what a week... spring break addition

ok so I just got back from my spring break trip a few hours ago, what an amazing week/9 days it was.

this is probably going to be one of the longer posts so bear with me on this one, it’s all worth it.

ok so the One Fish Two Fish adventure started last Wednesday night when myself along with 5 friends caught our flight to Brisbane. We got to our hostel probably around 11 at night and met up with some of the other kids on our trip that were staying in the same place. nothing special about that night really, the hostel was ok no big events really.

the next morning we all got up really early (which was a common theme of this week), and met up with our 2 tour guides and the rest of the trip. we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. so the first thing we did once we all got on the bus was to play a little speed dating to break the ice with everyone. so while we were on our way to a zoo we spent a few minutes getting to know everyone, or at least try to remember some people's names. so the zoo was pretty cool. since I had luckily already been able to play with the roos and see some most of the animals I wasn't amazed but still had a great time. there for sure some new things at this zoo. first of all it was the "steve erwin" zoo. second of all there was a sick crockadile show where the zoo keepers got this massive crock to jump out of the water while they fed it. don’t let me confuse you, this crock was not doing tricks when it jumped... it was trying to eat the meat out of the trainers hand. during this show there were also some really cool bird displays and a few other cool things. after the show a group of us walked over to the lions, pretty cool to see in person. from the zoo we all got back on the bus, which was another common theme of the trip (being on a bus) and drove to harvey bay where we stayed for the first night. after we all got settled in and showered we went on a nice cruise on some body of water, and got to know each other a little more. that cruise lasted for about 2 hours and then we took the party back to the hostel pool. we all hung out there for a while and then eventually went to bed.

the next morning (day 2) we went to Fraiser Island. for the first half of the trip the weather was not that great... it rained pretty much half the day and was either over cast or sunny for the rest. sounds terrible I know. anyway so for the most part it only rained this day when we were traveling. anyway saw some really cool beaches, got some cool pictures, played some rugby (which by the way is not at all easy), and did some swimming. when we got back from our adventures we had to pack a bag for 3 days. the next day we were going to the Whitsunday Islands, but the catch was that we had an overnight bus ride to take to get to where we had to be. so we all got back on the bus and drove for about 10-12 hours. not so fun, or comfortable. I actually got a pretty good amount of sleep considering the conditions, but none the less we were all very tired and soar the next morning.

day 3 we all get off the bus at around 630-7 at this pretty nasty hostel where we are to pack up a bag for 3 days. we are going to the Whitsunday islands/Whitehaven beach for the next 3 days. we loaded up our bags and walked to where these high speed jet boats took us to South Mole Island. this island is pretty much just the resort. it was a pretty sick place to stay, but I’ll get to that. anyways so we drop off our bags at the reception and get right back onto these boats to go to a few different beaches. the only problem was that the weather was not great. as mentioned before the weather was not that great for the first part of the trip. so while we were on these high speed boats the weather, and mother nature, decide to open the heavens. so going pretty fast and having rain spray you in the face was fun but not very comfortable. eventually the rain stopped and then we stopped for lunch. we were at this beach, Whitehaven beach, and we played some rugby, laid out, went swimming, and took some pictures from this really cool lookout spot. this beach is supposed to be one of the most beautiful beaches in Australia, and possibly the world (not sure if that is actually true or not but thats what they said). so after lunch and the rugby and football games we got back onto the boats and headed back to the island we were staying at to get settled for our 3 day stay. this is when myself and 3 other guys on my trip decided to play a little golf. for those of you that don’t know me... I really suck at golf. when I say really suck I mean tiger woods at age 5 blind folded, lefty, and only using one hand could easily beat me. anyway it was actually really fun, mostly because I suck so much. after that we went to shower and get ready for the night out. we all go to the hostel pool and have a few drinks before we all pass out from exhaustion.

