New Zealand in a short blog

was in New Zealand from the 26th of June until the 12th of July.

hey guys i completely apologize for not writing on this blog in forever... i have been to NZ and back and i am still in newcastle, but it is only 4 days until i leave. i will be home the 21st around ten in the morning... New zealand though was absolutely beautiful! it was of course freezing cold.. and at times it made me kind of lazy and i didnt want to go anywhere sometimes, but it wa still one of the best experiences i have done in awhile!

CHRISTCHURCH
first we took a plane to christchurch and were there for a few days. (just 3 actually) first night we got in we had originally planned to stay in the airport since we got in late enough, but ended up just leaving to a hostel for the night. we got a shuttle into the center of town and met a few people in out shuttle. they were the same crazy energetic people we had on our flight and actually got to meet them so that was fun!. we got to our hostel that night at 2 in the morning and had to leave by like 10 to check out and get to our hostel we had booked. we had ended up booking a place way outside of the center square in CHC (the square was called cathedral square) so we got to walk all the way there.. in weather like 30 degrees or something... that night the All Blacks(the New Zealand Rugby team) were playing in town nearby and unfort we couldnt get tickets so we went to a pub, had some dinner and watched the game. those few days we were there allison and i just really walked around seeing the different sights people said were a must to see.

QUEENSTOWN
then a few days later we hopped on a bus for about like 8 hours and headed to queenstown. there we found our first accomodation place that ended up being up on the way to one of the main skiing mountains and so we ended up just chilling there. it was a super nice ski resort that must have had a good deal going on when we found it. it has a bowling alley and a spa and sauna. needless to say we staying in the room the whole two days we were there and drank lots of tea and kept our electric blankets on. here in queenstown it did snow and it was colder than christchurch. two days later we went to our next accomodation which was in town across from the lake. clod as it was, we were completely amazed of the beauty of where we were. the mountain came up right next to the lake which was right next to our hostel. basically it was an amazing sight. first night we went out with a few people in our hostel room and went out exploring. went to this place called minus 5 which is a place negative 5 degrees celcius. In it they have ice scultures and you can get one drink in there and they put it in a cup made of ice. luckily they give you a huge jacket and mittens and such to keep you warm. also afterwards we headed to a bar/pizza place that apparently when the dance floor is full of people they open the roof. we were there for a little, then realized the roof wasnt going to open for another few hours and it was like midnight so instead we all went home. next day in the hostel i met three guys from Albuquerque new mexico and we played cards like the whole day teaching each other new games. then that night we went out to a big burger plane in queenstown called Fergburger.

AUCKLAND
The next day the fun began. (sarcasm) we hopped on a bus back to Queenstown (or attempted to) but just a few hours in we stopped at a bathroom stop and the bus driver decided to turn back around to Queenstown cause the weather was bad in the pass we were about to go through. instead of wanting to turn around allison and i met a couple girls that also did not want to turn around and go back to Queenstown so instead we all hopped on a bus that went more south but towards the east more in hopes that once in Dunedin (our final destinations) we could find a bus then back up the coast to Christchurch to catch a plane. by this time (due to the reroute) we had missed our plane and we had to call and switch it. when we finally got into dunedin we caught a bus an hour later up to CHC it was midnight so we decided to just get to the airport (our flight was early in the morning) and just sleep there. i made a friend in the airport that lived in sydney and ended up not sleeping in the airport like more than 45 minutes cause we just sat in the airport talking and giving music advice and all that. around 6 in the morning we boarded our plane to Auckland.

Cousin David picked me and Allison up from our plane and i spent about 8 days or so in Auckland. we visited heaps of places. we went to The Zoo, the Kelly Tarlton Aquarium, One tree Hill (literally though no Tree Hill), The Aucklan Museum and just taken around the city. i came home the 12th and took the train (by myself cause Allison then went straight home while i had another week in Newie).

Just another day in newcastle...

Today matty lovegrove, a friend of mine came over earlyish in the morning and watched boondock saints and some flight of the concord episodes with me. We then got picked up by Babs with Monique and Katie and headed off to a Rugby league game. Unfortunately we lost the game by 2…sad day…. Afterwards we ran over to a friends house to let me borrow a jumper and pick up some clothes, then headed to DJ and Babs house to have some dinner. We then headed off to church and finally CAR PARK SOCCER!!!!! It was amazing…again! I love love love playing this game…. Somehow, for some reason, either I became a magnet for goal shots on my team’s goal, or I stopped being scared of the goal and made sure I was in the line of fire, but I ended up being hit about 5 times per leg by the ball blocking a harsh hit in attempt for a goal. It was great for my team but it was a little painful…. Afterwards we headed home stopping at mackers (McDonalds of course..) then got dropped off at home around midnight. With only having about 4 and a half hours of sleep I was pretty tired. so i crashed almost immediately.

Hanging out with my church friends...

ok so so sorry it has been sooo long!!!! i have a lot to say too!! this is my update....

Church has been amazing. I finally have been hanging out with aussies. A few weekends ago I went to the country. I first went to my friends Bab’s house and helped him with chores around his farm.. a real life farm!!!! I even helped move a herd of sheep. Yes I am a real life shepherd.. haha….. then afterwards, I went to my friend Nathan’s house and we went hiking and to an observatory.

Every week I have been going to uni-church on Sunday nights and to bible study on Tuesday nights and NCS meetings on Wednesdays. A few Thursdays I have been going to my friend krisha’s house. First I went for a day called “unnecessary appliance day” on this day we made dinner and snacks using only unnecessary appliances. This includes pie makers, popcorn makers, waffle makers, and even a cotton candy maker, which is actually called fairy floss here. The other Thursday I spent with krisha and her roommates (pip, flick, Bo and mel). I just went to their house after uni for dinner and then to Beaumont street to the Eurobar.

Other activities I have been doing with my church friends…..a few times I have been going out to dinner/coffee with the guys from church. One time on a Wednesday we went to Three monkees and there was about 30 or so people all from church just hanging out at the restaurant. A few weeks ago NCS (Newcastle Christian students) had an event called elegant evening where we all dressed up and had a little dinner and danced the night away…..

