Friday, April 27, 2012
last leg
Hiii readers! Sorry for the lag in updating, again. I'm blogging to you from Cairns, Queensland, our last destination of the journey! We'll be getting certified in scuba diving, starting tomorrow, and then diving for a couple of days out on the Great Barrier Reef...how wild is that? I remember learning about the Great Barrier Reef as a kid, but I can't believe I'll actually be there soon...talk about surreal.
But before I have to go, let's see if I can recap my trip really quick since my last update. So the kangaroo feeding ended up just being us watching the guy feed joeys (baby kangaroos) through milk bottles, but we still got to pet them (and I got kissed by one! See Facebook, haha), so that was awesome :) During the rest of our Groovy Grape journey, we got to hike around Uluru, a sacred Aboriginal site that is a giant monolith (super cool!), as well as Kings' Canyon, another awesome hike. I got to make friends with some cool European backpackers during the ride, as well.
After Groovy Grape, we flew to Brisbane and then spent 5 days at Chenrezig Buddhist retreat center, set in the lush rainforest atmosphere of Queensland. It wasn't actually as bad as I thought it would be--it was really relaxing, and I got to learn a lot about Buddhism from some really nice monks and nuns and artists. Also, I surprised myself by reading four books in 5 days! (Hinds' Feet on High Places, and then three memoirs: Eat Pray Love, Mao's Last Dancer, and Tuesdays with Morrie--all so good!) Altogether a good time, so praise God for that :)
The past few days, we've just been doing some free travel again--got to go to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world, and we also got to learn how to surf in Noosa (a beach town)! That was really sweet and a lot of fun :) Also got to take a couple of awesome hikes in rainforesty areas over the past couple of days (and I spotted a koala high up in a eucalyptus tree! Wheeee). Now we're off to eat dinner and prepare for--you guessed it--the last leg of our trip. Here we go!
Thursday, April 12, 2012
conservation + outback.
Hiiii everyone! :) How are y'all? (No worries, my Texas accent is as much with me as ever, haha)
Currently updating you from the beautiful, bustling (but not really) town of Coober Pedy, the opal capital of the world. It's kinda in the middle of the great Australian Outback, so not too busy..hence the downtime to shoot a little update :)
So after Sydney (and for those of you who are wondering, the sticky situation was resolved, ptL!), we flew out early in the morning to Adelaide, where we met up with CVA (Conservation Volunteers Australia) and split into our two groups for the week. Our group went to Eyre Peninsula (an 8-hour drive away, whew!), where we spent the week weeding a few different invasive species. The days were hot but short (we'd always get off work around 2 pm or earlier...haha), and our hostel was an old shearing woolshed next to a jetty on the bay, so we got to see some sweet sea life--some small squids and octopi, even a couple of manta rays! Easter kinda passed by without a big deal (which was kinda weird for me), since that was the day we drove back to Adelaide. Overall, it was a fun week, though, and weeding's not so bad when you're doing it with a group :)
After a free day in Adelaide, which I spent at their awesome Botanic Gardens, we were off into the outback with the Groovy Grape, a touring van that takes groups from Adelaide to Alice Springs, a city in the middle of the outback. It's been pretty chill, even a bit boring? since we're in the car so much, but it's been fun getting to know the others who are in the van with us (mostly Europeans and a kiwi couple as well). I've been able to spot some kangaroos and emus while in Australia, which is pretty sweet as well!
Oookay, that's it for now. Guess what I'm off to next?...feeding kangaroos! :D Pictures to come, hopefully
Currently updating you from the beautiful, bustling (but not really) town of Coober Pedy, the opal capital of the world. It's kinda in the middle of the great Australian Outback, so not too busy..hence the downtime to shoot a little update :)
So after Sydney (and for those of you who are wondering, the sticky situation was resolved, ptL!), we flew out early in the morning to Adelaide, where we met up with CVA (Conservation Volunteers Australia) and split into our two groups for the week. Our group went to Eyre Peninsula (an 8-hour drive away, whew!), where we spent the week weeding a few different invasive species. The days were hot but short (we'd always get off work around 2 pm or earlier...haha), and our hostel was an old shearing woolshed next to a jetty on the bay, so we got to see some sweet sea life--some small squids and octopi, even a couple of manta rays! Easter kinda passed by without a big deal (which was kinda weird for me), since that was the day we drove back to Adelaide. Overall, it was a fun week, though, and weeding's not so bad when you're doing it with a group :)
After a free day in Adelaide, which I spent at their awesome Botanic Gardens, we were off into the outback with the Groovy Grape, a touring van that takes groups from Adelaide to Alice Springs, a city in the middle of the outback. It's been pretty chill, even a bit boring? since we're in the car so much, but it's been fun getting to know the others who are in the van with us (mostly Europeans and a kiwi couple as well). I've been able to spot some kangaroos and emus while in Australia, which is pretty sweet as well!