the next day (day 4) is a free day on the island. first thing I do after breakfast is to get a nice massage. it was truly amazing. after the past few days of being on the bus and being on my feet my back was a little soar (I know paradise is not perfect) so I decided that since I’m on a tropical spring break I might as well lounge out a little bit. after that a few of the guys on the trip and myself went to play some bball and chilled at the pool. then I had this amazing idea that I should try wake boarding for the first time. I knew I was going to suck but I had no idea how badly. not knowing what I was getting myself into I thought that I could probably get up at least once but wouldn’t stay up for very long. so I get out there with a few other people that had all done it before and they made it look relatively easy. FALSE. wake boarding is hard... VERY HARD. I didn’t come close to getting up. I ate it real hard every time. to make matters worse my arms had never been so soar the next day. I could barely make a fist. it was still fun though, and is definitely something I would like to try again... maybe take a lesson this time (duh). when we got back from our wake boarding attempts we found some coconuts on the beach and after an hour or so of struggling to crack the outer shell and peel off the fur I finally got the coconut out. it was real real good. for the rest of the day we hung out by the pool, had dinner (really g00d), and went back to the bar/pool.

as you can see this is a long post, so it has taken me a few days to get everything written down.

day 5
today was the last day in the Whitsundays. We got on this really nice sail boat (a Maxi yacht) from the South Mole Island and headed on out. It was POURING when we started out boat ride, but luckily I had my raincoat so it wasn't that bad. As we got farther off shore the weather got much better. Eventually we made it to this nice little island and took some cool pics and chilled on the beach. we played some good old american football, rugby, swam, and just hung out. It was a pretty relaxing day. After we left that island we got the chance to snorkel a little. I'm not exactly sure where we were but there was some really cool coral and beautiful fish. so after a little swim there we headed back to the mainland to get our bags and continue on our trip. We then drove 6 or so hours to Mission beach, where we stayed the night. when we got to the hostel we all just passed out, it was a long day.

day 6
today we got up at like 630-7 and got ready for white water rafting down the Tully river. the rapids were a class 4 (out of 6) so it was pretty intense. when we got there we all got our gear (helmet, life jacket, and water shoes) and then got into our boat. we started off in a calm part of the river to practice paddling and learn what to do if we fell out of the boat and all that, basically getting comfortable in the boat. so after about 10-15 minutes of instruction we headed down the river. on the first of two runs down the river, our guide told us that it was his first time back white water rafting in like 3 months, but he seemed to know what he is doing so it wasn't a big deal. so we are going down and the rapids are bouncing our raft around and all of a sudden we hit this one pretty rough spot. we go into the rapid pretty much sideways and the next thing I know our boat flipped over. it kind of happened in slow motion. anyway so I ended up under the boat, I was fine. but they guide told us that if we do end up under the boat to get out quickly so he can count to make sure everyone is there. so I do that and the next thing I know I’m flying down the river. I see a rope land right in front of me and obviously I grab it and hold on. another guide pulls me into his boat and I wait for mine to come and get me. so that was pretty cool.
on the second time down we took the same route, but our guide kicked it up a notch. we hit more rapids and went at them harder. 2 or 3 other boats flipped the second time down. we almost flipped again, but no such luck.

then when we were done we got back on the bus and drove about an hour and a half to cairns. we stayed at Gilligan’s, one of the nicer hostels in the area. so we got to our rooms, met for dinner at a local pub and went out for the night. We went to this pub called Woolshed, real good time. they have this thing where they auction off gold fish to race. they have this elaborate auction with these back stories about all the fish and then people bid on them. the way the race works is you put the fish in this narrow tank thats a long rectangle. if you own the fish you get a straw to blow bubbles to push the fish along. it’s really entertaining. hang out there for a while and then eventually headed back to the hostel.

