A Ripper of a Week

Aussie terms of the day...
"True Blue" - means 'the real deal' or genuine.
"Ripper" - in the Aussie terminology, this means amazing or really good. Which this week certainly was! Especially with the scenery!

            It’s been the saga of beautiful landscapes the end of this week and can I just say wow! It is so beautiful here! On Thursday Shane, Michelle, and I took the breathtakingly beautiful drive up to Port Douglas along the coast of Cairns and, of course, we stopped to take a number of pictures!

            Port Douglas itself is just as beautiful, the town mostly being various hotels dotted around and a small plot of touristy markets and restaurants.  There is a little chapel there that looks over the ocean and a jutting boathouse that apparently is the stage for many a tourist wedding and reception.  I can see why though, it is beautiful and the water is so amazingly turquoise.

            Friday it was up to the Tablelands and Lake Tinaroo again, this time for a weekend camping trip.  We took the ever windy and switchback filled path up Gillies Range and I don’t know about everyone else, but I was feeling a little queasy after that run! 

            First stop on the Tablelands was Gallos Dairyland for a sample of some of their cheeses! They have a bunch of chocolates and such they make there as well but after how much chocolate and how many biscuits we had on the drive, we decided to forego that part. 

            They were having their last evening milking when we got there as well so we got to swing out to the yard and take a look at some of the cows as they got milked and headed back out the pasture. 

            We got to our camping area in the late afternoon early evening and, as the first of our group there, got to choose our camping spot.  After a little incident with the locked gate and a trip to inquire with the camp host, we were setting up camp in no time and other members of our party began to trickle in.  And of course, it’s not really camping unless you close off the evening with a camp fire!

            The next morning most everyone else had plans to go down to Kuranda and the markets, but Michelle, Shane and I had plans to go water skiing on the lake again! And boy was that a blast! Michelle’s dad got there with the boat around 10:00 and shortly afterwards we were on the lake starting off the day with a run on those ridiculous Sumo Suits.  They are like these giant, blow up dresses essentially that you slip on and get dragged across the lake in, spinning and rolling over the water as you try desperately to hang on to the rope for dear life. 

Shane and Michelle's dad with the first run on the Sumo Suits

            The water was unbelievably quiet, the middle of the lake even having the look of completely flat glass.  It was amazing! Michelle said she had never seen the lake that still before, ever. 

            Which was why it was decided to have me try water skiing again, even starting way out in the middle of the lake! I am now proud to report to you that I got up! Twice!! Not that I stayed up all that long mind you, but I would say that’s a great improvement to last times ‘butt-skiing’ half the length of the lake.

            And of course there was lots of water tubing as well since I personally think that's the best part!  Apparently in this time I managed to break the record with maybe one of the most ridiculous and hilarious tumbles off the water tube Michelle has ever seen.

            As a bit of background information for you, while we were setting up camp the night before someone had need of a hair tie to hang up a light fixture and I happily donated on of mine, since I had two.  This meant I had one good hairband left for the rest of the trip and as most girls I know will understand, a hairband is pretty much one of the most essential hair things you can take with you anywhere, especially camping. That being said, while riding this water tube at a good 30 kph, I started to realize that my hairband was well removed from much of my hair thanks to the last tumble I had had into the lovely murkiness of the lake water. I decided I would try and just take the thing out real quick so as to avoid losing it during the next fall I was sure was going to happen.

            Such a task was to be much harder to do than originally thought I found out as the hair tie had decided to form the dreaded untagleable knot around a chunk of my hair and screech and wail at the thought of being removed from it's unruly charge.  Thus commenced a battle between myself and the hairband, all the while the boat and water tube racing down the length of the lake. It was then that Michelles dad, being the boat driver, decided to whip the tube which sent the thing screaming into a momentum charged turn and I was thrown way off balance.  Thus it happened, my right arm fully outstretched with the still attached hairband tightly held in my grasp, the left arm thrown up in a failed attempt to balance myself, and my legs flung every which way as I flew backwards off the tube and tumbled into the water.  And there you have it, the story of how I may have almost broken a record. 

