The Royal Wedding and Piha

THE ROYAL WEDDING

Half way through the trip I met up with my roommate at UBC. She is doing her exchange in Auckland, so I got to stay with her in her university residence, which is always a good time! On Friday afternoon, on behalf of the wedding, we decided to go for afternoon tea in the garden, which was rather lovely. Turns out the Royal Wedding was part of prime time television in NZ, as it was playing at 7:00 pm. We ended up playing a Royal Wedding drinking game that night, which was pretty comical. Examples of some rules were: drink when you see Posh and Becks or Elton John, drink when you see a ridiculous hat, drink when you see an all-matching outfit, etc

TRIP TO PIHA 

Piha was amazing. It’s a small coastal settlement located only half an hour from the city. It has a really cool atmosphere – it feels so rugged and isolated. Definitely one of my favorite places thus far. I will always remember it, as it was the first place I EVER WENT SURFING! Funny how I live in Australia and the first place I ever surfed was in New Zealand. 

Piha <3

We rented wet suits and boards from a local company and got an awesome deal. We then headed down to the beach and the water was freezing! At least if you’re in a wet suit you automatically kind of look the part - until you get into the water, and you can’t figure out how to carry your board across the waves without it smashing into you. Surfing is frustrating. It is definitely a sport designed for patience… something I sort of lack when it comes to some things, such as yoga. My friend was an excellent teacher. She took me onto the beach and we did a few practice waves and got the technique down. 

Ready to Go! 

Looking the Part

It was a great experience, but a challenging one. I hate sucking at something! I am determined to try again, hopefully in Australia when it’s warm. The weather was interesting. For a while there was a bit of thunder going on… so that was a bit worrisome. That’s when I decided to head in… All of the really good surfers go later on…. or really early in the morning. Well, I think it depends on the beach actually. But it was packed. When the sun came down, it was simply stunning. 

Post-Surf 

Sunset 

Piha is by far one of my favorite places. We went for a little walk along the rocks, which was, hands down, the most painful experience for my feet EVER. I was with a bunch of adventurous people who apparently have feet of steel, so I couldn’t be a baby and express just how painful it was. I felt as though I was stepping on knives. Got some great photos though… Now for a pedicure!

SO PAINFUL!! 

Overnight Trip to Rotorua

I LOVED ROTORUA! It was so awesome and there were so many things to do. It was about a three hour drive through the beautiful rolling hills of New Zealand to get there… and the car ride went super fast. Saw lots of sheeeeep! It was a mixed day when it came to weather… but the views were stunning along the way. We did LOTS of things – more than I could have even imagined!

AGRODOME

My family had told me that we would be going to the “Agrodome,” but hadn’t told me what we would be doing there, or what it was. They said it was better to be a surprise, and boy were they right! It was the quirkiest and coolest thing! So it’s pretty much a  real New Zealand farm, with sheep and dogs and the whole nine yards, but they put on a show – a sheep show. So pretty much what happens is there are 19 rams that are introduced (all different breeds) and the host gives you a run-down on the differences between them. Who knew there was such a variety in sheep? It completely changed my opinion of them. He talks about their origins and the product for which they are famous. Then, there is a live sheep shearing demonstration! He discussed how sheep shearers are not paid on an hourly basis, but are paid by the amount of sheep they shear, making about $3.50 a sheep. Cool, hey? Then he brought out a bunch of amazingly trained sheep dogs, and whistled at them telling them go right or left or every which way.

                                                                        The 19 breeds.

My favorite picture, ever. Honestly the cutest lamb I've ever seen!!! 

My Certificate of Udderance 

Milking a Cow 

I was so into the show. In fact, I was so into it, that I ended up volunteering to milk a cow. My hand was up in the air before I even knew what I had got myself into… It turned out being pretty cool. Not really what I expected. I was the last of the three volunteers to have a go… so I argue that she was a bit dry by the time I got to her (which explains my poor/average milking skills).  The “teets” were smaller than I expected and there really is a technique to it. I was afraid to hurt her because I didn’t know how sensitive the area was. Turns out you can be rather harsh with your hand movements. I got my “certificate of udderance”. What a show.

