A canuck in Oz: April 2007

Erin

Christina, Brie-ann, and Lindsay
@ the G'day Cafe......were we went for lunch after dealing with our flights home!
yes that's right.....i am coming home!!! December 8th!!!

This was the NICEST bathroom i have ever seen....don't worry there was no one else in there when we were taking the pictures.
Toilets in the Queen Victoria Building

Now that is what i call an environment friendly taxi

neat waterfall in a souvenir store in Sydney

crazy looking pigeon at Starbucks in Sydney

me on the train on our way back to the 'gong

lindsay on the train.....there were some loud kids on the floor below us

'old school' train. @ Central Station....Sydney

Woonona East Public School Prac March12-April 5th

A mifti day was when the kids could come to school out of uniform with a donation for some sort of charity raising thing

My classroom - with the egg art i did with them. They really loved it. You remember the tissue paper on the end of a pencil. Dip in glue then stick it to your paper!!

Back Row :Elousie, Megan, Alistair, Madison, Brianna, Jared, Jaiden, Lucas, Lockland, William, Blake, Trent
Middle Row:Thailea, Cooper, Harrison, Jake B, Georgia, Harry, Stephen, Ben, Louise
Front Row: Brittney, Rhiannon, Layla, Mikaela, keira, Thisani, Laura

Mrs. Forsyth 3/4 split

underwater pictures from the reef

Well i will keep this one shorter then the last one. I know it was a novel.....it took me an hour to write...sorry i should have kept it short.....but come on now, it is me we are talking about, and i do love to talk!!!
These are some of the picture i was able to take with the underwater camera that Crisi gave me for christmas.....a great gift by the way.
The colours didn't turn out as bright as they actually are. I guess i am just use to my snazzy digital camera now.
But still they look wonderful. It was so amazing. I can't wait to go and do it again. We are hoping to go to Cairns for a week and a few dives. It is cheaper to do them up there then in the Whitsunday Islands.
Hope you are all well...miss you and love to everyone (if anyone other then family reads this anymore...lol)
Sarah

Underwater camera pictures. April 7th, 2007

That is the HUGE fish Robert and i got to pet while diving

A SEA TURTLE!!!!

one fish.......

thousands of fish!!!

some bright coloured fish!

me underwater.......it would have turned out better without the life jacket on!

me above water....with big brother watching over me from the boat!

My Easter Break Adventures!

