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Monday, May 17, 2004
Where do you go to get your hair done...???
Well I'm in Sydney now and I know I've missed a couple of days but I will fill those in later...don't you just love this random order of this blog...? Anyway I got into Sydney yesterday around 12:30 and was met off the bus by a person from a backpackers that was just around the corner from the station so I followed her to the "Wake Up!" Backpackers where the catch phrase is, "Wake Up To Someone New" Is it just me or does it sound like they are encourageing you to pick up random people...??? Anyway after I got checked in and put my stuff in my room I decided to go for a bit of a walk around the city...I went down to the Pier Street Mall and had a bit of a look around in the shops there and even managed to find the same shop that I bought my wallet in 4 years ago...that was kinda wierd...As I was walking back to the hostel a couple of funny things happened...First I got stopped by a guy that asked me if he could talk to me about CARE Australia...being the friendly person I said ok but then he asked me if I was Australian and I said no, Canadian he said to never mind about CARE then cause you had to be an Aussie but then proceeded to tell me about how many thousands of Canadians were around...After I escaped him I hadn'e walked more than 20 feet when another guy stopped me and said..."Ok, this is going to sound like a stupid question but, where do you usually go to get your hair done...?" I must say I was caught quite off guard but told him that I don't as the last time I had my hair done was when I got it chopped off last July...then I realized that he too had a Canadian accent and when I asked him where he was from he said, Kingston...I talked to him for a few more minutes and then went on my way laughing to myself about how some random person in Sydney asked me where I get my hair done... :D
After when I got back to the hostel I was beat so I went up to my room to lay down for a bit...a few miutes after I laid down I heard one of my room mates (at this point I hadn't met any of them yet) come into the room...I turned around and found myself greeting a guy...! This supprised me as all the other hostels that I stayed at were single gender dorm rooms and here I had unknowingly been put into a co-ed dorm room...!!! BONUS...:D
Later I went down to dinner and met Peter and Joe two guys from England and Ireland...after a nice chat with them I went up to the TV room to watch some TV before happy hour at the bar started...At 8:30 I went back down to the bar and ordered a pitcher of Blue Curraco and "Lemonade" which I forgot in Australia means Sprite...It really wasn't very good but I sat down with Peter again and these two other girls from England and we sat and talked for a bit...at around 9:30pm we decided to go to one of the other bars but when we got there there was a line about 50 feet long...we were just about to get in line when one of the doormen walked up to us and told us to go straight in!!!! How cool is that!!! I mean you see it happen in the movies but never think it'll happen to you!!! Anyway the bar was really packed but they were having crab races which was really funny...For the race they asked for a "lovely female volunteer" I decided to go up and ended up having to dance in front of the entire bar before letting the crabs out to race...Anyway I just realized that my time is up and I've got heaps to see and do...to be continued...
Well I'm in Sydney now and I know I've missed a couple of days but I will fill those in later...don't you just love this random order of this blog...? Anyway I got into Sydney yesterday around 12:30 and was met off the bus by a person from a backpackers that was just around the corner from the station so I followed her to the "Wake Up!" Backpackers where the catch phrase is, "Wake Up To Someone New" Is it just me or does it sound like they are encourageing you to pick up random people...??? Anyway after I got checked in and put my stuff in my room I decided to go for a bit of a walk around the city...I went down to the Pier Street Mall and had a bit of a look around in the shops there and even managed to find the same shop that I bought my wallet in 4 years ago...that was kinda wierd...As I was walking back to the hostel a couple of funny things happened...First I got stopped by a guy that asked me if he could talk to me about CARE Australia...being the friendly person I said ok but then he asked me if I was Australian and I said no, Canadian he said to never mind about CARE then cause you had to be an Aussie but then proceeded to tell me about how many thousands of Canadians were around...After I escaped him I hadn'e walked more than 20 feet when another guy stopped me and said..."Ok, this is going to sound like a stupid question but, where do you usually go to get your hair done...?" I must say I was caught quite off guard but told him that I don't as the last time I had my hair done was when I got it chopped off last July...then I realized that he too had a Canadian accent and when I asked him where he was from he said, Kingston...I talked to him for a few more minutes and then went on my way laughing to myself about how some random person in Sydney asked me where I get my hair done... :D
After when I got back to the hostel I was beat so I went up to my room to lay down for a bit...a few miutes after I laid down I heard one of my room mates (at this point I hadn't met any of them yet) come into the room...I turned around and found myself greeting a guy...! This supprised me as all the other hostels that I stayed at were single gender dorm rooms and here I had unknowingly been put into a co-ed dorm room...!!! BONUS...:D
Later I went down to dinner and met Peter and Joe two guys from England and Ireland...after a nice chat with them I went up to the TV room to watch some TV before happy hour at the bar started...At 8:30 I went back down to the bar and ordered a pitcher of Blue Curraco and "Lemonade" which I forgot in Australia means Sprite...It really wasn't very good but I sat down with Peter again and these two other girls from England and we sat and talked for a bit...at around 9:30pm we decided to go to one of the other bars but when we got there there was a line about 50 feet long...we were just about to get in line when one of the doormen walked up to us and told us to go straight in!!!! How cool is that!!! I mean you see it happen in the movies but never think it'll happen to you!!! Anyway the bar was really packed but they were having crab races which was really funny...For the race they asked for a "lovely female volunteer" I decided to go up and ended up having to dance in front of the entire bar before letting the crabs out to race...Anyway I just realized that my time is up and I've got heaps to see and do...to be continued...