Day 7
free day in cairns. since I have already jumped out of a plane, a group of us went ATVing. LOTS OF FUN, also pretty hard at first. so about 20 of us drive about an hour to this place that does ATVing, horseback riding, and I think some dirt biking. anyway so its this place in the middle of nowhere. you sign a waiver, and then get a helmet and get on the RTV. they then teach you how to shift gears and go and stop. that is it. so we go on this 1-2 hour ride, lots of fun. I have to admit I am not a very good ATV-er. here is a list of things that happened: hit a small tree, got my atv stuck in-between two tracks (just like in austin powers and the golf cart thing), and I bumped into a fence. there were a bunch of puddles that we went through, so to say the least we got a little dirty.
so after we got back we had a few hours to do whatever before we were meeting for the night adventure to the disco/night bungee jump. we got to take this party bus over. it was one of those double decker busses with the top was roofless, real cool. anyway, thats right I bungee jumped again, and it was awesome. this bungee was only 50 meters (haha only) but was over a pool of water in the middle of the rain forest. very very cool. there was also this swing that was about 47 meters up. so you get in these harnesses, and strapped into this swing thing. you get pulled up so that you are parallel to the ground at 47 meters, and then one person pulls the cord and you go whizzing toward the bar. I forget how fast they said you go, but it was REALLY fast. this also was awesome. so I did the swing first, and then ran up to get in line for the bungee. I was pretty excited to do it again. so I get up there and I’m still a little nervous, but also very excited. the difference in this one is you have to walk up to the top of the bungee, so you have time to really see and think about what you are doing. anyway, so I get to edge and jump... wow same rush. I got some amazing pictures (not on my computer because they couldn’t get them onto my cameras memory card) of me jumping. I’ll show you all when I see you next. so that was a lot of fun. everyone jumping and hanging out. there was a DJ and all that jazz, real good time. so we all get back on the bus and get back around 11-1130. a few of us go out to one of the local pubs and hang out for an hour or so. we were all exhausted so that didn’t last long. it was a very long day, but well worth it.
Day 8
GREAT BARRIER REEF (and nemo). so we get up way to early again but well worth it. we get on this SICK boat and head out for our about 2 hour trip to the great barrier reef. on the boat they give us a quick lesson on how to scuba. I’m very excited to get out there and see the reef. so when we get there they break us up into 4 groups for scuba. I was in group 3, so I got to snorkel first. went out and saw nemo and his family, along with some AMAZINGLY colored fish or coral. then ate a quick lunch and got ready to scuba. I bought an underwater camera so hopefully those pics came out real nice. saw some amazing things there. clams that were bigger than my body (no joke, I have pics to prove it), nemo, parrot fish, and other amazing things. so after scuba I went right back out to snorkel more. hung out in the water pretty much all day and then we headed back (another 2 hours)and had a few hours of free time before we were all meeting up for a pub crawl. so we went to like 5 different pubs, spending like an hour at each one. real cool to see some different places that I wouldn't have known about or seen if it wasnt for the trip. we took the same party bus from pub to pub, so it was pretty cool. later I realized how much of a tourist trap/scene that bus was and it was almost embarrassing to be on it. everywhere we went on this bus (one more place on the next day) we were blasting music (mostly rap) and making a scene. while it was cool to be on top in reality we all probably looked like idiots. oh well, only live once right....?
day 9 - the final day
the trip has come to its final day, and it was amazing. today we got to sleep in, we didn’t have to be anywhere until 1 pm. so we got up around 11, got some food, hung out, packed up and got back on the party bus to go to a really cool water fall in the middle of the rain forest. so when we get to the rainforest we all pile out of the bus, walk for about 20 minutes past all these cliff jumpers and head to this one spot where there is a waterfall. we hop over the fence, make our way to water and go for a swim. the water was pretty cold, but at the same time felt great. the best part about this spot was the current. so we had to walk our way out to where we could eventually swim, but the catch was the current was really strong. so walking in the water was pretty difficult because we had to watch where we stepped because of the rocks and at the same time fight the current. at one point we had to swim to the next place to walk and the current was strong enough that for part of the time we werent moving, pretty much swimming in place. finally we all get to a place to chill, relax and enjoy the view, which was marvelous.
so after an hour or so we all head back to Gilligan’s and finish packing up before we meet up for our last night on the trip. we had this special exclusive dinner party at the Woolshed, and then we stayed there for the night. it was wild. ill spare the details but it was a great time. eventually we all headed back to Gilligan’s and went to bed, we had to be out of the hostel at 10am the next morning. my flight back to sydney was at 1, so we had to leave at like 11. got up the next morning, finished gathering my stuff together and then headed out for some quick breakfast before grabbing a cab to the air port.