             When the day at the lake came to a close and the three of us were all showered and clean, it was to the Tolga Pub for dinner with the rest of the camping crew and then the drive in movie theatre to watch some movies! The selection was the Muppets Most Wanted and Captain America 2 the first of which I will suffice to say was very... odd.  I think we all were left thinking "Whaaaaaat??"  Captain America on the other hand was awesome and a great way to end an amazing day.

             The next morning it was time to pack up and by late morning we were on our way across the Tablelands.  First stop was a lookout over the Barron Gorge...

... and then a short hike to see the Barron Falls themselves! I'm told these look simply AMAZING during the wet season with all the rain and such and the water all but engulfs almost all the rock you see exposed on the left side.

             We drove down the other side of the Tablelands, this time on the Kuranda Range and had to stop again to admire another beautiful lookout of Cairns.

The Taste of Saltwater

Aussie term of the day...
"Smoko" - another word for a lunch break of sorts.  It was when Michelle and I were taking our road trip up to Cairns I commented on someone sitting off in a chair on the side of the road and she was like "Looks like he's having a bit of a smoko." I had to do a double take and clarify that he wasn't actually smoking. 

            It hasn’t even been a full week in Cairns yet and already I’ve gotten to do some pretty cool things in and around this beautiful city!  Shane, Michelle and I started off the week with breakfast/brunch at the Lillipad Café downtown as a catch up with some of Shane’s friends.  It may be a mighty small restaurant but man does it have some awesome breakfast food!  I think we had a pretty hard time finding a table that was even big enough to fit the five of us but in the end we were able to squeeze into a four person one and the conversation and amazing food made it all worth it.

We made it an after brunch coffee later in the day with the three of us at the Cairns Botanical Gardens and then a bit of time just exploring the grounds. 

It was kind of funny to see my reactions to things in comparison to Shane and Michelle’s.  They see all these rainforest plants and things pretty often living right outside the rainforest and all, but it was all fairly different and fascinating stuff to me! 

It was made even better by running into another housemate, Rachael, as we were leaving and she was entering the gardens and getting a few minutes to just catch up.

I’ve gotten to see the Esplanade a couple times now, both in the sunny rays of daytime and the fancy, colorful lighting of nighttime.  Kind of like the Strand is the beachfront/restaurant strip of Townsville, the Esplanade is essentially the same for Cairns.  The only thing is that instead of sand leading up to the water like in Townsville, it’s mud here.  Apparently some 30 or 40 years ago it used to be sand but with the dredging of the channel and the removal of much of the mud further out to sea, there was a slight oversight in that during the first major cyclone most of the mud was brought back in and thrown up onto the beach.  And thus it has been.

            Probably one of the best parts of the week was getting to go out to the reef finally!! Oh my gosh, I was so excited, as Michelle and her family can attest to, and it was beyond fun to finally get to see firsthand the Great Barrier Reef in all its glory! We mainly snorkeled around two islands, the first one being the bird rookery of Michaelmas Cay.  The island is mostly protected and you can’t walk on much of it but there is a small piece of sand that you are allowed to walk on to get a closer look at the 3 or 4 species of birds.  Man were there lots of birds there!

Hopping into the water by Michaelmas Cay and getting greeted by all the Bat Fish. There was a Giant Trevally swimming around there somewhere as well. Just had to make sure we didn't dangle any fingers or toes over the side of the boat!

            The reef itself was amazing as well, as to be expected.  One of the things that definitely struck me was just how many parrot fish there were! Oh my gosh, there were schools of them! So many in fact, that at times all you could hear was the clicking, crunching, and grinding as they grazed on the coral.

            The coral was so amazing as well and it was fascinating to finally see what the pictures showed in just how much and how many different coral species there were!

            But, I think my favorite stop over for the day would probably have to be Vlasoff Island.  It’s this little white sand cay made up of coral sand and reef deposits and all around it you’re surrounded by probably the clearest ocean water I have ever seen.  

And this, my friends, is how you grow humans.

            The coral was a little deeper down than that of Michaelmas Cay, where it feels like you are essentially within an inch of crawling on top of the coral, but the water was so clear you could see a pretty significant distance no problem. 

            There were tons of little reef fish everywhere and apparently a couple little white tipped reef sharks, though I didn’t see either one of those.  I did get to see a gorgeous specimen of a red fan coral though and apparently you don’t see those ones very often!