A friend of mine, Babs actually goes to school for music. He plays the sax. A few times ii have gone to see him play. One time a huge group of church people went to see him play at a bar called the “view factory.” The music was all “big band” type music. We had such a great times just dancing with each other and supporting our friend. Next night even after an accident a few of our friends got into after he totalled his car, or in their term, “written off” we went to another concert of Bab’s where his band played a long piece of compositions with bits of Queen melodies embedded into it.

The last week has been my favourite so far. Wednesday was my first state of origin game, which is a night that the two original teams of the rugby union teams play together. They are the best of the two sections of the leage. This is kinda like the baseball all stars game, but for Rugby union. (this league is different to the rugby league game that I went to which was the Newcastle knights. Super confusing I know, I have only started to begin to understand it after it being explained to me about 6 times ot so far…..) the game was pretty incredible, and after the game was even more fun. It was a time I really got to know some of the other people in church. I finally got my camera out to these few events. We all stayed for a few hours after the game just talking to each other hanging out, watching jimmy play the trumpet, and watching mikey and pete play guitar while we all singed along. It was an amazing evening getting closer to some more uni church friends.

Carpark socder is every Thursday and Sunday night. this last Thursday was my first night going. Carpark soccer is at the university on the ground level floor of the parking structure on campus. Everyone goes all out wearing athletic shoes and jerseys and such, and we all pick teams and just play soccer in the parking structure. We didn’t even start until about 9:30 and played until about 11:30. At the beginning of the game I was not too into it, it was a little overwhelming cause so many people came outto play, and I still have fears playing a non official game of soccer (no shin guards I mean) due to my incident in 8th grade breaking my leg with a kick to the shin by someone at AWANA, but after awhile I got super into it, even though I am not heaps good. I made some great plays stealing the ball from people and kicking it out of the group to someone who could take it up to the goal. It was one of my favourite nights for sure. A couple of my friends the whole night were making fun of me and getting me to say words in Australian so they could laugh at my poor attempt at their accent. The word of the night was “water” which apparently was hilarious to them the way I say it.

Last night I went over to DJ, Nate and Bab’s place (even though nate want there) also there was matty lovegrove, and matt sharpe and Katie. We hung around a bit and ended up watching boondock saints and most of bill and ted’s excellent adventure (although apparently we watched it too late cause the boys got bored right before the end) since it was pretty late and I feel bad when someone has to give me a ride home, I ended up crashing at katies house which was super nice of her. Next morning we had pasta for breakfast and watched a couple movies, the devil wears prada and night at the Roxbury. Then Katie got a ride home while I got a ready for the next part of my day. We were going to be playing tennis. I got picked up an hour an a half later and by 4 15 we were at the courts playing tennis for a couple hours. After wards we went too the raj Corner, which is a tai place that has for only 3 bucks a pretty good size bowl of rice with sauce on it (and at times this delicious sauce has some meat in it which is a special extra treat). Afterwards we headed off to our friends house and hung out there for most of the rest of the night. We watched a little “whose line is it anyways?” and rented role models, which was a pretty funny movie.. I had seen it before, but had forgotten how funny it was… around midnight or so, while we waited for the soccer game to come on (which came on at 1:30 due to the fact that it was in asia and all their soccer games are usually on pretty late at night) we headed down to a park nearby the “Jeso house” (a nickname for a house full of 9 church boys that is located in the suburb of Jesmond) and played a little bit of a soccer type game (its kinda hard to explain but basically you cannot touch the ball more than once until someone else touches it and there is one goal keeper and the only way someone can score is by heading it into the goal or kicking it before it touched the ground once someone kicks it up for you, so ithere was a lot of communication to attempt to score goals on each other and I only got a few in….lobbing the ball into the air is not my strongest point in life, although im sure Reilly would be amazing at it!) after we played the game, the actual game came on so we watched in until about 4:15 or so and then luckily I got a lift home. Which was awesome cause it was really cold and I really wanted to sleep in my own bed. I have no idea what tomorrow will hold, but I cannot wait to hang out with my friends again. I am loving hanging out with these guys so much! It is so awesome! These guys are great! I want to stay here with them! It breaks my heart I have to leave, just when I am finally beginning to fit in. I have a place in ther life which has been awesome to realize.

o and btw.. here are pictures of my friends...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116969&id=1067220169&l=dba6d12b65

MELBOURNE SPRING BREAK: SATURDAY

Saturday was actually almost just as amazing as friday. The day started off a heading down to the Cricket ground for our AFL (Aussie Rules Footy Game). We also had planned for that day to go to the Olympic museum which is located in the stadium. We walked over to the Cricket ground (which is where the opening ceremony and some Olympic games we held in for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and the 2000 Sydney Olympics). The Cricket Ground, first of all is a beautiful stadium let me say... Unlike Rugby, AFL stadiums are circular (rugby is rectangle like a football or soccer stadium). Today The Hawthorne Hawks played against the Port Adelaide Power.
Before the game they open up the museum so we wandered around the museum for a few hours before the game. Unfortunately they do not allowed cameras into the museum or i would have taken probably a billion... For those who want to travel to Melbourne, this museum is a must see. I learned so much not just about the different sports in the olympics, but the actual olympics and the progression form year to year. it is small, but theres a lot of material in the layout of the museum and I was first of all overwhelmed, but also blown away by all the material in the museum. They had many mini theatures set up displaying accounts of different competitors telling the audience of their experiences in the olympics etc... they had a huge cricket and AFL section. (probably because the Cricket ground actually has those two sports play there throughout the year). After we went through the museum it was about time for the game. On the Ocean Road Tour from the day before some guys on the tour told us we should root for hawthorne and that they were the favored team winning last year's championships (also they were more the home team than the other team and therefore the majority. Unfortunately for the most favored team, they failed miserably with a terrible score of 115 to 85. so much for the best team in the league..... but I have a confession to make about this game.. watching this game i have discovered my new favorite sport. let me repeat that....AUSSIE RULES FOOTY HAS BECOME MY NEW FAVORITE SPORT. this means, even back in the states I plan to follow AFL. I am so stoked. I love watching this style game more than any other sport. even Rugby. There is always something going on and I enjoy every secound of it!. The task I have now is to find the team i want to follow. Hawthorne will deffinitely not be the team. they are sloppy when they play and drop the ball to much. I was thinking maybe the Sydney Swans. I think they are the closest to Newcastle... i want to try to go to one of their games..... i will do some research.