Whew....that was a busy but amazing week!!!
First I had to get up at 230am on Thursday morning to catch the 330 train.....i was afraid i was going to miss my stop so i took a school book and did one of my assignments that is due this week(look at me being all proactive!) My trip to the airport was pretty simple, i wasn't 100% sure of where i was going, but i made it with NO problems. I was booked in on an isle seat which i though score at least not in the middle, but as it turned out there was no one in any of the three seats so i got to move over to the window seat, which of course was MUCH better. The flight was just over 2 hours, so i had a nice nap and woke up just as we were coming into the Whitsunday Islands. They are made up of 74 islands, but only 8 are 'occupied'. It was so pretty. Once i arrived we got off the plane and walked across the tarmac to the airport and as i was walking through to the other side to get my bag Robert and Mandy pulled up in their 'sweet ride' (as Robert called it) it was a golf cart. Everyone on the Island drives golf cards, there are very few motorized vehicles. We did a quick tour of part of the island, and then headed back to the resort room. It was very nice and spacious. We then headed to the beach and did some sea kayaking, then went to the pool and did the whole swim up bar thing (which was SO cool cause i have never done one.) and headed back to the beach....only one problem the pool was about 4 feet deep, so it was a little hard to walk through the pool with my drink in my hand above my head...but oh well. After a little rest on the beach we did some sailing.....and i learned some of Robert's sailing vocabulary....I believe most of it was JIB-JAB to the left or right!!! After sailing we headed down town for lunch. It was the neatest place. The whole Island is owned by one man. He owns everything expect the post office. So where ever you go to buy something you can just charge it back to your room, that way you don't have to deal with cash if you don't want to....although then you get a wopping bill at the end!
Then Mandy headed to the beach and Robert and i did a more intensive tour of the island (which took about 15 mins) I then went for a walk around the resort and got myself a shot glass and some post cards. Robert had a nap, then he and Mandy played tennis while i explored the church and the school (even on holidays i was interested in the school!!).
The following day we headed to a Long Island via a boat shuttle. This place was certainly not as nice as Hamilton Island. I mean it wasn't horrible (well maybe just Demetri was) but it was for sure the kinda place that you go if you wanna drink and party all day and night. It is a place that Contiki goes, so that should say enough!!!
On Saturday we went out to the Great Barrier Reef to go diving. The ride out there was horrible!!! I thought Robert was going to loss it. I don't get motion sickness, but this was horrible ( i was still feeling it on Tuesday) Once we got there it was right into diving. I was so nervous and super glad that Robert was my dive partner. I had a moment of weakness and kinda panicked so they ended up sending us our own dive master, so it was just Robert and I with our dive master. Once i got down i was fine.....we ended up being almost 60 feet down. The fish were AMAZING. I saw so many bright and colourful fish, including a clown fish (aka Nemo) we saw a sting ray, a sea turtle and so many other things including this HUGE fish that had to be at least 3 feet long, 2 feet high and 8 inch thick.....Robert and I ended up being able to pet it. We also got to touch a Sea Cucumber and a piece of Coral that our dive master picked up (it was the stuff that Nemo lives in....if that means anything to anyone).
After our dive we had lunch and then Mandy and i went for a snorkel, which was just as neat as the dive....i used my underwater camera that Crisi gave me but i have yet to find somewhere to develop it.
Our boat ride back was much better then on the way out. Once back at the 'resort' we had dinner and then went to bed.....
Sunday morning we got up and headed to back to Hamilton Island to catch our flight back to Sydney. Once we got there we were suppose to meet up with Lindsay but she had some train trouble, so that didn't work out. Once we found out hotel we dropped our stuff and headed out to see the town. We did a harbour tour and saw all the usual things (plus Bendy Em this woman who was able to get herself into a 16 inch box). Then we headed to the Sydney Tower and saw the city from above at night. That was really neat. Once done that we walked to the Queen Victoria building. It was closed but we walked around it, well Mandy and i did Robert waiting for us (what a good husband/brother!!)
After that we headed back to the hotel to get changed and head for dinner....silly Robert had sandels on so we couldn't get into where we wanted to go (after 7 men have to be in closed shoes, but ladies can wear whatever they want) But no biggie we just found somewhere around the corner.
The next morning we headed to see Manly and Bondi beach. Both famous beaches here in Australia. Mandy signed up for a surfing lesson at Bondi beach.....while she did that Robert and I walked the board walk and then sat and watched her learn how to surf ( and i have to say she did pretty darn well at it) After she finished we hoped into the car and drove down to Wollongong.
Wollongong isn't as exciting as the other places we went to, but we had fun. Tuesday morning we all got up and headed to down town and we walked through the mall and they got to see most of the place. We then hopped back in the car and drove to K-Mart and Target (Linds and i needed to pick up some stuff and it was easier then trying to get it on the bus!) Then after something to eat we headed up Mt Keira. Robert really enjoyed the drive up, it was a crazy windy road. We spent about 10 mins up there looking around at the region and i pointed out the Uni for them. We then dropped Mandy at the beach and we came back to the apartment to watch a movie. Once all back together we headed to North Gong pub. Tuesday nights are $5 pasta nights. It was great that they got to see the place, it's a really nice place to relax and chill out.
The next morning we got up at the crack of dawn, and heading back towards Sydney, with a side track to the Blue Mountains. It is beautiful there, i went there with Cecilia when i was here 5 years ago, but still takes your breath away. After exploring there for a bit we headed back towards Sydney and stopped in a smaller town, and found out that the Olympic Park where rafting and kayaking was done in 2000 was near by. So off we went, to only find disappointment that the course was without water from 130-330pm. So no chance of trying it. I think Mandy was pretty bumed about that! But what can you do.
So we still had a few hours to kill before we all had to be at the airport. So after long 'talks' about where to go and how to get there, we decided we would just find somewhere near the airport to chill for a bit. We found a nice little park, where we were going to play frisbe and tried but it was FAR too windy. So we ended up just walking around the park, it was right on the water (river or something) which was nice. Then back in the car and Robert and Mandy dropped Lindsay and I off in the Domestics terminal before heading off to internationals!
So that was my fun filled (and packed) week with my family!!
I loved them being here and was sad to see them go.....even after Robert calling me a baby for crying (only a little bit) at the airport.....who knew i would be crying because he was leaving....