            That was probably hands down the highlight of my week and I was so so blessed to get to do it with Michelle and her family!

            Later on in the week, Michelle, Shane and I went with Michelle’s sister Rachel to see the new movie Maleficent and I must say, I really didn’t know what to expect when I went into it. But I think I was pleasantly surprised! Definitely a very different twist on a classic fairytale and very well done I thought. 

            We also went for a drive and a short hike up to Crystal Cascades which is sort of like Cairns version of Crystal Creek.  The water there is on the side of pretty darn cool compared to the warmth I have become accustomed to here and there are a number of cool rock pools and rock slides to swim around in.

            I also learned that Australia is a place where even the plants can seriously hurt you.  Wonderful hey?

Road Trip, Water Skiing, and Touristy Things

Aussie terms of the day…

“Buckley’s chance” – kind of like saying that there is no chance at all or that something is as good as impossible.  As the story goes, Buckley was a convict way back when and while being transported to New South Wales, managed to escape off and into the bush with a couple other convicts. The group later split up near modern day Melbourne and Buckley was left off on his own wandering the bush.  At one point he unknowingly took a spear from a recently buried aboriginal tribesman and later ran into the Wathaurung tribe who, upon seeing the spear, believed him to be the returning spirit of a fellow tribesman. He lived among the Wathaurung people for the next thirty some odd years, learning their language and customs. He even became a prominent figure of influence and became an expert in Aboriginal weapons, though he was banned from participating in tribal wars for his position as a reverend spirit. In 1835, he found his way to a European camp where he later revealed his identity as the reportedly deceased William Buckley and he was granted pardon for his past crimes. There are some arguments as to the truthfulness of the story of course, but there it is in a quick, run through fashion.

“Dunny” – basically another word for the toilet

“Taking the mickey out of…” ­– means making fun of something

Lake Tinaroo

This past week was the final week of study, finals, and all things uni and boy is it weird to say that I am now done! I had some rather… painful... finals I must admit, but if I had three weeks to study and spent almost all of that time sitting in front of my computer doing just that, I don’t really know what else I could have done. But of course as my last week in Townsville, study wasn’t the only thing I did (though it was a good 90% of it).

            Monday was the last Monday night Bible study for me before I head off on my other adventures and as a goodbye Crystal made cake! Gosh, I’m really gonna miss those Monday nights and that awesome group of people!

            During one of my many evenings home studying in the lounge, I was released from the responsibility of putting on my own study music and was instead serenaded by the loud and clear country twang of Keith Urban as he performed a concert across the way from the lodge at the nearby stadium. That was cool and I can now say I have heard Keith Urban live right here in his home country!

            I had three finals this week, all of them bright and early in the morning, and since I obviously wasn’t stressed enough Michelle and I decided driving home from each one was a good time to teach me how to drive manual on the “wrong” side of the road.  Gosh am I glad I’m pretty solid driving a stick shift! But I am proud to report to you that I didn’t stall the car even once, almost killed us maybe once, and only turned on the windshield wipers to indicate turning about 7 times in the 15 minute drive.  That was honestly the weirdest part, the windshield wiper and indicator switches being flip flopped to the cars at home.  That’s going to take some getting used to…

            And just to tell you how wiped all our minds were getting by the end, we finally checked one of the bucket list and phone ordered fish n’ chips under the given name “Lord Voldemort.” I must say that the fish n’ chip shop staff gave us a mighty weird reaction and had to double check that we were actually being serious. But it made all of us at the lodge exorbitantly happy with uncontrollable fits of laughter once we hung up the phone and Michelle had to make one of the boys go in with her to pick them up. Best batch of fish n’ chips ever!

Just passing through on the way to Cairns

            The end of the week brought the end of finals, with my last one being Friday morning, and Michelle and I had to finish clearing out our rooms and packing up the car for our drive up to Cairns.  

5 hour drive, here we come!

             I think we finally left Townsville around 1:08 and by 6:00 that evening we were walking through the front door and getting hugged in welcome by Michelle’s parents in Cairns

The sunset behind "The Pyramid." 