anyways... moving on from my rant from the AFL... after the game we walked all the way home.. (did i mention before that it probably took us like 40min to walk to the cricket ground....we walked everywhere thsi week if your couldnt tell.) we picked up flowerds for the girls whp let us stay in their appartment for the week. That night i watched two AFL games and fell in love even more with this game..... (sorry i said i wouldnt talk about it again and i did.. sorry..) Allison and I TRIED to get to bed early due to the fact that we had to get up at 4:45 to head to the airport. I went to bed around maybe ten or so but only ended up getting about three hours of sleep. i was, for some reason, not tired and I woke back up at midnight and read for a few hours.

a few hours later Allison and I woke up at 4:45 and by 5:30 we were packed and headed out for the train station where a bus would pick us up and take up the airport. keep in mind the sun was not yet up so here we are in the dark draging our suitcase 3o minutes to the train station..... we got the the airport on time and headed back to newcastle. we got back home at about 10:30 or 11. by then Carly got home from her road trip up the coast with the boys so i cooked myself some food and chatted with her about her trip. and now i am here in the hub writing this blog.....

something i have decided i will do, at some point is start blogging about my thoughts. just random things. last night i read a book called Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (actually for the second time) and it got me thinking and I feel like i should write down my thoughts. so whoever want to check that out, keep looking at my blog and i will post a link to that blog soon enough.. maybe i will make it when i am here in Aussi land.. i am unsure.

anyways.. this lack of sleep is catching up with me..... ill write back soon enough...

follow this link to the pictures of all this....
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=113977&id=1067220169&l=c05627128b

MELBOURNE SPRING BREAK DAY 5: FRIDAY

well today was the best day of the week for sure.

We went on the Great Ocean Road Tour. I had actually never even heard of the Great Ocean Road but then i believe in one week i had three people tell me that taking the Road from Melbourne to Adelaide on the Coast would be one of the greatest sights one could ever see in Australia so Allison and I decided to take the tour.

The day was cloudy with a slight chance of rain, but couldn't have been a better day. Allison and I got up at 6 to leave by 7 and meet the driver in front of the closest hotel which happened to be a 20 minute walk... (yay us!) we get there and the lady at the reception tells us to wait outside. we sit for about 10-15 minutes and a man waiting with us asked us if we were waiting for some kind of tour and when we replied that we were, he then told us our driver had been looking for us about 20 minutes prior to our arrival at the hotel (apparently the website decided it would tell us a different time to be at the hotel then the printout did and we went by the website only not knowing out printout said differently) fortunately we called the number on our printout and the driver swung back around after his other pickups and then we were off.

The Great Ocean Road was actually designed after the Pacific Highway which was hilarious to me, here I come all the way around the world to go to a place that is designed after where I live. O well. Anyways.. First stop, Bells beach near a suburb Torquay, is one of the biggest surfing beaches in all of Australia. It is actually the home of the Easter Festival which is a huge surfing competition. This past weekend Kelly Slater, one of the world's most amazing surfers was at Bell Beach for the competition and was actually beat by a local (i was interested in this tidbit on information). We actually didnt stop here, but just drove by while our tour guide told us all this information. After this our Tour guide preceded to play us some good ole surfer music.. of course the Beach Boys(our tour guide actually had a song for seriously every occasion and stop). We then continued to drive by the ocean, all the meanwhile taking lots of pictures.. (i do not think i can quite stress this idea of lots of pictures. lots...) Our first real stop was one by a arch over the road that said "The Great Ocean Road." of course here we paused for pictures and got to walk down to the beach so that was pretty fun. on our way from there we passed by a few areas that had been burnt in bush fires (not the recent Melbourne fires, but just fires in the brush) and learned an interesting fact about the trees that grow in this particular area (i believe some kind of Eucalyptus). The fact is that these trees (whatever they are) drop little seeds on the ground to reproduce, but the weird thing is that in order for the seeds to start to grow they need to have intense heat which is why, brush fires are actually necessary to help restart plant life. this i thought was so amazing, that God would make fire, something seeming to be so destructive, to actually be necessary to start new life. anyways...

Next element of fun on our tour was a stop by another beach maybe 30 minutes later (also a bathroom break) with some cookies and tea. it was on this break from the bus that Allison and I got to talk to some other people on the tour and to our guide. one of the craziest things to date, will be this next person we met. This man was named Kevin, and he worked for Costco. He actually builds them. This man was sent to Australia from like CO (but he has been all around the US building Costcos) to build the very first Costco in Australia. we are witnessing history in the making (the day before) of Costco blessing the country of Australia. also, this man has built many Costcos we know of including the one in San Dimas and a bunch in the OC and a few up North by Allison. This was a weird "small world" moments that i had to share with you all. also on this break I talked with the tour guide who had just got back from doing 4 years of being a tour guide in Europe. after talking to him, I have decided I am first (before I decide whether or not I go, or attempt to go, to graduate school in London, for graduation I am going to save up money to take a tour (for like 45 days i believe) in Europe. Our guide (actually names Neil) was telling me it hits every major city and most major sites in Europe and even has a week in either Egypt or the Greece Islands and I have decided I am going to save up money for that. I have always wanted to go to Europe and travel and that will be my perfect chance.. anyone want to pitch in? haha kidding. i have two years to save.

On our way to the next stop we drove through an area where Koalas chill in the trees. There were actually a few chilling in the nearby trees so we got out and took some pictures.... This was my first time seeing a real Koala in the actual wild!!! I was super-stoked!! (the rain-forestation had them contained so it wasn't technically in the wild) i found out some weird things about Koala's today. FACT ONE: they are territorial and stay strictly in one tree (or at least in the same area of trees) until they have stripped them clean (in my pictures which are not up yet (they will be posted on my last blog of melbourne...) i have pictures of these trees totally stripped. FACT TWO: Koala's eat Eucalyptus trees that are actually toxic, but Koala's have an enzyme that can break down this toxic for them so it is not dangerous to them. FACT THREE: Koala's are NOT born with these enzymes, rather they must acquire them. FACT FOUR: Koala's acquire these enzymes from eating their mother's poop for the first few weeks after birth. that is just gross no lie.