Te Po

That night we went and freshened up for our big Indigenous evening experience! It is similar to what a luau would be in Hawaii. It was a fantastic way to get to know the Maori culture and I had a great time. There was story telling, entertainment and Maori cuisine. We got to see a full “haka” dance – which is the famous dance that the All Blacks Rugby team do to psych out their opponents. See the link I've attached below. Even the schools have their own haka dances. They’re really intense, but they’re really fun to watch. It’s really hard to explain, so you can just see for yourself:

The face 

One of the most recognizable things about the Maori culture is the face that they make when they’re performing. I can’t remember the correct Maori term for it… but it’s when they stick out their tongue and widen their eyes. It’s quite scary to be honest. We then attended an AMAZING buffet. It was food galore and it was delicious – all sorts of fish, meat, salad, bread and an amazing dessert table. After the dinner, you head down to the world famous “Pohutu” geyser. We could barely walk because we were so full, but I forgot about how full I was when we got down to the geyser. Looking at a geyser under the stars, while sitting on warm rocks (due to the thermal activity) and drinking hot chocolate was a truly memorable experience.

The Haka Dance:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-lrE2JcO44

RAINBOW SPRINGS

Rainbow Springs is a Kiwi Wildlife park. Please note that New Zealanders are called kiwis because of the birds, not because of the fruit. Kiwi birds are just called “kiwis”- the fruit is called “kiwi fruit”. That explains why I got a few weird looks when I claimed that I “loved to eat kiwi, especially with the skin”. Of course, I was referring to the fruit, but to them, I was the Hannibal Lecter to their endangered national icon.

At Rainbow Springs, we did the “Kiwi Encounter,” which is a special tour that teaches you all about the kiwi. You learn all about kiwi egg collection in the wild, incubation, hatching, and then raising the kiwi to be released back into the wild. It was really cool to learn about just how endangered they really are. It’s interesting because their population decline is due to the introduction of possums that were brought over from Australia. Before possums, they had no predators. Darn possums ruined everything – they eat the trees and are a national pest! The eggs aren’t protected by the mother because the mother never had to before, because there were no predators. The mom pretty much has the eggs and then takes off. Crazy town. It’s the dad who does the incubating. It’s kind of sad because with this kiwi conservation program, they go into the wild and take the eggs from the dad. Granted this increases their survival rate from a mere 5% to a whopping 70%... but it’s just kind of sad to think about the dad coming back and not having his babies. Considering kiwis are nocturnal… we got to go into a dark room and see a couple in their little habitat.

To be completely honest, the birds are not that cute. Sure, they’re somewhat endearing… but “cute” is a stretch. They have no wings because they’re flightless… but I feel like wings are a key element to a bird. You be the judge.

WAI-O-TAPU (THERMAL WONDERLAND)

This place was very very cool. It’s a thermal area of land that is covereved with collapsed craters, cold and boiling pools of mud, water and steaming fumaroles. The area is associated with volcanic activity that dates back about 160,000 years and it’s located on the edge of the largest volcanic depression within the Taupo Volcanic Zone. The area has tons and tons of colors due to the different mineral elements. For example, orange is due to antimony, white is due to silica, yellow is due to sulphur and purple is due to manganese oxide. The whole area smells like rotten eggs because of the hydrogen sulphide in the area. It’s a large park and we did the whole walk, which is about 3 km. I got to play tour guide, which is always fun. I saw some things that I didn’t even know existed…  It was like Disneyland, for geothermal activity. 

HUKA FALLS

Huka Falls was beautiful. It’s the most visited attraction in all of New Zealand and I know why.  It's a set of waterfalls on the Waikato River that drains famous Lake Taupo. The water is crazy fast and ice blue. Lake Taupo has no wildlife in it because the fish can’t travel upstream! The water is too strong – about 200,000 liters flowing per second!! The canyon itself is only about 15 meters across, which explains the force. We did the “huka jet.”  If you’ve ever been to Niagra Falls, it’s similar to the Maid of the Mist in that you get to go up to the waterfall, but different in that it’s a small jet boat that whips you around. Everything in NZ is extreme and adventurous!! I was sitting right behind the driver, which I thought was a good idea. Turns out it wasn’t, as I ended up being on of the wettest people on the boat. He would drive straight towards trees and then turn on the last second away from them, all the way up the river.  It was an awesome experience. 

Our Driver 

NEW ZEALAND WHIRLWIND - Some Highlights!