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Still trying to catch up...
Well I guess before I continue with my resort stories I will bring you up to date as to where I am now...Yesterday afternoon I left my host sister Melissa's place at the University of Queensland for the Gold Coast...a mere 1 hour south...Rhys picked me up from the bus stop and having come straight from work was wearing his pilot's uniform which I must say suited him very well... ;) Before we could go back to his place Rhys acutally had to go back into work because he had found out about a last minute trip he would probably have to be making and had to go back to get more details...After sitting for an hour and a half waiting and threatening to tell his co-workers stories from the resort if he didn't hurry up, he called his flat-mate Andrew to come and pick me up...a few minutes later Rhys realized that he was done and decided to give me the grand tour of the airstrip and the planes that he flies while we waited for Andrew to show up to tell him that he didn't actually have to come afterall...Once Andrew showed up we went back to their place which I must say is quite nice...After finding only ham and cheese in the fridge we decided to go get chineese for dinner...The rest of the night was spent watching TV while Rhys worked on a flight plan for his trip...This trip that I'm talking about was actually really bad luck...it turned out that there was some maintenance work taht had to be done at a location about 3.5 hour flight away and Rhy had to leave at 4:00am this morning to fly the mechanics there and won't be back till tomorrow evening...this meant that I spent today on my own...I did my laundry, watched some TV and then went for a walk on the beach as it is only about 100m from the appartment... :D So anyway that's where things stand thus far...I'm actually going to leave it there for now and write more about the resort a bit later...I'm going to try to see if I can catch some people on MSN in a few hours...it's a little early for them to be on right now...
Well I guess before I continue with my resort stories I will bring you up to date as to where I am now...Yesterday afternoon I left my host sister Melissa's place at the University of Queensland for the Gold Coast...a mere 1 hour south...Rhys picked me up from the bus stop and having come straight from work was wearing his pilot's uniform which I must say suited him very well... ;) Before we could go back to his place Rhys acutally had to go back into work because he had found out about a last minute trip he would probably have to be making and had to go back to get more details...After sitting for an hour and a half waiting and threatening to tell his co-workers stories from the resort if he didn't hurry up, he called his flat-mate Andrew to come and pick me up...a few minutes later Rhys realized that he was done and decided to give me the grand tour of the airstrip and the planes that he flies while we waited for Andrew to show up to tell him that he didn't actually have to come afterall...Once Andrew showed up we went back to their place which I must say is quite nice...After finding only ham and cheese in the fridge we decided to go get chineese for dinner...The rest of the night was spent watching TV while Rhys worked on a flight plan for his trip...This trip that I'm talking about was actually really bad luck...it turned out that there was some maintenance work taht had to be done at a location about 3.5 hour flight away and Rhy had to leave at 4:00am this morning to fly the mechanics there and won't be back till tomorrow evening...this meant that I spent today on my own...I did my laundry, watched some TV and then went for a walk on the beach as it is only about 100m from the appartment... :D So anyway that's where things stand thus far...I'm actually going to leave it there for now and write more about the resort a bit later...I'm going to try to see if I can catch some people on MSN in a few hours...it's a little early for them to be on right now...
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Dinner is over so the Saga Continues...
Ok, so where was I...??? Oh yes I had just finshed telling you about drunken golf so lets see I guess that means it's time for another bar story...
Well the 4th night's theme was Pajama Party so everyone got all dressed up in their jammies and went to the bar...I wore my Australia boxers and my Australian school jersey...Well the night wouldn't have been complete without a fashion show for everyone to show off their jammies...first was all the girls that wanted to participace so we got taken backstage and introduced one at a time and got to go out and strut our stuff...Although I got a very good response the girl with the big rack and small tank top ended up winning that competition... >:Z :D Oh well...after that crushing loss I decided to make it an early night and promised the guys that I would get drunk the next night as I couldn't afford to get drunk every night...
On my second last morning I decided to try to windsurf...I went down to the watersport hut and got the guy working there to give me a quick crash course...then it was out on the ocean I went...Cosidering how windy it was I actually didn't do too badly...I got out to the markers of where the guy suggested I turn around alright but it took me about 10 minutes to actually get turned around...I'll tell you trying to get to shore when the wind is blowing against you is not easy...I finally made it back to the beach but I was down quite a ways from where I started so I decided to get back up and try to surf my way back...after getting a short ways my arms and hands were killing me so I decided to give up that effort and just swam it back in...The watersport guy said that I really did well considering all the wind... :D
Now I know this would normally be time for another bar story but I have more day stories than bar stories and I want to finsh my resort blog with my last night so just bear with me here...Are you tired of reading yet...??? Cause I know that I haven't done this much typing in a long long long time...