Next stop, we walked a little through the rainforest and learned a little about the trees and bug and such. We saw the 2nd tallest tree (first is of course the redwoods in California!!!! heck yes!) which was pretty cool. Many trees were hollow due to a fungus that eats the inside of trees, and back in the day they used to put bars on these hollow trees and used them as jail cells.

The next stop was my favorite. This is a spot on the Ocean Road called the 12 apostles which are tall rock formations that are in the middle of the ocean because they broke off from the shore and the space in between was eaten away, so now all is left is just random rocks jetted out from the surface. The sight here is just breathtaking i cant even handle it. I loved this section of the tour!!!

Next we went to Loch ard Gorge which is a inlet/cove area from the ocean that, in the past, ships got stuck in and got shipwrecked. There is actually only two survivors and it at first is like a love story, but it ends up falling apart, but i dont remember it. i took a picture of the story so you all can read it in my picture when they are up. The last place we stopped at before dinner was the London Bridge rocks. This one holds quite an interesting story. The London Bridge rock formation was named mostly because it used to have two arches in the rock that jets out from the shore, but actually in 1990 on half of the arch (the on closer to the shore) fell into the water. People used to be able to walk out on the rock out to the sea and there were actually people who were out on the rock the day it collapsed (luckily no one on the part that fell) but it did leave two people stranded out on the rock for a few hours. When the film crew arrived to interview the two stranded travelers, they actually jetted home not wanting to interview, and later it was found out that the man stranded on the rock was skipping work for the day (when he had told his boss he was sick) and the woman with him was actually his mistress. This to me was a funny story.

After the London Bridge our official tour was over. The Guide let us borrow PSP electronics to watch some movies while we made the trip home. (thought that was pretty cool) and got to drive in on the bridge into Melbourne at night driving into all the beautiful lights and such. so beautiful. Did you know that Melbourne is the third largest city (spread out) First LA, then Sydney. I thought that was cool....

well thats it for now.... hope you enjoyed the small book i just wrote.

to view the pics for this day follow this link....

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=113975&id=1067220169&l=caedf1ae9a

MELBOURNE SPRING BREAK DAY 4: THURSDAY

Well today was an extremely lazy day for some reason. we woke up late again and watched TV.. so sad of us to do, but then after awhile got out to head to the Docklands. We first stopped by Victoria Market to pick up some last souvenirs (our lists of people to but for is slowly getting smaller.. YAY!) After we headed to the Docklands. Now this is what we thought was going to be the Docklands.... Harbor-side cafes and little touristy shops and just a fun little strip of shops, however either this version of "the Docklands" was never found or does not even exist. so that sucks. we asked a few people and got to the Docklands center which is like a shopping center. Allison and I were not down to shop since we have no money, but we did decide to find the souvenir shop there and check our what fun little gizmos we could pick up for those on "the list."

Afterwards we decided to head toward the Ferris Wheel that we keep on seeing around everywhere we go (it is huge you see, but by the docklands, we were extremely close to it). right by the Ferris wheel (that is actually called the observatory wheel or something like that) was an amazing sight that we were craving and that would be called ice cream. I do not remember the name (something like Cold Rock...), but it is basically a Cold Stone and I had never tried it so we went there and I got the most amazing mixture..... mint ice cream with Tim Tam's blended in. Now i am unsure whether i have told you all of the Magic of Tim Tams. basically graham crackers with chocolate in the middle and then covered in chocolate. some of you may say, yea well we have that kind of thing in the states, but NO you are wrong. we do not. Tim Tams are one of a kind-the most amazing thing ever, especially when frozen. i will bring them back for all to enjoy... so yea, best mixture of ice cream ever... After our ice cream date we started to head back, but we were surprised by something, quite american chillin' in the Australian city of Melbourne, and i am not going to lie i got excited. This thing, was a Costco. Now the Costco was not opened, but the exciting date of June 10th 2009 meant there was some hope for Australians.....anyways, after this we walked to the hotel that the bus for our tour the next day would come to, and we timed the walk. we actually got a little lost for the street we walked by was named two different things depending on which way you looked at the sign. After like an extra half an hour we found the hotel and headed home. we went to bed early since we had to wake up at 6. yay early!

to view all the pics of my trip up to this day follow this link...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=113969&id=1067220169&l=41d94c89e2

MELBOURNE SPRING BREAK DAY 3: WEDNESDAY

Well today ended up being pretty chill as well. we started off heading down to Victoria market which is famous for little shops and booths with a farmers market section as well. we walked around there a little looking for gifts and such for you know, the fam and friends. Afterwards we headed home for a little and looked up movie times for 17 Again.. you guys know, the movie that my husband is in (zac efron of course) and ended our activities of the day with an amazing end!!!!! 17 Again was an amazing movie and i will buy it!! haha. anyways tomorrow will be a day full of sightseeing. we have a bunch of churches and cool buildings to go see tomorrow... sorry I dont have too many things to say today.

MELBOURNE SPRING BREAK DAY 2: TUESDAY

Well today was another chill day, although i am pretty stoked to say that I really have been learning my way around melbourne already. I can get to most needed places by memory and it is only the second day. i actually told allison that she and I need to come back since we have  already memorized the city.  

First off we set off to go to china town. it was actually quite uneventful actually and found ourself done a lot earlier walking through it than planned. then we walked up maybe a couple miles or so to the melbourne museum. We knew that we may or may not get in for free depending on if they will let us in as "students" or not (its dumb the way they do student prices here, they call it concession and it is technically only for Aussie born or exchange students, not study abroad..lame). we ended up getting in  for free.. which is always awesome and definitely needed for us poor study abroad college students. in the museum they had many many exhibits. some were about the aboriginals and the "stolen generation" which is aboriginal children that were taken away form their families by the government of australia when they first started colonizing australia. there are many reason why they may have taken the children and i and actually writing a paper on that soon, so by may 1st (when my paper is due) i will have a reason for you as to why they stole the children from their families... anyways... besides the aboriginal exhibits they had a mind and body exhibit which i found quite interesting. the body section of the exhibit was a little redundant to me for i had seen it all many times from the body world exhibit at the science center in LA and also from anatomy class, but the mind section was super interesting... in tis section it showed about the toll different disorders or diseases have on your bosy whch was especially interesting for me to see being a psychology major and all. it was interesting and fun for me to read up on my schooling... haha. after that there was a small exhibit for dinosaurs which was pretty fun to go through and look at. they actually had a 3d little short movie set up for people to come in and watch. i think... that my father will be very happy when i say.... going to this museum made me really appreciate all the times as a kid we went to history and just any other kind of museums. it made re appreciate how much i was encouraged as a child to learn more about the world around me. it felt good to go around this interactive museum and learn more and more about all these things that i have mentioned. i really loved the feeling of discovering any new thing the museum had to offer to me. it made me excited to WANT to go around and look at the different things at the museum. that is all. i am a nerd. i take after the family... hahahaha.