            The following morning we hit the ground running as far as showing me all the sights and experiencing all there is in the next two weeks. Michelle’s family owns a boat and upon hearing I had never been water skiing or tubing before, knew they had to right this terrible travesty. So to Lake Tinaroo it was with a side trip into Mareeba along the way to pick up Hannah, one of our housemates from the lodge.  And thus ensued a fun filled day of water skiing, tubing, knee boarding, and other boat and water related activities!

I was no good at the water skiing bit, which was to be expected for my first time, but Shane and the rest of the group were really patient and by about the 3^rd or 4^th try I actually got up! Sort of...  

We dubbed it “butt skiing” and I was thus for a good half the lake before stacking it again a ways out. 

Tubing got a bit interesting near the end of our last lap around the lake when Hannah’s elbow decided it wanted to try it’s darndest to break my nose. I told Hannah she didn’t try hard enough as I don’t think it’s broken though I do think the cartilage may have detached from the bone for the loud crack and snap I heard upon impact… But someone had chocolate and ice and that always fixes everything! 

As penance for her elbows actions, Hannah was stuck with me for the night as we had planned a sleepover a while back before the end of uni. While the rest of the crew went on home to Cairns, Hannah and I had dinner at her house in Mareeba and made a night of it watching the first two X-Men movies.  We went to bed late and got up early the next morning, making it in to the morning service at Hannah’s home church. 

The Tablelands

We later had a lovely lunch at a chocolate and coffee “shop” in town called Coffee Works where they sell lots of fancy chocolate and coffee beans. It was fun to just walk around there and see all the touristy stuff they had there. I then got an afternoon tour of Kuranda, the very touristy village about half way between Mareeba and Cairns, where we took a stroll through the open markets and a tour and walk through the butterfly sanctuary. I have never seen so many butterflies in one place before! It was definitely a place I would want to go back to in the future, next time remembering a spare and full battery for my camera! When the markets closed around 4:00, it was back to Cairns for me and to Michelle’s place for the evening.   Hannah heads off to placement and then Western Australia in the coming week so I was incredibly blessed to just spend even the little time I did with her before she heads off on adventures of her own!

Sugar Cane fields near Cairns. They have LOTS of sugar cane in this region!

Head em' up and Move em' out

 Aussie terms of the day...

"Sanga" - the Aussie slang word that means "sandwiches." Someone wrote on the white board this week that there were "sangas in fridge three" and I had to ask for clarification on what the heck this completely  foreign food item was...

"Banga" - and this one means "sausage."

Castle Hill "Goat Track"

It was the first of two exam weeks at James Cook this week and I was finally able to get one of my four exams out of the way!  I did spent a good deal of time sitting on my bum and working for hours on end shoving an endless stream of information into this brain of mine, but I did get the chance to really hang out with people and enjoy some good friendships this week.

            Sunday evening I took my second trip to the Reading Cinemas down the road with a group of friends from church and we watched a screening of the new movie “The Fault in Our Stars.” I really did like it but if I had to compare it to other movies, it probably wouldn’t rank up with my favorites.  Sorry to those of you that loved it! Maybe my brain just isn’t all there from all the study it’s been filing away… Which was evident earlier this week when thought I would try thawing a frozen banana by microwaving it.  Yeah, I found out that that doesn't really work...

            It’s been totally lazy study food as far as meals go this week, one day being a trip down to the fish n’ chips shop, another being a jaunt down the road with Esther and Rachael for some Dominoes pizza, and other meals consisting of leftover food from the youth group across the way at the church and clearing out our fridges for the upcoming month of break.  We also had the last of our lodge dinners for the term this week, this one put on by Dot, and it was so much fun just to get us all sitting down and having a final meal together.  Man am I going to miss this silly and awesome group of people!

Along with study there has been a fair bit of procrastinating going on as well and it's been funny to see what different things people will do.  A lot of people like procrasti-baking I have found as Hannah baked a cake at one point, Aiden tried his hand at some box brownies, and Esther and Bec wanted me to teach them how to make American lemonade again.  Michelle prefers smoothie making as her form of procrastination and we have gotten the chance to try a good variety of flavors this week. Not that anyone is complaining mind you!  I’ve been pulling my own form of procrastination as well which I have since dubbed as “procrasti-packing.”  Boy it’s going to be weird to move out of my room in the next week or so… It feels like I just moved in! I don’t think it has quite hit me yet that my time here is coming to a close though I will still be in Australia for some time yet.  I’m definitely not looking forward to the day that I do leave Townsville for the last time.  At least, for this time around that is.  Definitely going to be a bittersweet day.