One of the lesser exciting stories that I have and yet I feel like I do have to mention it is the hike that I went on...We started at the resort and walked approx 3.5km up to the highest point on the island, Mt. Wyndham...It was a 2 hour hike by the time we got back to the resort but the views were absolutely spectacular and I think I managed to burn off a few kilos... :D
I think to break things up a little bit I am now going to elaborate on some of the people I met...thinking back now maybe I should have done this at the beginning but oh well...I also know that I have already mentioned some of there people and not yet others but if I don't do this I know I'm going to forget some people...
James...from Melbourne...works in a water/snow ski shop...lived in Whistler for 8 months...nice guy...really quiet...followed me around like a puppy dog... :P
Rhys...Flight instructor from the Gold Coast...at the resort with two friends Daniel & Elmon...Really funny...great kisser... :D hehehe...kidding...calm down guys...just trying to see if you're paying attention...
Daniel...Airplane mechanic from Gold Coast...on vacation with Rhys...inherits 2 million dollars in 2 years...Hey Dan, need a wife...???
Elmon...Airplane mechanic from the Gold Coast...Also on vacation with Rhys...Originally came to Australia 8 years ago as a refugee from Bosnia...
Ben..."Sparky" (I think like an electritian) on vacation from working in the mines in Emerald...another Monty Python fanatic...bartender though he was insane when I made him order me a CC and coke with a lime...
Oh ya' that's another thing I forgot to mention...the onle Rye they have here in OZ is CC!!!! How disappointing is that!!! I had to settle...
Ok, so if you're worried that so far these are all guys calm down...I did meet girls too...
Hailey, Barbara and Hanna...3 girls from New Zealand that were absolutely insane...!!! They got cut off from the bar 3 nights in a row...I'm not sure if I've ever seen anyone so drunk...let alone 3...anyway they were heaps of fun and great entertainment...I have just 2 words that are always going to remind me of them...My Bad...
Corrin and Allison...Two sisters from Sydney that were a lot of fun to hang out with...we played tennis...they came on the hike...we went to the beach...oh and Corrin was my fellow partner for the Spice Girls...
Beth and Janice...Yet another pair of friends that were great to hang out with...even though Janice did manage to somehow mess up her back and Beth was hanging off of Nick (one of the Melbourne boys)...almost every night...oh and yes Beth is a chicken... :P
The Melbourne boys...like I have said before...a group of 9 guys from Melbourne on the island for vacation...typical teenage guys...very crazy and very hot... :D ...Let's see how many names I can remember...Adam, Nick, Brent and Dale...ah well, 4 out of 9 isn't bad...
Garth, Rachel, Shannon (another guy Shannon actually), Mandy, ummmm, there were two more people in that group but their names escape me at the moment...this was a fun group of people that were at the resort celebrating Mandy's 30th B-Day...Garth and Rachel were originally from NZ and they were all really nice...Garth, you can get your own trivia answers... :D
Lara...my roommate for the week from Melbourne...I didn't hang out with her much...it was kinda like my situation with my college roommates all over again...we got along fine but had nothing in common...
The CAPS...
Natalie...didn't see her much cause she was off most of the week but she did try to make us do the bird dance...
Kate...The CAP that met me off the boat...called me "Lozza" which I had forgotten is the Ozzie nickname for anyone named Lauren...we played a bit of squash cause no one else showed up for Aqua arobics but since neither of us knew how to play squash it was a very interesting experience...
Jodi...Long legged bird that runs around the resort at night...nawww, that's actually the Curloo but it could also describe Jodi...she led our archery session and manged to make up a whole new dictionary of terminology for the sport...she also ran the Champage Randesvouz but I will elabourate on that one later...
Tim...aka T1...Tall skinny with red hair...actually kind of reminded me of Malcolm...memories of T1..dissapearing for about 20 min after playing "TIC TAC TOE"...
Tim...aka T2...aka The Hot Tim...Took us on our bush walk...Made it all the way through "TIC TAC TOE"...is an awful blackjack dealer...can skul drinks faster than anyone I know...did a great job at the Cocktail Mixology...
Ok...time for another break guys...stay tuned cause I've got a ton more stories...
Ok, so where was I...??? Oh yes I had just finshed telling you about drunken golf so lets see I guess that means it's time for another bar story...
Well the 4th night's theme was Pajama Party so everyone got all dressed up in their jammies and went to the bar...I wore my Australia boxers and my Australian school jersey...Well the night wouldn't have been complete without a fashion show for everyone to show off their jammies...first was all the girls that wanted to participace so we got taken backstage and introduced one at a time and got to go out and strut our stuff...Although I got a very good response the girl with the big rack and small tank top ended up winning that competition... >:Z :D Oh well...after that crushing loss I decided to make it an early night and promised the guys that I would get drunk the next night as I couldn't afford to get drunk every night...
On my second last morning I decided to try to windsurf...I went down to the watersport hut and got the guy working there to give me a quick crash course...then it was out on the ocean I went...Cosidering how windy it was I actually didn't do too badly...I got out to the markers of where the guy suggested I turn around alright but it took me about 10 minutes to actually get turned around...I'll tell you trying to get to shore when the wind is blowing against you is not easy...I finally made it back to the beach but I was down quite a ways from where I started so I decided to get back up and try to surf my way back...after getting a short ways my arms and hands were killing me so I decided to give up that effort and just swam it back in...The watersport guy said that I really did well considering all the wind... :D
Now I know this would normally be time for another bar story but I have more day stories than bar stories and I want to finsh my resort blog with my last night so just bear with me here...Are you tired of reading yet...??? Cause I know that I haven't done this much typing in a long long long time...