THE PIPELINE

We went for a lovely walk along a pipeline that connects a few of the beaches on the North Shore. It was so beautiful and the first time I had seen a New Zealand coast. The best word I can use to describe New Zealand is “picturesque”. Every photo was post-card quality. It was stunning. The tide was coming in, so we ended up getting a bit wet on our walk, but it was awesome. On the right, you had cliffs of old rocks, with layer after layer and on the left, you had  a view of a volcano and the ocean. It was a wonderful first impression.

Just as I was talking about Willy, this puppy came around the corner! What a wonderful coincidence. Willy is with you, wherever you go. 

SKY TOWER

As a true tourist, we went up the Sky Tower, which gives you a great sense of where everything is in Auckland (what’s north, east, south, west, etc). There was a beautiful view of the Auckland Harbor Bridge and I got to see a lot of the main attractions from a bird’s eye view, such as the stadium for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The Sky Tower itself is over a thousand feet high, so you get a really nice view. A few fun facts from the pamphlet: the tower itself weighs the same as 6,000 elephants and it’s the tallest man-made structure in New Zealand. Apparently, they light it up according to the holidays, etc. For example, they make it red and green at Christmas, and black when the All Blacks (rugby) are playing a test match.

NORTH HEAD

North Head is volcanic hill located on the North Shore. When you go up to the top, you get AMAZING views. It was mainly used by the military for coastal defense, so there are tons of old bunkers and tunnels on it. It was blown away by the views. I loved how diverse the view was, from cottage-like houses and beaches to the sky scrapers of downtown Auckland. 

EASTER DINNER

I was lucky to eat some of the BEST meals staying with my family, including Easter dinner. I woke up to some delicious chocolates that morning and was very happy to be spending Easter with family. Appropriately, we had lamb… with mint sauce! Apparently mint sauce/jelly is the thing to have with lamb – who would have known? We also had roast pumpkin, kumera (a sweet potato from NZ that I became obsessed with), and my new favorite – PAVLOVA! It was so delicious, and better yet, it was covered in golden KIWIS! Very fitting. There are two types of kiwis, and I’d only ever had the green ones before this trip (the green ones are furry, the yellow ones are not!) They taste pretty different, but I really enjoy them both.  I like the green ones better for taste, but I love how the golden ones aren’t furry. I’ve always ate the skin on kiwis, which is apparently weird? I argued that it was a Canadian thing, but turns out its just an Emily thing. Whoops.

ANZAC DAY

April 25^th is ANZAC Day in New Zealand and Australia. It’s equivalent to our Remembrance Day. It’s to honor the Australian and NZ army corps that fought in Turkey during World War I. We went to the museum, which was really cool. I got to learn about  the history of New Zealand and it was a really special day at the museum, as it is a war memorial museum. I also learned about how Auckland is built on volcanoes. Here’s a good descriptive quote:

 “New Zealand is a land straddling the boundary of two of the Earth’s great tectonic plates, beautiful but vulnerable to the forces of nature. In Auckland, those forces lie deep beneath the surface of the land, forming a volcanic hotspot under the city”. The Auckland Volcanic Field has about 48 volcanoes within an area of 360 square km. Who would of known?

Overall, it was a really nice day – we had ratatouille for dinner and sweet chilli mussels – YUMMY! It ended up being a rainy night, so we grabbed a couple of movies and got cozy in the living room. One of the movies was called “Boy” and it’s a New Zealand movie. I highly recommend it. It’s about a young Maori boy who lives on a farm and takes care of his brother and cousins, and his relationship with his corrupt dad.  

Here's the trailer: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwqfR8g-Qow

Interesting Flight to Auckland

I was lucky enough to travel to New Zealand over the mid-semester break to visit friends and family. The flight from Brisbane to Auckland is only 3 hours, which is peanuts in comparison to a flight from anywhere else in the world to New Zealand! Turns out my flight ended up being not that short… but we’ll get to that.

I was a bit embarrassed when I was travelling, as I had this bruise on my nose. I can’t say it was from a really cool story or anything, because it really just wasn’t. Here’s what had happened: I was sitting in my bed a couple nights before, typing on my laptop. My laptop was on my thighs, with my knees bent. I went to adjust my pillow and ended up throwing my knees forward, and the laptop smoked me in the face. Try telling people you have a bruise because you hit yourself in the face with your laptop – not cool. Anyways, I arrived early at the airport. Gave myself enough time to grab a hot chocolate and take a peek around duty-free. It was a beautiful morning and I was so excited to be travelling!

