the island was nominated for World Heritage listing, the first trees taken by the loggers were kauri pine, hoop pine and cypress pine. In the early 1900's hardwood species such as tallwood, blackbutt and brush box were targeted. In 1925 satinay became the major timber logged on the island after it was found to be resistant to marine borer and became popular for use in marine conditions around the world. "
"Aboriginal History: The Butchulla people are the indigenous peple of Fraser ISland. the tribal lands of the Butchulla extended from Burrum River in the north, south to Cooloola National Park and west to Mount Bauple. The Butchulla peoples name for Fraser Island was K'gari, pronounced Gurrie, which means paradise. "
Once we got back to the Ferry we boarded and all huddled in the one dry enclosed area bc it was raining. I slept on the floor as we made the journey. It was soo crowded, i felt like an immigrant making a long journey. We got to the mainland and had to find our bus. Anu and Alyssa started boarding the wrong bus so I grabbed them before getting on the proper bus. The driver dropped us off at Hervey Bay again. On the ride we were told how this one couple had booked the wrong trip, and didnt get to see the destination of their honeymoon that they had years and years ago. It was a bit sad.
At Hervey Bay we had to sit around for hours till our bus came in at 1:30am. We went to the shops so that Anu could use the computer for an hour. I walked around and then sat down to figure out what to get everyone for xmas. At around 7pm we went to subway for dinner- meatball sub and cookies. After dinner I had to use the bathroom and totally not paying attention walked into the handicapped, walked out of the handy capped and walked into the mens room, walked out of the mens and into the womens (how incompetent am i?). We sat there for a while in subway until we figured we had been there long enough and then anu went to take a nap and we tried to get Alyssa some lip balm. The shops closed minutes bf we got there. I sat with Alyssa and wrote postcards until a guy from Canada came to wait and we chatted. The bus finally came at 1:30am and I was soo ready for it so that I could sleep.
Didnt have as good a sleep as the first overnight bus to arlie beach but thats because our bus landed in Hervey Bay, Fraiser island at 6:50am, wayyyy to early. The bus dropped us off at a bus terminal and ten minutes later our bus to take us to frasier island appeared. we got lucky that our overnight bus wasnt late and that our pick up bus wasnt early.
We got on the bus and for a bit went around picking up other people from their accommodations. We then got to a barge with a huge ferry that carried heaps of people along with private cars. I made friends with a guy from Sweden and sat with him for the hour long ride as the girls went on the top deck and sat there. It was interesting to talk to him and hear of his journey, he seemed to be making it up as he went along.
We got to the island and were told to find our color coded group, we were white and found the guy with the white t-shirt. We put our stuff under the bus and boarded. We sat in the last row with some people from germany and italy.
Our bus was a 4-wheel drive. They told us we should probably put our seat belts on bc he was going to go about 80k through the island which was pretty fast considering the bumpy terrain. I figured it would be more of an adventure without my seatbelt.
On our way our driver informed us that they have a woody forest along with a more tropical rainforest. You can actually watch as it changes from woody pines to more traditional rainforest vegetation. Kinda cool actually.
Our first stop was Lake McKenzie were we got some time to walk down to the lake, go in if we so wished and walk around a bit. I decided to ignore the idea of going in the water once i realized how freakishly cold it was. I walked around in anticipation of seeing some wildlife; aka a dingo or turtles. I didnt see either. However I did see some fish which is pretty significant because fish are very rare on the lake. The lake has a high acidity level so fish dont usually get bigger than two inches... i saw some 5 inchers! HAh.Here are some Fraser Island Facts: Fraser Island , the largest sand island in the world, was inscribed in the World Heritage List in 1992 in recognition of its outstanding universal value as: An outstanding example representing significant ongoing geological processes and biological evolution and, An example of superlative natural phenomena. The massive sand deposits that make up the island are a continous recod of climatic and sea level changes over the past 700,000 years. The islands towering dunes, beautiful lakes, crystal clear watercourses, patterned fens, and surprised variety of vegetation types growing on sand, including impressive areas of rainforest, all contribute to its World Heritage status.
After Lake McKenzie we got back on the bus to drive to a location to look at some trees and the
most famous fern in the world. We got off at Wanggoolba Creek where he pointed out some different trees (you can see two different types in the pict to the right). The one tree on the left which has woody bark smells like molassas. The tree on the right was used as polls on a ship for the sails. The trees are very straight and useful for that purpose.
The image on the right is a picture of the well known, biggest king fern ever. It holds the guiness book of world records for this fact. We were told about it before we saw it and well, i thought it would be a bit bigger. But none the less, its pretty cool.We then kept walking in the forest a bit
until we came out to where we started. On the way I got a cool image of river bed and trees (R). You would look in the stream and it looked like you were just looking at sand. You really couldnt see the water bc it was soo clear. It was kinda amazing.Once we escaped the forest path and came to the bus agin he pointed out the different layers of the island. At one side of the island the sand is white where as on the other side the sand is yellow. This is because the yellow sand is filled with metal which has rusted, turning it yellow. As the sand makes its way across to the other side of the island it is purified and used by nutrient seeking plants. The sand is mostly comprised of quartz grains (silica) at 98% with less than two percent being other minerals such as rutile and zircon.
The island consists of Coastal heaths, eucalypt forests, rainforest, and wallum heath lands.Here is a picture of the layout of the island and you can see its size.
Before getting on the bus I snapped a photo of a 
fern basket (remember them from cape trip?). Cept this one is way big.And an image of the sign warning against dingos!
"A dingo stole my baby!"