One of the lesser exciting stories that I have and yet I feel like I do have to mention it is the hike that I went on...We started at the resort and walked approx 3.5km up to the highest point on the island, Mt. Wyndham...It was a 2 hour hike by the time we got back to the resort but the views were absolutely spectacular and I think I managed to burn off a few kilos... :D
I think to break things up a little bit I am now going to elaborate on some of the people I met...thinking back now maybe I should have done this at the beginning but oh well...I also know that I have already mentioned some of there people and not yet others but if I don't do this I know I'm going to forget some people...
James...from Melbourne...works in a water/snow ski shop...lived in Whistler for 8 months...nice guy...really quiet...followed me around like a puppy dog... :P
Rhys...Flight instructor from the Gold Coast...at the resort with two friends Daniel & Elmon...Really funny...great kisser... :D hehehe...kidding...calm down guys...just trying to see if you're paying attention...
Daniel...Airplane mechanic from Gold Coast...on vacation with Rhys...inherits 2 million dollars in 2 years...Hey Dan, need a wife...???
Elmon...Airplane mechanic from the Gold Coast...Also on vacation with Rhys...Originally came to Australia 8 years ago as a refugee from Bosnia...
Ben..."Sparky" (I think like an electritian) on vacation from working in the mines in Emerald...another Monty Python fanatic...bartender though he was insane when I made him order me a CC and coke with a lime...
Oh ya' that's another thing I forgot to mention...the onle Rye they have here in OZ is CC!!!! How disappointing is that!!! I had to settle...
Ok, so if you're worried that so far these are all guys calm down...I did meet girls too...
Hailey, Barbara and Hanna...3 girls from New Zealand that were absolutely insane...!!! They got cut off from the bar 3 nights in a row...I'm not sure if I've ever seen anyone so drunk...let alone 3...anyway they were heaps of fun and great entertainment...I have just 2 words that are always going to remind me of them...My Bad...
Corrin and Allison...Two sisters from Sydney that were a lot of fun to hang out with...we played tennis...they came on the hike...we went to the beach...oh and Corrin was my fellow partner for the Spice Girls...
Beth and Janice...Yet another pair of friends that were great to hang out with...even though Janice did manage to somehow mess up her back and Beth was hanging off of Nick (one of the Melbourne boys)...almost every night...oh and yes Beth is a chicken... :P
The Melbourne boys...like I have said before...a group of 9 guys from Melbourne on the island for vacation...typical teenage guys...very crazy and very hot... :D ...Let's see how many names I can remember...Adam, Nick, Brent and Dale...ah well, 4 out of 9 isn't bad...
Garth, Rachel, Shannon (another guy Shannon actually), Mandy, ummmm, there were two more people in that group but their names escape me at the moment...this was a fun group of people that were at the resort celebrating Mandy's 30th B-Day...Garth and Rachel were originally from NZ and they were all really nice...Garth, you can get your own trivia answers... :D
Lara...my roommate for the week from Melbourne...I didn't hang out with her much...it was kinda like my situation with my college roommates all over again...we got along fine but had nothing in common...
The CAPS...
Natalie...didn't see her much cause she was off most of the week but she did try to make us do the bird dance...
Kate...The CAP that met me off the boat...called me "Lozza" which I had forgotten is the Ozzie nickname for anyone named Lauren...we played a bit of squash cause no one else showed up for Aqua arobics but since neither of us knew how to play squash it was a very interesting experience...
Jodi...Long legged bird that runs around the resort at night...nawww, that's actually the Curloo but it could also describe Jodi...she led our archery session and manged to make up a whole new dictionary of terminology for the sport...she also ran the Champage Randesvouz but I will elabourate on that one later...
Tim...aka T1...Tall skinny with red hair...actually kind of reminded me of Malcolm...memories of T1..dissapearing for about 20 min after playing "TIC TAC TOE"...
Tim...aka T2...aka The Hot Tim...Took us on our bush walk...Made it all the way through "TIC TAC TOE"...is an awful blackjack dealer...can skul drinks faster than anyone I know...did a great job at the Cocktail Mixology...
Ok...time for another break guys...stay tuned cause I've got a ton more stories...
Monday, May 10, 2004
Adventures on Great Keppel Island...
So lets see...where was I...oh yes that's right...
Saturday, May 1st...
Got up at 7:00am...checked out of the hostel at 7:30...caught the 8:00 bus to Yeppoon...Caught the 9:30 boat to Great Keppel Island...on the island by 10:00...Was met off the boat by Kate, one of the CAP'S (Contiki Action Planner's) and was given a tour of the island...We weren't able to check-in until 2:00 but were told that our bags would be taken to our rooms and we just had to hold on to our day bags that had our bathing suits and such in it...I found a washroom and changed into my new bathing suit as quickly as I could...I couldn't wait to hit the pool...The pool with the swim-up bar was open so I went up there to hang out till my room was ready...there I met James, another lone traveller who was from Brisbane...I also met a group of 3 girls and a guy from Sydney...after lunch we decided to go snorkeling...Snorkelinng was amazing...we saw thousands upon thousands of fish, probably upwards of 20-30 sting rays and even a sea turtle which we followed for awhile...After that I went and was able to get my room key...I went to my room and had a nice long shower and a bit of a rest...