So now for the interesting part: A man in the first row on my flight had a heart attack about an hour into the flight (flight is 3 hours long). So, technically, we were closer to Brisbane than to Auckland. It was pretty serious and people on board were pretty worried. We ended up having to turn around and fly back to Brisbane. Considering it would only be an extra half an hour to fly to New Zealand than to return, it was a pretty serious situation because they chose to turn around. Can’t say I’ve ever busted a u-turn in a plane before. The funny thing was that I was doing my homework and reading an article on the medical prescription of heroin for heroin addicts… when the intercom asked everyone on board if there was anyone who was a doctor/nurse/involved in the medical profession. The lady (who was annoyingly reading over my shoulder for the last hour) gave me a sort of nod… as if I was involved in medicine in some way due to my heroin article. It was flattering, but not a chance!  Anyways, we ended up flying back to Brissy, staying on the plane while it refueled, and heading back. I was starving by the time we got there!

I ended up arriving in Auckland 6 hours later… so much for peanuts. It was so nice to be picked up by family. We went out for a delicious thai dinner and headed back to their place on the “North Shore” (crazy because that’s the name of where I live in Vancouver!!) I felt right at home. After a nice cup of tea, I slept like a baby after all of my airplane drama.

Go-Card Stress

The roomies and I decided to head to the movies for a relaxing Saturday night. We decided to see the Little Red Riding Hood movie, made by the Twilight director. I can honestly say it was one of the worst movies I have ever seen…. But it was so bad, that it was good. The acting was terrible, and there was really just nothing creative about the movie at all. We got a lot of inside jokes out of the movie though, so that’s always good. A memory for sure.  I wish I saw Gnomeo and Juliet :( My favorite part about the movies is getting popcorn; that’s actually the main reason I go. I couldn’t really care less about the movie... That’s when you know you have a popcorn addiction. You may ask, why don’t you just save yourself the time, money, etc and make some at home? As much as you argue that they taste the same, deep down… you know they don’t. You know that there is no way to reproduce that delicious flavor in a simple microwave, or even popcorn machine.

The movie theatre is in SouthBank, which is officially THE awkwardest place to get to by public transit. I think it might just be faster to walk. We all have different theories of the fastest way to get to Southbank, and we’ve tried them all. We’ve tried the way where you take one bus and transfer on another, but you never make the transfer bus on time, so you end up being late. We’ve tried the "take the bus to the train, and then take the train to movie theatre" way, but we never make the train. We’ve also tried the "take the bus to the city, and walk across the bridge to the movies" method. This seems to be the fastest. We’ve decided we’re going to ask the locals for their opinion on the matter.

One thing I observed at the movies was the “occupancy” section the bathroom. Instead of saying “occupied” on the stall, it says “engaged”. Interesting word choice. I like it!

Muahahaha.

We decided to head home straight after the movie. We were all so tired, and decided to call it quits for the night. This leads me to my introduction of a new-found anxiety of mine – “Go-Card-Stress”. How the bus system works here is that you get a “go-card,” and you load it with a certain amount of money, say twenty dollars. When you get on the bus you touch your card to a sensor, and it says “however-much available”. This part is easy. The stressful part about it is that you need to TOUCH the sensor when you get off, otherwise they just continue to charge you. The problem is, when you get on the bus, you put all your stuff away, including your go-card, back into your wallet. Then, when it’s almost your stop, and you have just put your seven grocery bags around your forearms, in preparation of making the most painful walk home, you realize that you haven’t got your go-card out! But, you have to touch off! But sometimes, the whole bus will be waiting for you to find it, because you’ve maybe haven’t put it back in its original spot! Just saying, it’s stressful.  

The Infamous Sensor. 

Sa-Sa-Sa Surferrrrssss

Like I said earlier, I was very excited to head down and catch some rays in Surfer’s Paradise. The beach is really nice, and I was in desperate need of some sun (considering my last two weekend getaways were spent in the pouring rain!). The people I was meeting up with weren’t planning on getting there until about 4 in the afternoon… and I was really keen for a relaxing day (and also had the day off of school) so I decided to get up and go by myself. I consider sun bathing on the beach an appropriate thing to do by yourself. I took the train down, which was about an hour, then caught a bus that drops you off right off on the main strip. It’s actually quite liberating travelling alone – you can do whatever you want. Eat whatever you want, sit wherever you want, talk to whoever you want! There is no one else to make your plans and you it’s a really liberating feeling. 