one of my favorite exhibits though was the exhibit for the Melbourne Cup horse winner PHAR LAP. this horse help save the sanity of Australia during the great depression. while the world was having a difficult time dealing the economic crisis, this horse helped the Australians keep up their spirits. this horse won 37 out of his 51 races in just a few years time. the whole time i kept thinking of my sister Brett and how much i really wanted her to be there and see that exhibit. she would have loved it so much... they even had a really old Breyer horse of Phar Lap on display and i just wish i could have gotten it for her...

after the  museum found a popular street called Brunswick street and walked down it a little. unfortunately we went after 5 which is apparently the popular time to close up shop out in Australia so most things were closed which actually was better for us, so we were not as tempted to buy stuff.... afterwards we walked home... the short way since we are now pro at learning streets in melbourne.... now we are just back at the apartment that we are staying at. we watched a movie called Picture Perfect and have been working on booking our NZ trip...... i think ill be able to blog tomorrow... as for the day tomorrow we have just  bunch of sight seeing stuff planned..... talk to you soon... miss you all...

love,

Neille

MELBOURNE SPRING BREAK DAY 1: MONDAY

So the way the Melbourne situation worked out...... Jeff, the guy from APU had a friend come up to visit him from University of Melbourne (she is also on study abroad) and she was actually heading out of the city as we were heading down so she gave us her room key and we are crashing at her apartment for spring break.... free accommodation is amazing... we spent the first night resting since we flew in last last night. today we walked around the city a little walking down some fun little streets and around some little farmer's market trinkety shopping places..... we have some fun things in store for the week soon tho. next sunday we are going to an AFL game which is basically a more brutal style of rugby. we are also going on the ocean riad tour which will be basically  lot of beautiful sights including the 12 apostles rock formations. i cannot wait! thats about it for the day. we have just been chilling out learning the city. tomorrow will be another long day of walking. cant wait..... haha no but really i am excited!

miss you all though. hope all is well at home guys.... i will be home sooner than you know it.

love you guys.....

Newcastle Knights win!!!!!

well. I went to a rugby game sunday...... We took the train a few stops over to the stadium. We went to see the Newcastle Knights and of course we won! -because we are awesome!!!! allison and I got these pretty cool but cheat jersey type things that were only 20 bucks! afterwards we walked over to get some food and drinks at a bar nearby and just hung out there. after wards we took taxis to our friends house and just hung out there for the rest of the night. its always nice to have just a chilled out day.
here are the pics for it>
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=113267&id=1067220169&l=1c6aa10d84

o and btw... allison and I are traveling down to melbourne for break. we leave in 4 days and will be there for like 7 or 8 days. we may or may not also try to make it to adelaide and kangaroo island. we will see........ more on all that later!

Nelson Bay...amazing

well this weekend we actually ended up randomly heading up to Nelson Bay. Nelson bay is about an hour and a half bus ride north of Newcasle. We left pretty early and we were all pretty exhausted and i slept on the bus there. We arrived at our hostel around 11 30 or so. First we headed to the bay and went on a Dolphin Cruise. the bummer is that it was raining pretty much all weekend so the dolphin cruise was quite a different experience than i could have been. we saw a lot of dolphins which was awesome. we even went into the side net that they have off the side of the boat that you can sit in and you can be in the water next to the dolphins. too bad it was pouring rain when we went into the net. with the rain, wind and water all being pretty cold we were shivering but enjoying every second of it. (I have pictures of this on my album in the link below.)
afterwards we headed to a bar and tried some really fruity cocktails which were bomb. we then went home and got pizza watched a little AFL football on the TV, played pool, met a british guy who hung out with us that night all in the "shack" which is like a rec room. We then headed outside and played a bunch or cards and met some girls from Switzerland and some guys from Denmark. that night we slept at the hostel and in the morning we woke up and headed home. thats all... here my pictures for that...

Nelson Bay pics> http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=113124&id=1067220169&l=304bf09f82

The Socceroo game!!!!

sorry it has been such a long time since i have last blogged. a lot has been happening.

one of the biggest things that happened lately was the Socceroo game i went to Wednesday the 1st of April. The socceroos are the Australia's national Soccer team. We left around 3 or so and headed down. The train ride was i think 9 dollars and about 2-3 hours long. I actually talked to my each member of my family on the way there. used up sooo much of my minutes.. haha.... i have to now be way careful or ill have to buy a new cap early... anyways.. on the train Allison and I met these guys who were also going to the game and the proceeded to tell us that the color jackets that we were wearing (blue) was the color of the opposing team's jersey. we had to find jerseys soon.... Allison and i actually went down to central station in Sydney and called our friends Betsy and Emma to see where we would meet them cause they were coming down a little later and meeting us at the stadium. Emma then informed us that with our ticket for the game we would have been able to get to the game and back home for free cause they had some deal with the train stations.... so that kinda sucked cause we found out 9 dollars later... but at least we saved the money on our way home.we got to the stadium and outside of it we found jerseys and scarves and stuff for the team so of course we bought them. Once we got into the stadium we proceeded to find out seats and realized what amazing placed seats we got. the view was perfect. It was just high enough to see the whole field but not too high. the game of course was super excting. the first half there were no points but enough attempts. the crowd would errupted at attempts and everyone stood to watch the kick. in the second half we scored twice and beat the Uzbekistans 2-0. amazing! the entire day it was raining but we our seats were under a roof so we were proteced from the rain. We werent too lucky after the game. basically were were soaked by the time we go to the train. the train home was pretty fun. we sat by these guys that had just came from the game. we foiund out they live close to us in Newcastle. We got home around 2 or so. basically it was amazing! look at my pics!!!!

socceroo game:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=113049&id=1067220169&l=1d952dd1a5

hey guys!!!!