So off they went and Lindsay and i sat around for about 40 mins before we could check into our flight to the Gold Coast. It was nice again it was just the two of us in a three seater row. So we were able to stretch out. I got the window seat, but it was dark so i couldn't see anything! We arrived in the Gold Coast about 8pm and headed to our hostel, got all booked in and found our room. Not the greatest but for $ 33 a night you can't go wrong! We then decided we would do a bit of exploring and realized that we were only a 10 min walk from Seaworld, so we decided that is what we were going to do the next day. After a good LONG sleep of about 10 hours we got up and headed to Seaworld. First thing we did when we got there was went straight to the counter to see if we could do a dolphin swim, but apparently you are suppose to book that in advance.....who know! So we decided we would snorkel with sharks instead. I was kinda nervous and thinking, what did Lindsay get me into....But once in the water it was nothing. I did get a little nervous as the Sting Rays were swimming 3 feet below me.....but the sharks didn't freak me out at all, I was surprised especially when swimming one that was about 4 feet long came right past me, i could have put my hand out and touched him.....we got to do that for about 20 mins. It was amazing, expect for the people that kept swimming into me, i was trying my hardest to be polite but it was SO annoying, i ended up waking this girl (her leg, not her face or anything) After that we did the usual theme park stuff, a giant ride, dolphin show, 3-D movie, all the animals, then headed back to the hostel as we were SO tired. Had a quick dinner and then i think pretty much to bed. The following day we headed to Pacific Fair. The largest Mall in the Southern Hemisphere. It was really neat, some stores were outside and others inside. We went to the movies and saw Becoming Jane.....I highly recommend it. Then we headed back to the main Surfers Paradise area, went onto the beach, and walked around the stores. Then some really creepy old man came up to us and asked for us to take a picture with him, so we just got up and walked the other way.....
On our last day we headed down to Coolengetta, the town right on the boarder of NSW and QLD. We also found out there wasn't much in this town. We walked up to where Captin Cook ran into Australia (aka Danger Point). At this point Lindsay was in need of a coffee so we went and sat at a cafe for a bit, then into the grocery store and bought food for lunch and dinner (much cheaper way of doing it) Then we found a nice quiet beach area to eat and we sat there for most of the afternoon, just reading and chatting. Then it was time to head back to the airport and back to Wollongong. Our flight was totally full (and poor lindsay got the middle seat again....she has had it on every flight....and i have had the window....lucky me!) Got back to Sydney around 1030 then caught the train home. About 1/2 an hour before Wollongong this drunk guy came over to us and started talking away (I was so happy there were other people in our train car) He was harmless just a little annoying is all!
We arrived back at the apartment about 130am or so......then i had Sunday to just veg, do laundry and get ready for school on Monday.
So that was my amazing yet crazy week. After Robert and Mandy being here I feel like I can totally make it till mom gets here in 12 weeks. It's going to go by so fast, and I have so much happening between then and now. We are talking about going to Cairns in my two weeks off before i head to Malaysia....but we will see. Lindsay is now working as a Nanny so it will depend on wither or not she can get the time off and have the cash flow!!
Well i hope that was enough for all to read.....lol
Until next time
Love you all....miss you!!
Scuba Sarah (aka S-Dog as Robert says!!)