what a trip it was. the places we went to were so amazing, and most likely I would not have made it to them while I am here. made some good friends along the way, and some great memories/stories as you can see from this novel of a post.

sorry it took so long to get this up, but I’ve been very busy with school. this is the first week I’ve actually had assignments due, so its been a bit of a struggle to get back into the groove of working. anyway this was my spring break. pictures will be up on facebook and ready to be shown if you want to see.

cheers

game on

so i just got back from my first baseball game here in Australia. I got the start at second base and played ok. i went 0-2 with a fielders choice, stole second, scored a run, and threw out a guy at home. it was great to get back out and play a real game. seems like this is going to be a good time, the only problem was/is that i have to be at the field at 8am, and it takes at least 40 minutes to get there depending on if the buses are on time. anyway, very much worth it. the final score was 8-8 (who ties?!). the way the games work is you either play 9 innings or 2 or 2 and a half hours, which ever first. we tied it up in the "last" inning and the game was called because of time.

i leave for spring break this Wednesday night, and i am gone until Saturday. so its a 10 day trip up the east coast of Australia. we flight into Brisbane and make our way up to Cairns and eventually fly back from there to Sydney. should be a great time, im looking forward to traveling finally.

yesterday (Saturday) i went to an AFL (Asutralian Football League) game. there are 3 games that could be mistaken as rugby, this is one of them. anyway its too hard to explain the differences mainly because i dont really understand all the rules. but the game was at the olympic stadium... the place was HUGE. really fun game to watch, and the Sydney Swans won in an upset. everyone was going nuts. got some cool pictures that will at some point make on to the web... maybe.

other than that there really isnt much going on. I finally have some work to do, which sucks. i have a few "papers" to write before I leave and i have a few presentations the week i get back so i have to get those taken care of. this is really one of only 2 or 3 weeks that i have a lot to do, so its really not that bad.

anyway i have to shower, eat and get to work.

cheers

all is good, all is good

so this week has been pretty amazing. classes are good, but there are papers that are starting to be due... so I actually have work to do.

anyway, to the good stuff. This past saturday was the last try out for UNSW baseball. So.... I made one of the teams. I'm not exactly sure which team I am on, but I do get to play some baseball out here, maybe get some cool jersey/gear to take home. so that was a good thing. the season starts a week from today (sunday), so thats pretty exciting.

today I went surfing and it was AMAZING. I caught a lot of waves and had a great time. its really tiring, and also pretty hard. the waves I caught were not really big, and for the most part I only stood up for a few seconds before i lost my balance and fell off the board. But i did get a few really good rides where i got all the way into the beach without falling. the guy who was our instructor was a professional surfer and was a pretty chill dude. anyway so the first thing we did was practice how to paddle on the board while we were still on the beach. so we all got down on our boards, laying on our stomachs, and practiced that. next we learned how to "pop up" on the board. again more practice on the beach. then we went right out and started catching some waves. I actually stood up on my first wave for about 3 seconds and then went flying off. as the day went on i caught more and more waves. i got tossed around by a few waves, but for the most part i felt like i did a pretty good job for a first time-er. its funny, a lot of people are now buying boards and going surfing on bondi beach. im really temped to split one with a few of my roommates but i know that i wont use it enough for it to be worth it. surfing was amazing, and i'm for sure going to try to go at least one more time while i'm here.