After this the whole week kind of runs together so I'm just going to write about some of the highlights and activities and leave out sepcific dates and times...
Lets see there was the whole in one competition where Natalie, the CAP tried to make us do the bird dance when someone had a good shot...this competition did not go very well for me...My first two shots took me at least 4 tries to hit the ball and when I did finally hit it, it went on a 90 degree angle to where the pin was and only went about 3m... :D my second two shots were better distance wise but were still way too far to the right of the pin...This competition was where I met Ben...a "Sparky"...from Tazmania that was working in the mines in Emerald and was on vacation at the resort with his apprentice...Ben was really funny and we had welcome cocktails at the Sunset bar that night where we were attacked by the insane and very cheeky Lauekeets...they were after everyone's cherry's from their cocktails...there was onle point that I had like 4 on my arm!!! At dinner I was seated at a social table where I met Rhys, Elmon and Daniel...3 really fun guys from the Gold Coast...
That night Salt was open (One of the night clubs) and the theme for the night was a glow-ware party...where you bought a different coloured glowstick depending on your "status"...Green=Available, Blue=Pure, Orange=Toey(Horney), Red=Nimpho, Purple=Attached, Pink=Undecided...Rhys asked me what colour I wanted but decided to let him decide for me because I knew whatever decision I made would just get me into trouble... :D He went and came back with a green one for me...later that night he decided to get an extra two green ones for himself so that he was then, extra, extra available... :D
Another great activity that I did was Cocktail Mixology...since the cocktails at the resort were $12.50 each I decided that Coktail Mixology would be a good investment as it was $30 and you got to make and drink 3 cocktails...first we made the Midori Splice...which was comprised of ice, Midori, Malibu Rum, Blue Curaco, pinapple juice and then a layer of cream on top...it was ok but since I'm not a big fan of pinapple juice I disposed of that one as quickly as possible...in the proper fashion of course...as the Aussies say...skul, skul, skul!!!! Next was the Cosmopolitan...I can't remember the exact ingredients for that one but I do know there was Vodka, Cranberry juice and a little bit of lime juice...(there were at least another 2 liquors in it)...that one was again ok but again as most of you know I'm not a fan of vodka...I took my time with that one and got it all down eventually...Last came my absolute 100% favourite cocktail of all time...The Toblerone...mmmmmmm...Creme de Coco, Frangelico, Bailey's and Kaluha...add those to ice and add in some cream and then blend together...line a chilled glass with chocolate syrup and put a ring of honey at the top so that it runs down into the chocolate...pour your mix into the glass and serve with a strawberry...mmmmmmm...sooooooo good...It tastes like icecream...not only was making the cocktails fun but we also had to go around and introduce ourselves, tell everyone where we were from, our favourite drink and the name of the first person we ever kissed...it made for quite an entertaining time especially because not only did most of us tell the name of the first person we kissed but also told the whole story...
Hmmmm...so many more memories...which to tell next...I guess I'll go for another night-life story...
There theme of the second night was Karaoke... :D At the beginning no one but the CAPS were going up so I decided to go up and belt out a bit of Shania...What a sad performane that was, I'll tell you...A little later one of the girls that I met there, Corrin, and I went up and did a bit of Spice Girls which seemed to go much better... :D After the karaoke James and I decided to play some pool with Ben and his apprentice...Somewhere along the line either myself or Ben quoted Monty Python, we spent the rest of the night laughing our heads off reciting the movie with James and apprentice boy giving up wierd looks... :D It was great... :D
I also managed to get some tennis in while I was there which was really quite funny because I am absolutely horrible at it but I played a match with Rhys and the guys, it was a lot of fun and somehow Daniel and I ended up winning...
The next night was Trivia night and we had all sorts of trivia questions that I had no idea what the answers were...mainly due to the fact that they were mostly Australian questions...I will however never forget the Melbourne boys (a group of 9 guys on vaction together from Melbourne) answer to, "What are the names of the 7 Dwarfs"...I believe their answers went something like this...Happy, Grumpy, Dopey, Sleepy, Stupid, Dumb and Blind...
Ohhh...I just remembered drunken golf which took place right after the Cocktail Mixology...just imagine if you will, playing a round of golf, not only when you absolutely suck at it but also after you've had 3 cocktails in an hours making that an equivilent to about 6-9 drinks...can you say 64 on 9 holes... :D
Ok, once again, dinner time...I shall however return later to continue my many adventures...
So lets see...where was I...oh yes that's right...
Saturday, May 1st...
