One down!

First....watch this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLLMzr3PFgk what a voiceeee....I'm in a very singing mood today--I'm probably serenading the people playing tennis below my window, but eh?

How ya goin?

Rain forecasted for the week. I"m actually happy about it because it will give me a chance to get down to buisness with all these assignments. Wanna know what's also forecasted? EPIC SURF! will I get to surf it? maybe? probably not? I did notice that the waves were pretty big at Mooloolaba today---but I only admired it for a couple minutes and went straight to work on a paper for sociology :) Basically finished! I loveee finishing things :) I think I saved the worst for last though--politics and history papers next. I think I'll be spending the rest of my break at coffee shops--bitter sweet =D

It was low/mid 70's today--and people had winter coats on--wussies! Aussies have no idea what cold is--lucky ducks! (you just have to exchange one letter for aussie to equal wussie) I always have random thoughts that go like this, "man this walk would suck in the winter time" or "these roads would suck for snow plows."---and then it occurs to me that it never snows here! This country has neverrrr had snow on the ground---my feet have touched grass that has never been snow covered. I'm easily amazed.

I find it frustrating that no matter what I do to appreciate the every Aussie view, pretty bus rides, and other things--its still going to be a memory eventually. A good one at least! I guess I shouldn't think about leaving yet--still have 8 weeks or so =D

Got to skype with me mate Brittney! made my day! I love the word mate for friend--its so much better...mate date..mates rates...it sounds HEAPS better...heaps and heaps and heaps!

Wellll--I was supposed to be at lifegroup tonight with girls from church, but I didn't have a ride--sooo off to do some reading--fun reading!

g'nite world!

Mel manning the Aussie sausage sizzle

doesn't show the big surf--but it was!



take my word for it!

 "The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him..." --2Chronicles 16:9

I think I'm Overdue for a post!

Its been a longgg time--much to catch you up on.

The Whitsundays were so beautiful! Its's like a sailors paradise---sailboats everywhere ya look. I spent the first two nights on Airlie Beach--the main harbor town. From there I took a long boat ride out to the middle of the Coral Sea to snorkel the reef! I met a girl from London and a girl from Canada. We had a lot of fun with alll the bright colored fish and 86 degree water! I'm pretty excited that I got to see the Great Barrier Reef! It was veryyyyy awesome! A dolphin followed our boat around for a second too, which was a bonus :)

Airlie Beach

The section of the reef we snorkeled

The next two nights I stayed at South Molle Island, aka: Koala Adventure Island. Except--there are no Koalas, so I don't understand that name? It was very secluded and tropical! I liked it a lot. I think there were only 15 people on the island the whole time. They had some really delicous nachos too!

South Molle

Feeding a Rainbow Lorakeet---it pooped on me.

The final two nights I spent at Daydream Island. Now I could have stayed here forEVER. A small little island, but jam packed with good things. I saw a couple sunsets here finally! I also went sailing from this island too around the entire Whitsunday Island. We sailed to Whitehaven beach which is on e of the top ten beaches in the world. Sadly, it rained the entire time we were on the beach so it lost some of its prettiness. I loved the sailing though--real relaxing. I was sad when it was over :)

Sailing on the Camira!

Daydream

daydream has mermaids



Toy Stroy 3 outside on an island!



still saw Jon! Just didnt hear him sing :(

The times in between my adventures were spent basking in the Aussie sun, it was the warmest it had been in a long time they said..it was a greattttt week! go there!

The day after I got back--i soaked up some more sun and then headed to Toowoomba to see a Switchfoot show! To my dismay---one hour before the show the entire festival flooded! I slowly realized that there would be no concert :( The main tent even crashed in! yikes! They evacuated the whole place. The water was at least mid-calf at some points and rushing really fast. I believe Toowoomba just recovered from floods not too long ago. Bummer for them. Bummer for all! The next day--switchfoot blogged and said they played a show anyway! One that they will never forget----tears.

Easter/ My 21st birthday was a different story! What a blast! Went to church in the am and had a couple people ask if we wanted to go surfing at Noosa Heads....is that even a question that needs to be asked? YES i want to go surfing! On my birthday especially. So after a quick lunch stop, I just surfed all day. Quite literally. It was the "absolute ultimate"! Just needed the Kahuna and Moondoggie to be there, and it would've been perfect! After the sun was setting we made our way to the night service at church, got coffee at Mooloolaba, and made cookies and hung out after that! Wonderful day!



Noosa Heads---happy happy 21!



Happy Easter from Australia!

Tonite the forecast is paper writing and a bon fire! Were inventing an Aussie version of a s'mroe. Tim Tams and cookies! Mm MM good! All right---all caught up! peace out!

random guy---hilarious

off to Woolys!

And I'm off!

Bring on the islands! Off to Whitsundays for me :) Sailing, Great Barrier Reef, and white sand. Yippee! Even if it rains--ill just have to find some mud to play in or something. I've been listening to Kenny CHesney all day in preparation :)

It was a perfect sunny day today. I got to enjoy a bit of it when I took a break from getting ready for tomorrow :) But I think I'm headed off to bed early---I have to rise with the dawn tomorrow--actually, before the dawn. SO g'nite yall--pictures and adventure details soon.

TWO weeks offf of school babay! gotta love aussie schedules. <3

aloha mates!

"Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother's womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things." -Ecc. 11:5

"Farmer's who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest." Ecc. 11:4

" I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." -C.S. Lewis

special

Apricot Scones in Buderim

Wonderful day! Not only am I done with classes for two weeks--but i also got to eat my leftover margherita pizza, spend time at the beach soakin up the sun and window shopping, finishing off the night at bible study with a bunch of really awesome people!

At bible study we played a crazy version of UNO that Ill have to teach yall when I get back. It was in a very cozy apartment in Buderim, which is very very hilly. It has a pretty good size balcony that overlooks sippy downs and mooloolaba---and I believe you can see the ocean too. The warm air stuck around for longer than usual tonight---real nice. It was refreshing to hang out with a group of girls and talk over some scones and tea! hahaa---I love listening to everyone's accents. If I woldn't have spoken, one of the girls said I looked very Australian--yess!

Tomorrow is packing day! Off to some Aussie Islands for the week--how will I handle this? I also just remembered that I bought an avocado for this week---guac can always make my day. I also was talking with one of my Aussie friends--and she said I can borrow her surfboard while shes away on break! scoreeeeeee :)

grand day <3 one for the books! but now its time to catch some Z's!

goodnight from land the down under ☼

Scandinavian

I was told that I sound a bit Scandinavian--haha---nope!

Had a greattt sunny day :) The sun trumped my to-do list for the day---I literally laid on my balcony all day soakin up the sun. To my defense--it has rained for the past two weeks--so it was needed!

Church was good too! Faith the was topic--The gist of it was that when faith happens in you heart you'll start to speak it and it will show up in the way you live your life---good stuff-- Romans 10: 14-17, 2 Kings 4: 8-37.

The best news of the day however...drumroll please! ..........I GET TO GO SEE SWITCHFOOT and Easterfest! I finally found some people who can go on the saturday of switchfoot! yiippeee! They even have a signing time---meeting jon foreman twice in one lifetime--i dont know what ill do with all the happiness that results! Lets hope this actually happens!

In other good news--- 3 more days of class and then 2 weeks off! Aussies sure do like there time off! Don't mind whatsoever! You can find me exploring the Great Barrier Reef very soon :) hooray!

Weeeell its about that time---goodnight and goodmorning!

over and out from sippy downs--

P.S. Ive been here for two months as of yesterday--nutzo! and happy 3rd birthday to kassie! <3 from a fellow redhead!

Sunny side up

Long time no blog..

Things are looking up in ol' aussie land! I got a  card from Aunt Dian ( loved that), and I went to a Wednesday  night college service at Suncoast church. I met some really great people, drank coffee (sorry dad--almost easter!), and listened to some live music by some local aussie boys (didnt mind that at allll).

There was also a really great speaker tonight. He has one incredible story. Apparently he was born in middle-ish Africa and was sent off to boarding school at age 6-- a long train ride away to south Africa. This was through countries with a lot of civil unrest and hard feelings toward "white" people. (age 6! for 6 months!--he got bullied a lot) Anyway...he went on to be a top special forces dude in Zimbabwe with some crazyyyy assignments. At one point he was wanted in basically every country for something he didnt do and was forced to flee to australia under cover?..idk it was nutz (he talked really fast--I didnt hear it all). Then he came back from bankruptcy to be a millionaire---he lives normally now in Oz as an entrepreneur and buisness speaker for christian companies...That was really condensed. Oh and this dude is rippppped and about 50?---ripped---the whole room went silent when he took his jacket off...ha.

In other news...I made some fresh guac! With 2 avocados left to use up---bonus!

anywhoooo---lots to do tomorrow for my next photography project! Off to sleep :)

"Friendship in unnecessary, like philosophy like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival." -C.S. Lewis

"God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing."
-C.S. Lewis

"Experience: that most brutal of teachers, but my God do you learn." --C.S. Lewis

"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." --yeppp again.. C.S. Lewis

"Failures are the finger posts on the road to achievement." --Guess who!? ^^

went on a walk the other night---and found this pretty pond!

It feels so good to cross things off a To-Do list!

Finally! The paper I've been dreading all semester long ( and putting off all semester) is FINISHED. Don't ever I repeat ever take an Australian history of film class thinking that it will be cake. Easy it may be--but boring it is more!

The goal was to finish my paper today so I could fully the enjoy the sunny weekend ahead! (I'm being optimistic about the sun--its not guaranteed) bt either way => mission accomplished.

Had quite the odd day at Mooloolaba--but I discovered two new wonderful things: Pine Lime Frappe and FREE wifi at the Coffee Club---Gloria Jeans you have been served. I also got the new Brooke Fraser CD--good stuff! Other than that it rained and I wrote like a fool! its now april 2nd and I should be in dreamland :)

goodnight world!

P.S.--I've had serious guitar withdrawls these last couple days. Maybe this separation will help me become an axe playing fool when I get back---time will tell

Rainbow at Mooloolaba--it was a full one!

self explanatory--

"Let HOPE be what takes you prisoner." -Zechariah 9:12

"In my distress I prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me? Yes, the Lord is for me; He will help me. I will look in triumph at those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust people." -Psalm 118: 5-8


"The Lord is my strength and my song; He has given me victory. Songs of joy and victory are sung in the camp of the godly. The strong right arm of the Lord has done glorious things!" -Psalm 118: 14-15

"I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!" -Psalm 116: 1-2

"Learn to know God intimately. Worship and serve Him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek Him, you will find Him..."
 - 1 Chronicles 28:9