I went for some sushi when I got there. My new favorite sushi roll is called a “Philly Roll” – it’s salmon, cucumber and cream cheese. Just excellent, really. It’s so awesome how they serve their sushi here… I think I’m going to bring the idea back to Vancouver. They don’t actually cut the roll. They keep it whole… so you don’t need chopsticks or anything to eat it. You simply eat it like a wrap! One roll here is equivalent to a few pieces back at home… so you can get a couple and switch up your flavors. I’m not sure if flavor is the right word to describe types of sushi, but you get what I mean. Also, their soy sauce isn’t in those awkward ketchup style plastic things… where you have to clip the corner… and it always gets on your hands, etc. It’s in like a little miniature fish-shaped plastic thing… with a little lid.. so you just squeeze a bit on the top. Overall, a very efficient system for everyone.

SO MANY CHOICES! 

I spent the day at the beach. I got a really awkward sun burn because I put sun screen on, but not that thoroughly, so I more just have patches of burn. I also have a hand mark on my neck… I guess when I was wiping the excess sun screen off of my hands, I used my neck as the towel. Not a good idea. Now, for the embarrassing part of the day….

I was lying down, minding my own business, when a seagull flying over me, decided to do his own business… on my chest. I actually don’t think I’ve ever been more grossed out. It’s one thing having a bird poo on your jacket, or your hat, or just anything really… but it’s another thing to have them do it on your bare skin. Thank goodness the ocean was right there for a quick clean off. The worst part about it is the embarrassment factor. Especially when you’re by yourself and you don’t have anyone to laugh about it with. No one saw, so that was a plus for me. I know people say that it brings you good luck, but this is the 5^th time it has happened to me in like two years. I get the point, I’M LUCKYYY NOW!! BACK OFFF!!! And you wonder why I don't like birds... 

The Devil. 

That night we went on a pub crawl to the big clubs in Surfers. I’m not really sure if Surfers is my scene… it’s very Jersey Shore at times. Two of the clubs we went to were legit clubs – ones I’d imagine you’d find in Las Vegas or something. In the bathroom, there was a living area, with couches and lollipops and chocolates. There were hair and makeup stylists… I guess for those who don’t do that before the club? Or get really sweaty from dancing and need a touch-up? It was rather extravagant. All the girls – and only girls – that worked there were wearing matching lingerie… maybe that explains why the clubs are filled with 90%  guys… It definitely wasn’t my scene. I’d way prefer a bunch of tables, a pitcher of beer and some classic music. It’s fun to try it out though.

The next day we got up and went to Pancakes in Paradise for breakfast. My gluten intolerance hindered me from getting what they were famous for, which sucked. The pancakes looked amazing. It was hard because pancakes are one of my favorite foods. I got a couple eggs, with grilled mushrooms and tomatoes. I also… got a grilled banana!! It was so good. I’m definitely going to try that at home. We went down to the beach after. It was ridiculously windy… and sand was flying everywhere. The waves were INSANE! Huge. I went in the swimming area and frolicked, but you can only frolic for so long in waves that large, until you just become a rag doll. I had my regular, sushi, for lunch and caught the train home. Met a cool guy on the train that was headed up to his mom’s wedding. Heard his life story. After he got off I had a quick nap… and then it was my stop! Ended up getting home around dinner time.

I think I may make trips to the beach a regular occurrence! 

Assignments

I managed to get all of my work done by Friday in order to head down to Surfer’s Paradise for the night with a few friends from school. I had two papers that were due, so I was a bit worried that I wasn’t going to be able to get them done… but I locked myself up in the library and managed to pump them both out. It’s difficult because Australia is such a fun place… that it’s hard to find that work hard/play hard balance. I think I’ve got it though! I’ve been doing all of my readings and participating lots in class… Maybe I’m realizing that after this semester, I only have one more year of Uni. Crazy… I guess I’m really growing up!

I have a funny story about my first assignment that I handed in this semester at UQ. It was a paper for my geography class (which is eye-opening by the way) that was discussing how the population affects the environment. Turns out we’re all in for it. It’s weird to think that by 2050 there’s a predicted 9 billion people supposed to be living on planet Earth. Where will they all go? What will they all eat? These are the questions I had to answer. Colossal thoughts, really. Anyways, the funny part about me handing in the paper is that for some reason my Microsoft Word is un-zoomed, like the font is really small. So, when I type, I always set the font to about size 18. Well, turns out I also printed it in size 18… and handed it in in size 18. She must think I’m losing my vision. You know how really large font automatically looks childish? Yah, great start to the academic year! I was wondering why 1000 words took up like 10 pages…. I guess I never put two and two together. I’ll be sure to check that next time.