Got up at 7:00am...checked out of the hostel at 7:30...caught the 8:00 bus to Yeppoon...Caught the 9:30 boat to Great Keppel Island...on the island by 10:00...Was met off the boat by Kate, one of the CAP'S (Contiki Action Planner's) and was given a tour of the island...We weren't able to check-in until 2:00 but were told that our bags would be taken to our rooms and we just had to hold on to our day bags that had our bathing suits and such in it...I found a washroom and changed into my new bathing suit as quickly as I could...I couldn't wait to hit the pool...The pool with the swim-up bar was open so I went up there to hang out till my room was ready...there I met James, another lone traveller who was from Brisbane...I also met a group of 3 girls and a guy from Sydney...after lunch we decided to go snorkeling...Snorkelinng was amazing...we saw thousands upon thousands of fish, probably upwards of 20-30 sting rays and even a sea turtle which we followed for awhile...After that I went and was able to get my room key...I went to my room and had a nice long shower and a bit of a rest...
After this the whole week kind of runs together so I'm just going to write about some of the highlights and activities and leave out sepcific dates and times...
Lets see there was the whole in one competition where Natalie, the CAP tried to make us do the bird dance when someone had a good shot...this competition did not go very well for me...My first two shots took me at least 4 tries to hit the ball and when I did finally hit it, it went on a 90 degree angle to where the pin was and only went about 3m... :D my second two shots were better distance wise but were still way too far to the right of the pin...This competition was where I met Ben...a "Sparky"...from Tazmania that was working in the mines in Emerald and was on vacation at the resort with his apprentice...Ben was really funny and we had welcome cocktails at the Sunset bar that night where we were attacked by the insane and very cheeky Lauekeets...they were after everyone's cherry's from their cocktails...there was onle point that I had like 4 on my arm!!! At dinner I was seated at a social table where I met Rhys, Elmon and Daniel...3 really fun guys from the Gold Coast...
That night Salt was open (One of the night clubs) and the theme for the night was a glow-ware party...where you bought a different coloured glowstick depending on your "status"...Green=Available, Blue=Pure, Orange=Toey(Horney), Red=Nimpho, Purple=Attached, Pink=Undecided...Rhys asked me what colour I wanted but decided to let him decide for me because I knew whatever decision I made would just get me into trouble... :D He went and came back with a green one for me...later that night he decided to get an extra two green ones for himself so that he was then, extra, extra available... :D
Another great activity that I did was Cocktail Mixology...since the cocktails at the resort were $12.50 each I decided that Coktail Mixology would be a good investment as it was $30 and you got to make and drink 3 cocktails...first we made the Midori Splice...which was comprised of ice, Midori, Malibu Rum, Blue Curaco, pinapple juice and then a layer of cream on top...it was ok but since I'm not a big fan of pinapple juice I disposed of that one as quickly as possible...in the proper fashion of course...as the Aussies say...skul, skul, skul!!!! Next was the Cosmopolitan...I can't remember the exact ingredients for that one but I do know there was Vodka, Cranberry juice and a little bit of lime juice...(there were at least another 2 liquors in it)...that one was again ok but again as most of you know I'm not a fan of vodka...I took my time with that one and got it all down eventually...Last came my absolute 100% favourite cocktail of all time...The Toblerone...mmmmmmm...Creme de Coco, Frangelico, Bailey's and Kaluha...add those to ice and add in some cream and then blend together...line a chilled glass with chocolate syrup and put a ring of honey at the top so that it runs down into the chocolate...pour your mix into the glass and serve with a strawberry...mmmmmmm...sooooooo good...It tastes like icecream...not only was making the cocktails fun but we also had to go around and introduce ourselves, tell everyone where we were from, our favourite drink and the name of the first person we ever kissed...it made for quite an entertaining time especially because not only did most of us tell the name of the first person we kissed but also told the whole story...
Hmmmm...so many more memories...which to tell next...I guess I'll go for another night-life story...
There theme of the second night was Karaoke... :D At the beginning no one but the CAPS were going up so I decided to go up and belt out a bit of Shania...What a sad performane that was, I'll tell you...A little later one of the girls that I met there, Corrin, and I went up and did a bit of Spice Girls which seemed to go much better... :D After the karaoke James and I decided to play some pool with Ben and his apprentice...Somewhere along the line either myself or Ben quoted Monty Python, we spent the rest of the night laughing our heads off reciting the movie with James and apprentice boy giving up wierd looks... :D It was great... :D
I also managed to get some tennis in while I was there which was really quite funny because I am absolutely horrible at it but I played a match with Rhys and the guys, it was a lot of fun and somehow Daniel and I ended up winning...
The next night was Trivia night and we had all sorts of trivia questions that I had no idea what the answers were...mainly due to the fact that they were mostly Australian questions...I will however never forget the Melbourne boys (a group of 9 guys on vaction together from Melbourne) answer to, "What are the names of the 7 Dwarfs"...I believe their answers went something like this...Happy, Grumpy, Dopey, Sleepy, Stupid, Dumb and Blind...
Ohhh...I just remembered drunken golf which took place right after the Cocktail Mixology...just imagine if you will, playing a round of golf, not only when you absolutely suck at it but also after you've had 3 cocktails in an hours making that an equivilent to about 6-9 drinks...can you say 64 on 9 holes... :D
Ok, once again, dinner time...I shall however return later to continue my many adventures...
My Vacation so far...