as you all can see i am not 100% amazing at this blogging business but if there is ever anything you would like to know about school please do not hesitate to email me at nfenderson@hotmail.com. i will write about anything you guys want to know about. just let me know!!!!

right now i am sitting in the hub half doing hwk/ half checking up on other people's lives sine i am missing them. i am missing my old HS play that i wish i could see right now. i am missing friend's spring break meaning they are home wanting to hang with me and i cant see them. i am missing my family that is working so hard at home without me and i miss them. i miss everyone at home! what i wish is that everyone i love could come to Australia and live by me and we could hang out all the time!!!!!!! i think that is a great plan. what say you? haha.
anyways.... besides all that. nothing too exciting. going to my soccer game on thursday and then that sunday, we are going to a rugby game. i am stoked! i still dont know what exactly we are doing for spring break (i mean mid-semester break). its kinda up in the air for exacts..... we are just gonna stay out in australia. do the southern australia thing..... welp. miss you all. please email me anytime for anything. i love to hear from you all. remember its nfenderson@hotmail.com.

Rugby, Soccer, and Aussie Rules Football!!!

Ok so slowly I am learning about all the sports out here. I think i finally have a firm grasp on it all. Theres the Rugby teams, the Australian Rules Football (which i like rugby but more brutal that is only played in Australia), soccer teams, and cricket teams. I plan to attend at least one game of ever of these sports. I am on my way there. Next Wednesday the first I will be taking a train to Sydney to see the Socceroos which is the Australian Soccer team in a game that will help determine whether they will go to the world cup. a few days later, April 5th I will then be going to a Rugby game which is here in Newcastle. Also later in the month we plan on going to a Newcastle Jets soccer game which will be awesome. (the newcastle jets is their professional team that plays other cities in Australia similar to our professional teams..) I really want to go to an Aussie Rules Football game. i heard they are intense. I am so stoked!!!!!! well that is all for now. i love Australia!!!!

sydney weekend!!!!!!

well hello again friends... sorry i seriously suck at blogging.. but anyways i am back today..this sunday night to tell you about my weekend..... I WENT TO SYDNEY!!!! it was amazing! i mean, i have driven through the city before, but i NEVER thought it to be as fun as it was. I am in love with this city. (also i thik i just love big cities). Friday night we (Jeff, Alex, and Sean) took the train down to sydney getting into central station around 9pm or so. we went up to the hotel and put our stuff down and made our way down to Darling Harbor. I met up with my friend Brandon on our way there and he actually helped us find the harbor. (little bit of backstory- i have known Brandon since i was born and our famies have been tight since..) so i was superstoked to see this boy. we hung out walking around with Brandon and jeff's friend that he met up with for awhile. Saturday we went to the aquarium and walked through it for a few hours. there was one part that was a underwater tunnel in the shark tank! it was incredibly nervewracking since i am incredibly afraid of sharks and have this weird fear of the glass breaking ever since i saw Free Willy back in the day, but i was able to put that fear aside and loved the aquarium!!!! afterwards we walked around the city to the Opear House and sat in front of it for awhile just taking in the beauty. amazing. afterwards we ate at the Opera bar on the water and just chilled. the rest of the day was full of walking around and spending time in pubs just hanging out. we left later that night around like 9. later that night back in Newcastle Cailtin (my roomy) jeff, Pat and I went and sat on the beach at like 2 in the morning just watching the stars. beatuiful. weird the constalations are all different... well thats was my weekend.

heres the pictures from it...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112141&id=1067220169&l=acdb47c843

Another Beach Day and St Patty's Day!!

Sorry it has been a little while since i last blogged.I havent been doing too much.
last wednesday as everyone here has designated it to be the new friday. We went to a bar called Customs which is always crazy busy on wednesdays. At customs on wednesdays you can bet on at least 60 australearn people there throughout the night so we hung there for awhile and then headed to Fanny's which is a club. we hung out there dancing and then headed home. so much fun!!!

friday was a designated beach day (and i think fridays will continue to be beach day till its too cold). there was about 14 of us. We spent about 5 hours just chilling at the beach. we went on a little beach hike, played some games, tossed frisbees around and got a little mauled by some waves, and my roomate Cailtlin learned to surf it was all in all a great day. afterwards we headed out to my house and chilled out until we headed out to a few bars played table tennis (ping pong) and pool. we then went to a few bars trying to find a karaoke bar but once we found it they would not let a couple of our friends in because Itai did not have proper ID according to their standars and Spencer wasnt allowed in because he was trying to plead Itai's case and the bouncer guy then decided Spencer couldnt go in as well. after that we found another bar and ended up missing the karaoke night by just a night. All in all, even though it was an interesting night full of craziness it was still a fun adventure.

here are pics from the beach: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111897&id=1067220169&l=b06f7fdb77

The next few days we just hung low chilling at each other's houses. the next big day was Tuesday also know as ST PATTY'S DAY!!!! we had everyone over at out place for the event. first party at our house. it was a pretty good time. there were lot of people from Australearn that stopped by, some that i hadnt really seen since cairns or at least for a few weeks so it was really nice to see everyone. the night was long since we started the party early. dont think i went to sleep until about 3:30. but it was fun! and.. i went to class the next day!!!! hooray!

here are pics from St Patricks Day: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111899&id=1067220169&l=d572a9ba1f

on a more academic note, today I had my media and society class.This class every week has been my favorite. we have been basically studying the different types of media and how it is persuasive with issues with gender, class, ethnicity and other realms of society. I is interesting every week. the first week we actually watched clips from star wars which was a big plus for me!

well thats it for now

Just a random sunday....

Yesterday was sunday and I had a pretty full day. First of all we tried to make it to the mall and realized at the bus stop that not many buses run on sundays.. so Allison and i went to the market and on the way home in the hotel right by our house their was a guy playing acoustic so i went back and lsitened to him for a little. later in the day I was on my way to a friends house but on my way there i met a few guys who were on their way to play lawn ball.. which is kinda like bowling and even closer to a game i have played called bachi ball (i have no idea if thats how u spell it). bummer is once we got there it was closed which is so so lame so we went to the bar next to my house and hung out there for a little and played around the world table tennis and stuff like that, then my friend Ryan picked me up and we drove around and hung out for the night. when i was at Ryans house i saw the weirdest thing. um apparently their kitchens are on the top floor of their house which i found quite peculiar and i made sure he knew that. it kinda blew my mind. anyways... so overall it was a pretty fun day. Finally i had a day i hung out with Aussies instead of Australearn (the group i came over here with) people the whole time. today I plan on going to the beach and hanging out and of course doing some hwk. luckily i have no class on mondays so thats pretty great! love you all. miss you guys! i will write more soon!