            It was my last meeting with the other Julia this week and we finally finished off the ending to the book of Job. It was the perfect weather for sitting outside eating strawberries and drinking coffee and that books ending I think was the best way to close off our meetings! It have been so, so fun and encouraging and I will certainly miss hanging out with my  “other self."

            Hannah and I had a good go this week trying to get in as many scares with that infamous “NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!!!” phrase. We have been trying on and off the entirety of this term to stealthily surprise each other with the utterance but I have been sorely lacking in the surprise realm.  Hannah has been doing quite well with a total of four good surprises over this term.  The first one was a rather unsuspecting text a while back, the next was an inconspicuous comment on a past blog entry (look at the comments on Queen of Coordination, it’s there…), the third was a rather large sign sticky tacked to the front of my bedroom door, and the fourth was hidden within the depths of my sugar jar. 

I knew with one week left to torment her, I had to get at least one good one in.  And that I did! The first to start the evening of the score was a sign on the inside of both girls showers (since I didn’t know which one she would use) and the result I got of her running into the lounge laughing hysterically was priceless. The next was placed on the inside of her bedroom door while she was away at school and that one gained some mighty good giggles as well.  She was surprised by another note in the bottom of her hot chocolate tin when she went to finish it off and she found another one fluttering out of the pages of her copy of the Simarillian. I think in total the score is at 5:4 at present and who knows! There may be a couple more on either side sometime in the future... 

            Belindi and I had our last crazily early morning walk this week and we can finally say we made up to the top of Castle Hill via the “Goat Track!” But boy did we have no idea what we were getting into when we started... I didn’t quite realize how out of shape I have gotten these past few months without the constantly demanding pressure of owning horses as I do at home, but all those steps certainly made me realize mighty quick. The sunrise part way up was a great reward to see though I must say! 

             I think 1,420 steps and 45 minutes later we definitely felt rather accomplished to reach the top!

            Near the end of the week the lodge started to clear out as people finished up their finals and classes for the term and headed home and it just feels so empty here now! Bec, Blessing, and Hannah left late morning on Saturday to head up to Cairns for placement and Mareeba for home and Esther and Racheal left bright and early Sunday morning for a drive back to Cairns.  It's going to be weird to see the lodge so empty and quiet this next week and I think for the first time in... well, since I've been here, the guys will be even with the girls here at the lodge!  It's gonna be Michelle, Dot, and I with the three guys this week. 

            Before everyone left off on their respective adventures, we of course had to finish off the term the way it started with a trip to Cactus Jacks for a batch of those infamous chocolate nachos! 

            And because some people thought it would be fun to place their lives in my hands, it was up to me to drive a group of us there.  If you look at the route via a map, it looks like an insanely short trip that should be pretty alright as far as safety goes. But put the American who hasn’t driven for the past 5 months and never on the left side before behind the wheel and you would be surprised how many opportunities there are to die on that 2 minute drive.  But they were all good sports about it and we made it there and back mostly in one piece J. 

The Adventures of "Study Vacation"

 Aussie term of the day...
"SWOT Vac" - What they call study vacation. It stands for "Study Without Teaching Vacation" and has been what this whole week has been about.
"Yakka" - means work or strenuous labor. If you count studying for finals as work, then this week has been chalk full of it... It originally comes from the word for 'work' in the Yagara indigenous language in the Brisbane region of Australia.

Beautiful Riverway :)

            My foot learned this week the rough and real truth that it’s not made of as tough a stuff as it originally thought. I’m not sure what the door said to the foot or vice versa, but I was caught right in the middle as the two got into a bit of a tussle and I was left hopping through the kitchen and into the lounge asking a little bewilderedly where the first aid kit was.  I think I may have succeeded in losing my first toe nail over the ordeal and walking with enclosed shoes will probably be out of the question for a while.  Needless to say, I now avoid that door in the kitchen; it needs to sit there and just think about what it’s done for a while. I think I will probably be opening other doors a little more slowly and carefully from now on as well...