Well I know it's been awhile but internet access here has been few and far between and what little time I do get usually costs an arm and a leg...right now however I am visiting my host sister Melissa at the University of Queensland and am using the computers in her residence...My biggest problem with this however is that the computers are running WindowsNT and there is no version on MSN that I can find that will work on them...grrrr...I want my MSN...there are soooo many people I miss sooo much and can't wait to talk to them again...!!!! Oh ya' that reminds me...SHANNON GET OUT OF BED THE NEXT TIME THE PHONE RINGS!!!! hehehe, just kidding, it was your birthday after all, you had every right to stay in bed...I would've waited till later to call but it was getting late here and I had to get up early to catch the bus to Brisbane...Ok so I know you were in bed for the first call but where were you for the second eh...??? Did you get a huge kick out of it...? My voice was echoing in the phone so I kept thinking that someone had picked up... :D Hmmmm...now that I think about this this should really be in an e-mail but oh well...we'll let everyone laugh at my stupidity... :P Anyway back to the trip...lets try a day by day account...
Monday, 19th April...Left Toronto Airport at 5:30pm...Arrive LA 9:00pm...Leave LA 11:30pm...Arrive Sydney 6:30am April 21st...Anyone wanna tell me where the 20th went...???
Wednesday, 21st April...Arrive Townsville 12:45pm...get picked up by Arthur and arrive in Ayr at approx 3:00pm...go for a nap at 4:00pm get up at 6:00pm for dinner and a visit with Norm and Maureen (fisrt host parents)
Thursday, 22nd April...Got together with Daniel and went for a cruise around the Burdekin...went to the Rotary meeting and caught up with most of the Rotarians
Friday, 23rd April...Went to Townsville with Arthur and Betty...Had a beautiful BBQ dinner at Arthur and Betty's...John and Pam Oar came around for a few drinks...good to see them again...(sorry about all the names of all these people you guys won't know...this section is more for my memory than your entertainment...I promise the resort section is much more interesting...)
Saturday, 24th April...Went to Arthur and Betty's Grandson's wedding...very beautiful and we were lucky it was over before thre rain came...yes, it rained...Later that night went to the reception where something happened that I have never seen before...People were bringing esky's (coolers... :P) full of their own booze into the reception...!!! Turns out this is actually normal...at weddings beer and wine are provided but and liquor or spirits you want you need to bring yourself...Cool eh? :D Anyway...Was ready to leave early but Grub convinced me to stay cause he told me that I had to dance with him...I gave in but still only ended up staying until about 11:00.
Sunday, 25th April...Went out to watch the new couple open their gifts and have some lunch...I must say, weddings can really make a lot of money...they had a "wishing well" instead of registering for gifts which basically just means they asked for money and I reckon they raked in well over $35,000!!! After lunch Arthur, Betty, Norm, Maureen and I went up to Arthur and Betty's son, Kevin's fishing hut at the Baratta's...We didn't get there till late afternoon so we just went out and quickly put out the crab pots and went back to the hut for dinner...
Monday, 26th April...Went out fishing in the morning and although we got pretty soggy by a bit of rain I managed to catch two fish and a crab...it was a good morning and we spent most of the rest of the day inside beacuse of rain...just as the sun was going down though it stopped and we went for a bit of a walk...
Getting tired of reading yet...??? Only 14 more days to go... :D
Tuesday, 27th April......Went out to Rob and Lina Antonazzi's for lunch...(My 4th host family)...I had a great time talking to them and Robert really liked my Tattoo..he even told me he was going to suggest it to other students...this really supprised but oh well, it was really funny seeing how excited he got over it... :D That night Grub took me out to Charters Towers to see KT...Kerry was one of my favourite rotarians and I spent quite a few weekends with him and his faimly at his creek hut and out on camping trips...it was quite a way to go but it was worth it to see him again as I was afraid I wouldn't get the time while I was there...On the way home Grub was getting pretty tired and he asked me if I had any candy or anything...I said that I had gum and gave him a piece...After a couple of seconds he turns to me and says..."Wow, that's different!!"...I had given him a piece of the new dentyne "Fire" gum and forgot that they don't have cinnimon gum here in Australia...It was really quite funny...
Wednesday, 28th April...Went out with Norm and Maureen in the morning to visit the rest of their family and to see Jim and Jill Beresford...Jim is a Rotarian who had just returned from the hospital from getting open heart surgery...That night I went and had dinner with Helen and Tim Bowtell...(My 3rd host mother and brother)...It was also really great catching up with them...At 8:30 Daniel came around to pick me up from the Bowtell's so we could go do something but we ended up staying there talking to Helen until about 12:00...After that we went for another evening cruise...(there's not much to do in Ayr on a week night)...and then hung out at one of the parks until about 2:00am...
Thursday, 29th April...I spent most of this day once again with Daniel...I had to get some shots of me around the Burdekin with my JF hat on so we went pretty well everywhere touristy...That night I once again went to the Rotary meeting and since it was ladies night got to catch up with most of the Rotarian's wives as well...
Friday, 30th April...Had to catch the bus to Rockhampton at 8:10am...Spent 10 hours on a bus...got into Rockhampton at 6:30pm...hoped in the bus for the youth hostel, checked in and went to bed...
Readay folks...this is where it gets a bit more exciting...actually I think it deserves a seperate post...not to mention I think this one is quite long enough...