Beach day!!!!

first of all I finally have a phone which is really nice. I have been using everyone else's the whole time and i felt like i was bothering them. Its a cute white and pink one too. O and if i can figure out how to unlock it from vodaphone, ill have a back up in the states for when mine dies. which will be awesome because i will be using a Australian hone in the states..... pretty cool. Yesterday was a beach day. let me just tell you..... the view here at the beach is incredible. i mean we ahve been to the beach one time before, but for some reason that day i took it for granted. I am so glad i got to o again and really pprecite the sun and the waves crashing down. I put in owl city on my mini i pod and just sat there... looking at the ocean. we also went on a little walk Allison Jeff and I, and explored the beach. We found this place that is a little enclosed area surrounded by rocks on three sides. There were no people there, just us. We just sat there and watched the waves crash up against the rocks. i was in awe. we were out at the beach for a few hours.O and i did remeber for the most part to Slap the sunscreen on except for one part on my leg... so now i am burned pretty badly on the back part of my leg, but hey, i learned my lesson. I wish i had picstures.. i will charge my camera soon and will be taking more pictures...

just a blog full of updates/info.

hey everyone sorry it has been a little while since i have last wrote anything. I have officially moved into my apartment--got my keys today after having to be without them for awhile so now i am an official resident of 77a Bruce Street. I have been in Newcastle (a city in the New South Wales state) for over 5 days and i have to tell you all-- I am officially head over heels in love with the country of Australia. I love the people here I love the little shops and cafes and buildings. I love this city -- so very much. We live in a little house, but i believe it may be more like a condo or something.It a little old fashioned but it is even more than we ever hoped it would be. We are a little out of the way from where more of the off campus people from Australearn are living, but there are some boys that live just up the street a little ways from us. My roomates and I have become such good friends with these boys (one of the boys is acutally from APU with me so that has been so fun chatting about APU with him) and all of these boys have told us that they will never let us girls walk home alone. They will always walk us to our house no matter the hour.(i am sure it makes a few of you parenty types feel better about walking all around town a lot since we have no cars.) We had our orientation on monday and these next few days have just been pretty chill. We have been learning where the grocery stores (excuse me-- markets)are and where the bus stops go and where our new banks are located and figuring out our prepaid phones.... just in time for schoolto start.

I got my schedule for school finished yesterday. I am absolutely in love with my schedule. Wish America had this system. Basically every class meets once a week in a huge lecture hall for the lecture where we are just talked at anywhere from 1-3 hours (this always depends on the class and how much lecture time it demands). Then other than that the same class has then usually has a tutorial meeting time which has less students (probably 20 people or so.. im unsure) that lasts only an hour. I actually have made it so my tutorials and lectures for each class are on the same day so i have four classes, one on each day (including the lecture and the tutorial) it will be nice because i will get to focus on just one class a day. O and i dont have class on Monday so that is nice aswell. I will be taking a class with my friend Allison one day and on another day I have class with Jeff (the guy from APU) so i guess in my other two classes I will be making some friends.... haha. O yes and for those who do not know, I have already said i am only taking 4 classes, but do not worry that is normal here. yes that means i will only be able to transfer four classes to APU but fortunately each class here is 4 units so i will get to still transfer 16 units back to school so it will still be a full semester of units.

other than school we have been just chilling out like i said.We have been shopping for food and household stuff (luckily for the most part the house was furnished with things down to linens and silverware). The beach is quite nearby which is quite lovely for walks. I am trying to find a job asof now, but it is quite difficult. But the rate per hour here is get this.... 17.50 and hour.pretty awesome.i am determined to get a job here.... haha. As some of you may know,I have no internet access at my place. There is a coffee shop I go sometimes to get someinternetbut the internet is slow. I can also get wifi at my University (the University of Newcastle). I am currently at a student hub which is an extension of my university just a few blocks away from my house and it is open till late on weeknights for homework purposes. Here there are computers and wireless opportunities for UON students. Just a side note--our University is about 20-30 minutes away by bus ride so going to the university to just run a few errands is not something wewill be doing on a whim. This farness thing may get annoying....

Specifically today Allison and I walked all the way to the real estate office to sign our lease cause we came on our own flight we were not taken to the office beforehand. I got my keys finally cause me and Allison had to share keys until we signed the lease. This office is located by the harbor about maybe 20 minutes or so walking distance from our place. It wasnt too bad to walk. I love the walking cause it gets us more acquainted with the area and helps us to learn new streets we can use so we can find shortcuts to get places. its quite nice. sidestory..... I brought my Pushing Daisies season one dvds with me and now my new three roomates (allison, Carly and Caitlin) are pretty obsessed with the show. In the show, the main charater is a pie maker and shots are constantly shot with him in his pie shop and everytime we watch the show we always have the urge to eat some pie but we have never seen a pie place yet. Well when Allison and I were walking to the Real estate place we happened to stumble by a place that sold pies!!!!!!! we were so stoked let me tellya. we immediately told Carly and we will be going to the Pie Shop shortly. Lets just hope it is not called Miss Lovettes......(Sweeny Todd any one?) so yea thats been our day so far. It has been pretty nice chill day. Nothing we need to run off to. love those take it easy days.... well i am heading out soon. Hope this update has been enjoyable to read. i will blog soon.

RAINFORESTATION DAY!!!!