Next stop was lunch where we went to the central station for a good meal. It was buffet style and they had heaps of food. It was such an improvement from the cruise food. I seriously ate 3 plates of food and probably only stopped bc we were going to miss the bus. God i can be such a fatty sometimes. hahahaa.
Next was a long drive on the "seventy five mile beach". This beach is a most amazing beach highway where all road rules apply, the speed limit is 80k and you must give way to airplanes landing and taking off. Spot the birds of prey and sea birds that make their home on the east coast and keep an eye out for dingoes. the fishing is excellent, but the strong undertow and sharks make it unsafe for swimming.
We saw some wales as we went. It was pretty sweet, going 100k on the beach. Things we saw included coffee rock, named not because thats where coffee comes from, but rather because when you break off a piece it crumbles like coffee.
It was cool, from the beach you could really see the sand dunes. It amazes me that a whole island is made from sand and not washed away.
We drove for a bit and then came upon the Coloured sands- comprised of 72 different colours, mostly reds and yellows. the colours are caused by the leaching of oxides that coat each grain of sand, causing bands of colour.
While most of the sand that makes up Fraser Island has come from the far south-east of Australia, some of it has traveled for thousands of kilometers and millions of years from Antarctica, stating its journey before Australia and Antarctica split from each other.
The yellow sand practically matches my yellow shirt!Next stop was the Maheno Shipwreck: Build in scotland in 1905, the luxury cruise ship Maheno sailed between Sydney and Auckland. She was one of the first turbine-driven steamers and one of the fastest ships of her time, setting a record for the quickest crossing of the Tasman in 1907 (2 days 21 hours). During WWI she was commissioned as a hospital ship in Europe and also served in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. After the war the Maheno was recommissioned as a cruise ship. On July 8,1935 while being towed to Japan for scrapping, the Maheno was struck by an out of season cyclone and washed ashore. During WWII the wreck was used for air force target practice and by Z Force special unit who practiced planting limpet mines on her prior to the raid on Singapore Harbor.
When i uploaded the photos, alyssa saw the one with me inside the ship. She was a bit put off to know that I went inside when it had a Danger do not go inside sign. But i didnt go inside, I just had some stranger stick the camera through a port hole while i stuck my head through.Our next stop was Eli Creek; which flows on to seventy five mile beach at a rate of about 4.2 million litres of water every hour. It is the largest fresh water creek on the east coast of Fraser Island and popular for swimming.
We were told we had some time to either go in it or walk on the board walk next to it. We walked one way on the board walk and then decided that even though it was a bit cold it didnt come up too high on us so we braved it out for the sake of the idea that we would never have an opportunity to do it again.
L: the creek facing the pacific ocean.R: Anu and Alyssa in the creek facing away from the ocean.
We finally boarded the bus for the very last time while we were entertained with stories and passing wildlife. On our way we saw something I had been keeping my eyes pealed for all day....a DINGO!!!!!
This was very exciting.Some stories we were told:
" European History: Fraser Island was first sighted by Captain James Cook in 1770 while traveling up the east coast of Australia, Cook named the island "great sandy peninsula" in the mistaken belief that it was connected to the mainland. In 1799 Matthew Flinders in the 'Norfolk' explored parts of Hervey Bay and discovered the peninsula was, in fact, an island. In 1836 Captain James Fraser on the brig 'Sterling Castle' was wrecked at the Swain's Reef, north of Fraser island. The survivors traveled south in a life boat and eventually found themselves marooned on Fraser Island. Of them, only Eliza Fraser, the wife of Captain Fraser, survived. Europeans named the island after Captain James Fraser. "
"Logging History: Logging was stated on Fraser Island in 1863 by 'Yankee Jack' Piggott and continued until December 1991 when the island was nominated for World Heritage listing, the first trees taken by the loggers were kauri pine, hoop pine and cypress pine. In the early 1900's hardwood species such as tallwood, blackbutt and brush box were targeted. In 1925 satinay became the major timber logged on the island after it was found to be resistant to marine borer and became popular for use in marine conditions around the world. "
"Aboriginal History: The Butchulla people are the indigenous peple of Fraser ISland. the tribal lands of the Butchulla extended from Burrum River in the north, south to Cooloola National Park and west to Mount Bauple. The Butchulla peoples name for Fraser Island was K'gari, pronounced Gurrie, which means paradise. "
Once we got back to the Ferry we boarded and all huddled in the one dry enclosed area bc it was raining. I slept on the floor as we made the journey. It was soo crowded, i felt like an immigrant making a long journey. We got to the mainland and had to find our bus. Anu and Alyssa started boarding the wrong bus so I grabbed them before getting on the proper bus. The driver dropped us off at Hervey Bay again. On the ride we were told how this one couple had booked the wrong trip, and didnt get to see the destination of their honeymoon that they had years and years ago. It was a bit sad.
At Hervey Bay we had to sit around for hours till our bus came in at 1:30am. We went to the shops so that Anu could use the computer for an hour. I walked around and then sat down to figure out what to get everyone for xmas. At around 7pm we went to subway for dinner- meatball sub and cookies. After dinner I had to use the bathroom and totally not paying attention walked into the handicapped, walked out of the handy capped and walked into the mens room, walked out of the mens and into the womens (how incompetent am i?). We sat there for a while in subway until we figured we had been there long enough and then anu went to take a nap and we tried to get Alyssa some lip balm. The shops closed minutes bf we got there. I sat with Alyssa and wrote postcards until a guy from Canada came to wait and we chatted. The bus finally came at 1:30am and I was soo ready for it so that I could sleep.
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