in other news, weather is still pretty much perfect. I'm getting really pumped to start traveling... while i have not really booked many trips yet. i got one planned, other than spring break. im trying to get a few more things booked later this week as flights will start getting pretty expensive. we have a whole week for "studying" for finals and i think i only have one so that could be a week to go somewhere nice... maybe fiji. sadly i dont think im going to have time to get out to thailand, but im still hopefull.

well thats all for now. ill let you all know how baseball goes when it starts up, i have practice every wednesday night from 7-9 and then games are on sunday mornings.


cheers

cleats, sharks, and adventures

ok so its been a while since my last post so there are a few things that have happened since.

Ive had 2 weeks of classes, and for the most part things are good with school. For each of my classes there is some reading to do and some annoying small papers due throughout the semester. There are a few due before spring break (they call it mid semester break here), so I have to get started on those. They are mostly based off the reading, like a review or something along those lines, so first things first got to get the readings done. I'm in the process of doing that, but sometimes its real hard to have to sit down and not go to the beach/I'll be bringing my books to the beach today.

In most of my classes there are a mix of Americans and Australians, some classes have more Americans than others. Each class is made up of two parts, lecture and discussion (or tutorial as they call it). Tutorials are the important ones to go to because that is where the attendance is taken and you have to go to at least 80% of your tutorials or you automatically fail. There is only one tutorial that I'm the only American, I kind of wish there were more. But anyway classes for the most part are good, and seem fairly interesting.

Ok so as you all know I am trying out for one of the club baseball teams for the school I'm going to out here. It's been pretty fun to play again, but it hasn't all been that great. I debated bringing my glove with me when I was first packing my stuff back home but thought that no one else would bring theirs and that baseball wasn't a big deal out here. So I get to school and find out that they have a club baseball team, and I immediately have my cleats and glove shipped out here. The box comes about 10 days later, just like it was supposed to but on the outside was a sticker that read, "open immediately quarantine documents inside." The first thing I thought was that my glove had been destroyed/was lost in the middle of Australia... and I was about to freak out. Luckily it was just my cleats. Apparently they had some dirt on them when they were shipped so the customs office in Sydney ruled that they could possibly contaminate the country or something. So anyway that meant that they had to clean them and then I would have to go pick them up somewhere in the middle of no where if I wanted to have them by Saturday morning for try outs. So Friday morning I woke up early and went to go and try to find the quarantine office in Roseberry. In order to get there I would have to take 2 different buses and then find my way to the office. The buses here are sometimes really good, but sometimes they run real late. So it took me about 45 minutes to get to the right stop, then I had to walk to the office, get my cleats and then another 45 minutes on the way back. It was 45 minutes of riding the bus, not including the time I spent waiting for the bus. Anyway to say the least it was a very frustrating morning.

So yesterday (saturday) I was at Bondi beach, which is amazing. Just as me and a few friends are getting settled a very loud horn sounds. It's the shark warning horn. The entire beach goes to the edge of the water, and those that were in the water got out, and watched as the choppers and boats all go out to this one spot near a cliff near by. No one really knows what happened but a few girls went online with their blackberrys and said that they read that a surfer got his hand bitten off. I'm not sure how true that is, but that is what they were saying. There were some news choppers that came shortly after the horn went off, so its possible that something big happened. Regardless it was pretty cool, not to sound sick, to be there for what ever happened.

So today is another pretty much perfect day, very few clouds and warm out. I'm going to go eat something and try to get out to the beach.

more to come soon im sure

Cheers

things that are amazing about australia

so today in class i was pretty bored so i started making a mental list of things that are amazing about australia that most likely dont exist back home. this is going to be a running list throughout my time here, keep in mind that there really is no order to this list.