            Aside from that little civil war there, I have had a pretty good week despite how packed it’s been with sitting there and doing very little aside from studying for finals.  I’ve got one coming up this next week and then three more quite nearly on back-to-back days the following week.  So exciting… The thing about finals here is that, at least for my classes, they are all cumulative and you don't really have any midterms in the middle anywhere to break-up the course scores.  No pressure eh?

            Study breaks were of course in order and one night it was going to a showing of the new X-Men: Days of Future Past with a few of the house mates.  I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it was very well done though, and I won’t ruin it for those of you who haven’t seen it yet, I was definitely left thinking “Whaaaaaaat..?” for a little while after the ending. One of the downsides to this was that a number of us went back home and had to do a bit of research on the original X-Men comics as a bit of a procrastination effort...

 

Pizza and coffee study break at Riverway

             I got to hang out with the other Julia again this week and that was fantastic! We went and got Dominoes pizza, some super sweet coffee at Riverway Park, and read to pretty near the end of Job. Every time I go to Riverway I am always hit by how beautiful it is and I always love going there to just hang out and walk around.  I left our meeting feeling encouraged and uplifted as always and it was just what I needed to get a little more done for study.  That same day a few of the gals from Christian Union dropped by and brought us afternoon tea just because.  I finally got an introduction as to what an Australian scone was and am I right in saying, they look JUST like American biscuits?? Or am I going crazy here?? I had to make my housemates American scones a little later in the week just to show them what I thought of when I heard the word ‘scone.’

 

Pizza and coffee study break at Riverway

            I had another facepalm Julia moment this week when doing my chore of cleaning the bathroom… So, part of this job requires hosing down the floor and the walls and such and what you are supposed to do here is put some towels under the door to prevent the water running out and into the hallway.  Well, I kind of forgot that little detail and went about hosing the floor and got to the door before it dawned on me that all the water was going out the door.  Than ensued frantic scampering throughout the house trying to scrounge up towels to stop the little waterfall out the door and then more to mop up the now raging river coursing down the hallway.  It didn’t get very far, thank goodness, but I don’t think I will be forgetting that little detail about bathroom cleaning from now on…

 

Those are biscuits right?!

            Again this week was another demonstration of my expert coordination skills. I can’t remember exactly what I was doing but I was obviously distracted with thinking about something else and tried to sit on my bed and read something I think.  Well, I obviously didn’t know where my bed was and missed it completely, landing soundly on the floor and smacking my head.  I then had to walk out into the lounge and tell Hannah and Blessing, “Hey guys, want to hear why I now have a raging headache?" How could I miss that?? It's right there! But I was encouraged to hear that I am apparently not the only one who has facepalm worthy, uncoordinated moments. Apparently Hannah has this fascination with being terrified by her own reflection in the mirror in her room and has been spooked out of her mind several times thinking there was someone in her room when making eye contact with herself.

            I had another 5:30 am wake-up time and early morning hangout with Belindi this week and that was just as fantastic, if not more so, than the last time.  We almost went and made the morning a hike up Castle Hill but since the day was my trial run day to see if I could walk in tennis shoes after the little door incident we decided that sunrise at Riverway it was. Gah, it was so pretty! How can one place has so many beautiful sunrises and sunsets?? Because Townsville certainly has tons of them! Another cool thing about Riverway is that when you go there for the sunrise (if you are willing to get up that early) the sun comes up right over the river and turns the river all shades of orange and yellow.  So pretty!

            Unfortunately I think that walking comfortably in tennis shoes may be a bit of a doubtful exercise for a while, but I just had so much darn fun getting to spend my morning with Belindi and have some pretty awesome chats.

            There was Meringue and smoothie night this week as well since apparently Michelle's preferred form of study procrastination is making smoothies and other sweet food items.  Not that I am complaining mind you... By the end of this week I think we finally got some proof that some of us at the lodge may be going a little crazy(er) from all the study we have all been cramming into our heads this week... Had you been here Saturday night you would have been caught right in the middle of a full blown VeggieTales silly song singing party.