Today (well not actually today but the day I am blogging about) was an unexpected amazing day! being the day after an amazing Great Barrier Reef day we were unsure whether or not the rainforestation stood a chance as being as much fun as the GBR. The festivities fop the day started off with a 45 minute bus ride to to the rainforest place and we got off the bus to a ultra hot and sticky area where we proceeded to put as much bug spray and sunscreen as we could (I bet mom and Dad will be pleased to hear about the sunscreen business...) at that point our group was divided into three groups. these groups would be our traveling groups for the day. Our groups first activity was to take a tour among the zoo type area of the park. Here we saw koalas and fed kangaroos.. we got some great pictures in this section.... The next place we went to was a Aboriginal dance show. here we were shown some dances that really helped us develop an understanding for the culture. This day was also filled with a demonstration of how to throw a spear, how to throw a boomerang (and we even got to try it) and also how to play a didgerido. This bit of information is for the family. He showed us the different interpretations of animals and one was an interpretation of the Dingo and I thought of shiloh! next, was lunch and after lunch in the cafe there we got to take a picture with a koala. (Mommy i know you would love the see that picture!!) next, the coolest part, was the rain forest tour which took us in Army Ducks. The Army Ducks are WWII army tank type things (i have pictures) that took us through the forest and then drive right into the water and act as a boat as well.... i remember whispering to Allison "now this is a legit jungle cruise." All in all it was an amazing day and the night was filled with yet again a fun night out to dinner and such on the town.

The next day we traveled to Newcastle. Newcastle is an amazing city and I am so stoked to be living here for 4 months. Today (Monday the 23rd) is our orientation day and it has been filled with lots of overwhelming information but we are struggling through it all. Soon enough we will be experts. I will describe more of the town later. love you all. miss you. hope home is fun! love!

o yea. here is a link to my pictures....
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=110451&id=1067220169&l=fd3fd

GREAT BARRIER REEF DAY!

Great Barrier Reef Day was incredible and full of new things.... bright and early at 6:15 we wake up ready for our amazing day of snorkeling and scuba diving. The entire day was full of lots and lots of sunscreen, laying around, and then of course some finally a few opportunities for snorkeling and scuba diving. I tried a little scuba diving. it was pretty sic. Words cannot describe how amazing the view was. The water is so blue and clear and just breathtaking. I wish everyone could at some point in their life, go see the great barrier reef. Never have i ever been snorkeling or scuba diving. I absolutely love it. It was amazing sharing an ocean space with such amazing animals just chilling our in their ocean. It was crazy swimming with the bigger animals and at times found myself a little afraid to swim so close to the animals, and I was out of the water when someone spotted a tiny shark. But all in all it was an absolutely amazing day. Also, the group accompanying me was all people i was either living with, would be living with, or just people also attending my school. This was the day i met a bunch of friends that I have been hanging out with everyday. i think i may have found some amazing people that i get to spend my next 4 to 5 months with. That night we went to the Lagoon which was a huge pool on the beach because apparently the beach in cairns is crappy. But the lagoon was really nice to jump in after the great barrier reef when were were sweating like crazy and al gross from the ocean. That night we went out on the town in Cairns and just really experienced Cairns for the first time. such a amazing start to our Cairns orientation.

here is my link to my Great barrier reef pictures....http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=110415&id=1067220169&l=38aba

WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!!

Allison and I arrived finally in Cairns, Australia to begin our first leg of our trip.... We first finally departed from LAX at 11:00 pm for our long flight... we then got into Sydney and after going through customs and exchanging our money and finding our baggage, we sat in the airport for 5 hours waiting for our next flight. Next we arrived in Carins to find not a rainy colder weather like Sydney was, but a hot and humid temperature... kinda really gross..... We finally figured out how to get a taxi and got to our hostel with much fumbling and droping over of our bags.... we met a frisn that is going to the University of Queensland and is here for the Australearn orientation as well. He is actually staying with us in our hostel room. it is really nice to have another friend with us to keep us less lost than if it was just allison and I. It is currently 6:02 and we are now just walking around the area a little before we will probably head back to the hostel, take showers and get to bed early cause we are so dang tired... tomorrow we will figure out a way, somehow, to locate the rest of the Australearn group and begin our planned out adventures in Cairns. Hopefully these activities will involve air conditioned rooms or pools.... i will try to blog soon... unfortunately in Cairns here, we do not have wireless internet at least in the hostel..... bye for now!
~Neille

adding to this post.... some pictures of our traveling and the first day in Cairns.
link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=110308&id=1067220169&l=e96ee

Things I have been doing before I leave for Australia

Before i leave i wanted to show you guys some pictures of thing i have been doing before i leave. I have been at Azusa working from 7-8 hours a day and at night i have been hanging with my friends. I have a few albums of pictures of me hanging with them. You guys are welcome to check them out. these are the people i am leaving behind... so sad.

This is a bunch of us hanging out at Victoria Gardens a few weeks ago...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=107899&l=057d0&id=1067220169

This one is an album of us hanging out at Venice Beach last weekend
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=108937&l=35332&id=1067220169

This one is an album of just random pictures of my friends from school I have been taking before I leave.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=107469&l=ec9de&id=1067220169

feel free to look around at these pictures. this is the way i will be showing you guys my pictures in Australia as well. Enjoy =)

Travel Information

I am starting off this first blog with some information I know.

I wanted to first blog my information about my flights and my stay and stuff like that. I will be traveling with my friend Allison from Azusa Pacific. I will be leaving around 10:00 pm on February the 14th. I will at that point be on my way to Cairns, Australia located in Queensland to go to a program introduction where I will be able to experience the Great Barrier Reef and get to know other people going to my university coming from the United States. I will be there from the 15th to the 17th, then i will take another flight down to Sydney and then will be catching a ride to Newcastle a couple hours north of Sydney. I will be attending The University of Newcastle from March 3rd to June 26th. Afterwards I will be traveling around for another three weeks. During my time in Newcastle I plan on going to New Zealand for some time to visit my cousin David and His wife, and also to just see the country. On July 21st I will catch a flight from Sydney back to LAX. I will be arriving in the States on July 22nd some time.

also...
Allison and I have found out where we are living. We have been placed in off campus housing in shared terraces (apartments). Our address is 77 Bruce St, Cooks Hill New South Wales 2300 Australia. At this time, the address is weird formatted so i dont know whether that is the exact format to send things to it. When I know for sure, i will let you all know. We will be sharing this terrace with two other girls from our Asutralearn program. i believe there are three rooms and either one or two bathrooms in this apartment. (doesnt really sound like an apartment so i guess i will see what it really is when i get there…. Allison and I plan on taking many pictures so I hope i will be good about putting them online for everyone to see…. I hope to blog again soon about any other info i know. Enjoy for now!