1. McDonalds has a 30 cent ice cream cone... thats 30 australian cents which comes out to be a little less than a quarter back home
2. the people here are way way nicer/friendlier than back home
3. the beaches here are amazing
4. in the mall they have interactive maps where you can type in the name of the store or the type of store you are looking for and it will tell you exactly where to go (for us lazy people)
5. a cold day here is pretty much a perfect spring day (so far... knock on wood)
6. out door movie theaters.... why the US hasn't done this makes no sense. It's the same thing as a drive in but there are no cars. People just get blankets, sit in a grassy area and watch a movie. If the US has these, please tell me where they are
7. sushi is so cheap... and everywhere. It's basically their form of fast food. You see people walking everywhere with those long hand rolls just grubbing away. And it's all really good quality
8. Sydney is by far the cleanest major city I have ever been to. There are no cig butts, no trash on the streets, and the thing is trash cans on the street are really kind of hard to find. I don't know what people do with their trash when they are out, but it does not end up on the ground.

more to come

cheers

week one... check/ they have baseball down under

so i have officially completed my first week of classes. even though it is only thursday, my week is over... no class on friday! classes so far seem to be pretty interesting. the thing that kind of sucks about classes here is that with every lecture there is a "tutorial." the tutorials are the important part of each class, attendence is taken and its a much smaller group. you have to go to 80% of the tutorials or you automatically fail. so you have to plan wisely the trips you take in order to not miss the same class too much.

we are starting to plan our trips, some pretty exciting things. i absolutely have to get to the outback, we found a 3 day trip out there where you legit sleep under the stars in the middle of the out back. for spring break me and a good group of friends are going on this trip called one fish two fish, its a 9 day 9 night trip in the gold coast. i dont remember everything that we are doing but i will be for sure taking a lot of pictures and when i get back ill be writing about it for sure.

so this entry kind of spans over two days. today, saturday, i am trying out for a club baseball team at school.

I just got back from try-outs. it was great to get back on the field, but im a bit rusty. my fielding was pretty much the same as always, made some nice plays. my hitting on the other hand has always been decent at best, but today it was not so hot. got to shake the rust off, so i got one of the coaches number and he told me to give him a call early in the week to see if anyone was going to be taking BP or throwing around. some of the kids there today looked real good, and some were rusty like me.

anyway time to eat and get to the beach
more later

cheers

first day of classes

yes that is correct, today the 9th of march was my first day of class for spring (fall here) semester. hilarious.

so today i had my psych class, physiology of learning (i think), which seems like its either going to be really interesting or terribly boring. i also had my concepts of physical exercise class, which after the first day looks like a keeper.

so i had to get up much earlier than i normally would because i didnt know where my classes were exactly and i didnt want to be that guy who was late on the first day and is like "sorry im not from around here... couldnt find the place."

the thing with classes here is there is a lecture and a tutorial or lab. you have to go to 80% of each class over the semester or you will auto fail. there really is no attendance in the lectures, and ive been told that you dont really have to go to every single lecture to do well. most of the professors here post the lectures online which helps out. the tutorials are were you are in smaller groups (20-30) and really break down the material, so these are pretty much most go to's. monday's i have class from 11-4 straight, pysch lecture at 11, exercise lecture at 12, exercise tutorial at 1, and psych lab from 2-4. but luckily both the tutorials in those classes dont start until next week, so i had a half day.

the last time i was on campus i found out that they had a club baseball team, which i am planning on trying-out/playing for. so today i went and got the contact info for the president and sent her an email. just got to hear back. hopefully my glove and cleats get here in time (thanks mom and dad). it seems pretty competitive, and they have 3 teams each at a different level of ability. so assuming i didnt miss a deadline ill be on one team or another, not sure exactly whats up with that.

so tomorrow i have class from 9-11 and that is it, so thats pretty nice. maybe going to the beach, who knows. i have to really get on planning spring break, all the trips are getting booked. so i might be planning my own little trip, who knows. as much as i like having everything planned for me and taken care of, half the fun is doing it yourself. that also gives you the choice to just wing part of the trip. i guess we will see.

thats all for now

cheers