My other two papers that were due were for my political science class and my Australian pop culture class. The political science one was interesting… because it was a “reflection” piece. Considering I’ve never really taken a political science course, I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to be reflecting on. The criteria asked a few questions: what role have your emotions played in learning? How have you classmates influenced your learning environment? It was tough to come up with an answer for that… I was thinking it was maybe a trick question… but turns out it was as simple as that. Didn’t take me long. I pretty much just wrote a blog entry… but for my class. Hmm. Interested to get that one back.

My paper for my Australian pop culture class was a stretch… because I had to relate an Aussie movie that we watched in class, called “Lantana,” and relate it to the theme of the week – “the bush”. The problem was… that the movie was set in suburban Sydney, so all of the apparent references to the bush… were metaphorical. Fun fact: Aussies differentiate between “hiking” and “bushwalking,” with the latter being the more superior “leisure activity” of the two. Bush walking is pretty much when people go out into the nature and appreciate it, camp there, get it touch with the environment, etc. Hiking is seen as inferior to this, something tourists do, etc. The term bushwalking is funny though, I think. My paper ended up being a whole lot of metaphorical madness… I really stretched it a few times. Also, very interested in getting that back.

That’s a school update for y’all/mom. 

Bye Bye Bye-ron!

The last day in Byron was my favorite day! We decided to do the two major tourist attraction things: the beach and the lighthouse. We started off with the lighthouse. It was honestly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been! The view was amazing. It's situated on Australia's most easterly point.. and you get an amazing view from up there. You can see all of the beaches both north and south of Byron Bay, surfers included*. You can also see all of the lush greenery and the rippling waves. We were lucky enough to see a pack/pod/group? of wild dolphins. I LOVE DOLPHINS, so this was especially exciting for me! It was super windy up there, not the best day to wear a flowy top... I would love to go back there when it's sunny. I'm sure you could see even more than what we did... and I can't even imagine how great that would be! 

           Super awkward piece of hair that looks like a horn. 

We went from the lighthouse down to the beach... it seemed like we went to a cool local spot. This was both a good and bad thing. Good because it was awesome to see all of the surfers and really get in touch with our "aussie side". Bad because we looked dumb, as we had no surf boards and were planning on simply frolicking. Surfing vs. frolicking... hmmm. We frolicked anyways. The water was amazing, like a heated pool. The current was really strong, but it was safe because you just got drifted along the shore. There was no need for a boogie board, we definitely were body surfing! We stayed there for a bit and then headed back to the hostel to pack up our stuff... and sadly head home :(

We had some delicious pad thai before we got on the bus. It was hands down the best pad thai I've ever had... and that's saying a lot coming from Vancouver! Then again, the fact that I was so incredibly hungry could have been playing a role in that judgement. The greyhound back was a breeze, slept the entire way. 

Roomie Love! 

Left Byron and woke up in beautiful Brizzy. 

Find Your Zen.

We woke up the second day and ate some muesli, as per usual. We wanted to go to the beach, but unfortunately it was pouring... so we decided to hold off until Sunday, in hopes of some sun! We spent the day walking around the main strip, which ended up being a really really awesome day...

We decided to walk into all of the stores to see what they had to offer. The town has a definite relaxed vibe, definitely giving off the "hippie vibe". I bought a few gifts... but I won't tell what! Cause that gift may or may not be for you! We found our Byron Bay gem - a little Asian restaurant that sold THE most delicious food. So good, that we ended up going there for lunch on Sunday as well! I ate a couple of their gluten-free products - steamed rice in a weird bamboo wrapper and some vegan spring rolls. They were so delicious. It's a cool idea for a little restaurant actually, because it's just one communal table with about 6 or 7 seats at the front of the store. It's actually less of a restaurant, and more of a cool asian boutique... but they sell food in the front? Hard to explain. Anyways, everyone just kind of comes and goes.. with their little meal and there is a pot of green tea in the middle of the table that everyone helps themselves to. The best part about it is that it's as if you're sitting on a patio.. but you're inside... cause there is just a big window frame.. but no glass. Wow, I am really butchering this description!!! Besides the point, it was great!