Well I know it's been awhile but internet access here has been few and far between and what little time I do get usually costs an arm and a leg...right now however I am visiting my host sister Melissa at the University of Queensland and am using the computers in her residence...My biggest problem with this however is that the computers are running WindowsNT and there is no version on MSN that I can find that will work on them...grrrr...I want my MSN...there are soooo many people I miss sooo much and can't wait to talk to them again...!!!! Oh ya' that reminds me...SHANNON GET OUT OF BED THE NEXT TIME THE PHONE RINGS!!!! hehehe, just kidding, it was your birthday after all, you had every right to stay in bed...I would've waited till later to call but it was getting late here and I had to get up early to catch the bus to Brisbane...Ok so I know you were in bed for the first call but where were you for the second eh...??? Did you get a huge kick out of it...? My voice was echoing in the phone so I kept thinking that someone had picked up... :D Hmmmm...now that I think about this this should really be in an e-mail but oh well...we'll let everyone laugh at my stupidity... :P Anyway back to the trip...lets try a day by day account...
Monday, 19th April...Left Toronto Airport at 5:30pm...Arrive LA 9:00pm...Leave LA 11:30pm...Arrive Sydney 6:30am April 21st...Anyone wanna tell me where the 20th went...???
Wednesday, 21st April...Arrive Townsville 12:45pm...get picked up by Arthur and arrive in Ayr at approx 3:00pm...go for a nap at 4:00pm get up at 6:00pm for dinner and a visit with Norm and Maureen (fisrt host parents)
Thursday, 22nd April...Got together with Daniel and went for a cruise around the Burdekin...went to the Rotary meeting and caught up with most of the Rotarians
Friday, 23rd April...Went to Townsville with Arthur and Betty...Had a beautiful BBQ dinner at Arthur and Betty's...John and Pam Oar came around for a few drinks...good to see them again...(sorry about all the names of all these people you guys won't know...this section is more for my memory than your entertainment...I promise the resort section is much more interesting...)
Saturday, 24th April...Went to Arthur and Betty's Grandson's wedding...very beautiful and we were lucky it was over before thre rain came...yes, it rained...Later that night went to the reception where something happened that I have never seen before...People were bringing esky's (coolers... :P) full of their own booze into the reception...!!! Turns out this is actually normal...at weddings beer and wine are provided but and liquor or spirits you want you need to bring yourself...Cool eh? :D Anyway...Was ready to leave early but Grub convinced me to stay cause he told me that I had to dance with him...I gave in but still only ended up staying until about 11:00.
Sunday, 25th April...Went out to watch the new couple open their gifts and have some lunch...I must say, weddings can really make a lot of money...they had a "wishing well" instead of registering for gifts which basically just means they asked for money and I reckon they raked in well over $35,000!!! After lunch Arthur, Betty, Norm, Maureen and I went up to Arthur and Betty's son, Kevin's fishing hut at the Baratta's...We didn't get there till late afternoon so we just went out and quickly put out the crab pots and went back to the hut for dinner...
Monday, 26th April...Went out fishing in the morning and although we got pretty soggy by a bit of rain I managed to catch two fish and a crab...it was a good morning and we spent most of the rest of the day inside beacuse of rain...just as the sun was going down though it stopped and we went for a bit of a walk...
Getting tired of reading yet...??? Only 14 more days to go... :D
Tuesday, 27th April......Went out to Rob and Lina Antonazzi's for lunch...(My 4th host family)...I had a great time talking to them and Robert really liked my Tattoo..he even told me he was going to suggest it to other students...this really supprised but oh well, it was really funny seeing how excited he got over it... :D That night Grub took me out to Charters Towers to see KT...Kerry was one of my favourite rotarians and I spent quite a few weekends with him and his faimly at his creek hut and out on camping trips...it was quite a way to go but it was worth it to see him again as I was afraid I wouldn't get the time while I was there...On the way home Grub was getting pretty tired and he asked me if I had any candy or anything...I said that I had gum and gave him a piece...After a couple of seconds he turns to me and says..."Wow, that's different!!"...I had given him a piece of the new dentyne "Fire" gum and forgot that they don't have cinnimon gum here in Australia...It was really quite funny...
Wednesday, 28th April...Went out with Norm and Maureen in the morning to visit the rest of their family and to see Jim and Jill Beresford...Jim is a Rotarian who had just returned from the hospital from getting open heart surgery...That night I went and had dinner with Helen and Tim Bowtell...(My 3rd host mother and brother)...It was also really great catching up with them...At 8:30 Daniel came around to pick me up from the Bowtell's so we could go do something but we ended up staying there talking to Helen until about 12:00...After that we went for another evening cruise...(there's not much to do in Ayr on a week night)...and then hung out at one of the parks until about 2:00am...
Thursday, 29th April...I spent most of this day once again with Daniel...I had to get some shots of me around the Burdekin with my JF hat on so we went pretty well everywhere touristy...That night I once again went to the Rotary meeting and since it was ladies night got to catch up with most of the Rotarian's wives as well...
Friday, 30th April...Had to catch the bus to Rockhampton at 8:10am...Spent 10 hours on a bus...got into Rockhampton at 6:30pm...hoped in the bus for the youth hostel, checked in and went to bed...
Readay folks...this is where it gets a bit more exciting...actually I think it deserves a seperate post...not to mention I think this one is quite long enough...