We really took the "see every store" concept to a new level when we went into the cafes and window shopped.

"Wow, those look like excellent muffins. Oh yes, especially compared to the ones at the store a few blocks back. But what about these sandwiches? I'd had to say the ones at the store around the corner look like they're on better bread..." What a group of ridiculous, hungry girls we were!

My dream vespa! 

I decided to get my ear pierced. Now, I know what you're all thinking... I'm now a crazy girl that, according to Miley Cyrus, "can't be tamed". In actuality, I've been wanting to do it for the last few years and finally had the courage to! It's really small and you can barely notice it, but it was a very good memory and, for those who want to do it, it doesn't hurt at all! I know my mother thinks it's a gateway act into tattoos, more piercings, etc... but I swear it's not! She claims that I've given in to my generational pressures, and maybe I have. We'll see how long this "gateway" earring lasts.

For dinner, we decided to have a girls night out at the hostel "happy hour". We ordered nachos and beers and had a grand ol' time before we headed out for our Saturday night out on the town, again. At the bar, we all measured our height, and turns out I'm the tallest! You know you spend a lot of time with people when you start measuring yourself at a restaurant!

I'm not going to lie... we ended up at Cheeky Monkeys... again.

ARRIVING IN BYRON BAY!

We were lucky enough to get to go on another adventure this past weekend. We decided to head down to Byron Bay - a really cool surfer town on the Gold Coast that everyone seems to rave about. We wanted to check it out for ourselves! It's a simple greyhound away... and we were very excited to see what the infamous bay had to offer!

The greyhound took about 4 hours... simply because we got the one that took all of the stops. I think it can be as quick as 2 hours. Luckily, we were all pretty sleepy, so we slept the majority of the way. At the beginning of the ride there was an announcement about putting on your seatbelt while you were on the bus. It sounded super serious... so I decided that I better not take any chances. The roomies laughed at me while I had my seatbelt on. To be honest, I think the bus driver was laughing as well. I guess now that I think about past experiences on greyhounds... the seatbelt thing is more of a protocol. Anyways, I ended up taking mine off mid-slumber.

We arrived in Byron 4 hours later. The ride was actually pretty scenic... saw lots of cool vegetation and beaches! Too bad the weather was horrible, so everything was super foggy. The hostel we were staying at picked us up from the Greyhound terminal. We stayed at a place called "The Arts Factory". It was recommended to us by a ton of people, so we thought we'd give it a go. It was my first hostel experience! It was a really cool place, because it was a bit removed from the main strip and they had shuttles that constantly took you back and forth. There was a pool, pool tables, hammocks, a cafe, a restaurant with a live band. It was really awesome. We stayed in a 6 person room - a room with the three of us and three other people that we honestly never really met - we seemed to never cross paths, except while sleeping (we all know how hard it is to mingle while sleeping!) We had a quick dinner down at the cafe and decided to get ready for our first night out in Byron!

The night ended up being really good. We went to a few different places and ended up at a place called "Cheeky Monkeys". Essentially, if you've ever been to Byron, you know what Cheeky Monkeys is. I guess you could say it's not known for its "class," but we had a really awesome time there. Great music, great people, a great night overall. Get ready for day two!

Last Day...

The third day we decided to be studious and do a little bit of reading. To be honest, I ended up coloring. It’s really hard to focus when you’re on a mini vacay!

Our Group! 

We decided to take our hosts out for dinner to thank them for all that they’d done (letting us use their mattresses, taking us around town, taking us into the dining halls, etc).They wanted to go to the casino, so we decided to just go to the restaurant there. They were extremely thankful, and it was the perfect way to end a great weekend. I had the classic “Reef and Beef” (steak and prawns). It was covered in hollandaise sauce, so that was interesting. They ended up screwing up our order, so we actually got six free desserts. We went around the table over dessert and discussed our most “shameful” moments. Due to table confidentiality, I won’t be able to share those with you! We all played keno, which is actually pretty fun. I won 20 cents. We also placed bets on a horse race. I was cheering for Silvan Rose (she lost, of course). I attempted to play the slots with my dollar coin, and became baffled as to why in the world someone would waste their time playing slots. It’s not even fun…

Jupiter's - The Casino

We ended up getting home pretty late and had to wake up at 3:30 for our 6:00 am flight home. Déjà vu. Note to self, 6 is too early. Always.