Oookay, that's it for now. Guess what I'm off to next?...feeding kangaroos! :D Pictures to come, hopefully
Saturday, March 31, 2012
picturesque
Sydney sure has been awesome! I can't believe we're leaving early in the morning (so soon...), but I'm thankful for the time I got to have here--seeing so much of the city in two days, making new friends, and taking lots of pictures (especially of the Opera House/Harbour Bridge/harbour in general XP). Whee! I also got to go to Hillsong (!) for church tonight, which was AWESOME :D ask me more later.
More fun things from the past couple of days:
-free walking tour (like in Europe!)
-seeing bats (and a wedding, haha) in the Royal Botanic Gardens
-walking across the Sydney Harbour Bridge
-watching a (free) film in the Sydney Opera House!
-eating Asian street food--yummm (feels like China or Taiwan, seriously)
-taking various forms of transportation (train, bus, ferry)
-throwing a boomerang (with an unsuccessful return, haha) :P
Anyhoo, there's also been a slightly sticky situation currently going on with the group...so prayers for that would be greatly appreciated :) ask me more if you're dying to know, but hopefully it's not too big of a deal. Thanks!
More fun things from the past couple of days:
-free walking tour (like in Europe!)
-seeing bats (and a wedding, haha) in the Royal Botanic Gardens
-walking across the Sydney Harbour Bridge
-watching a (free) film in the Sydney Opera House!
-eating Asian street food--yummm (feels like China or Taiwan, seriously)
-taking various forms of transportation (train, bus, ferry)
-throwing a boomerang (with an unsuccessful return, haha) :P
Anyhoo, there's also been a slightly sticky situation currently going on with the group...so prayers for that would be greatly appreciated :) ask me more if you're dying to know, but hopefully it's not too big of a deal. Thanks!
Thursday, March 29, 2012
down under
G'day from Sydney! We just flew in today (and I'm going to sleep after I finish this post), and I'm loving the city already :) it's big and bustling and has so many cool things to see and do. I wandered over to the Opera House earlier tonight, which was so surreal! Never thought I'd actually be standing in front of it (and I might be able to go watch a free film or two there on Saturday!), so that was pretty neat :)
I can't believe we're already in Australia (although it's funny--I feel like a lot of people thought I was only going to be in Australia, because sometimes I'd feel too lazy to explain that I was going to Fiji, NZ, and Australia, haha), which is the last country/leg of our trip. How crazy is that?? Time has really flown...and now I have just a little more than a month left till I'm back. Wow o.o But I'm so thankful for everything I've gotten to see and do and learn so far--New Zealand is such a beautiful country, and we had such varied experiences there, each of which I loved. We ended our time in NZ by taking a road trip along the Southern Scenic Route (the southern part) of the South Island of NZ, from Dunedin to Te Anau (if you have any idea what that means). We were originally supposed to go on a trek in the Southern Alps, but we were prevented by some bad weather, boo :( but we still got to see lots of pretty beaches and wildlife (penguins and seals! :D) during our last few days.
However, I'm glad to be done with free travel, honestly--it's so hard doing so much as the group leader for the week (we rotate group roles, and I happened to be group leader for our free travel, but I think I needed to be, for the sake of our group), and it was exhausting. I really miss you guys back home, and being in Sydney is nice, since I get to get away from the group for a bit. Praise God for that :) on Sunday, we'll be headed to Adelaide for a week to do some conservation work, and then we'll be driving through the Outback for a whole week! Not sure when I'll next be able to update, so that's the downlow for now. Thanks for reading :) Until next time!
I can't believe we're already in Australia (although it's funny--I feel like a lot of people thought I was only going to be in Australia, because sometimes I'd feel too lazy to explain that I was going to Fiji, NZ, and Australia, haha), which is the last country/leg of our trip. How crazy is that?? Time has really flown...and now I have just a little more than a month left till I'm back. Wow o.o But I'm so thankful for everything I've gotten to see and do and learn so far--New Zealand is such a beautiful country, and we had such varied experiences there, each of which I loved. We ended our time in NZ by taking a road trip along the Southern Scenic Route (the southern part) of the South Island of NZ, from Dunedin to Te Anau (if you have any idea what that means). We were originally supposed to go on a trek in the Southern Alps, but we were prevented by some bad weather, boo :( but we still got to see lots of pretty beaches and wildlife (penguins and seals! :D) during our last few days.
However, I'm glad to be done with free travel, honestly--it's so hard doing so much as the group leader for the week (we rotate group roles, and I happened to be group leader for our free travel, but I think I needed to be, for the sake of our group), and it was exhausting. I really miss you guys back home, and being in Sydney is nice, since I get to get away from the group for a bit. Praise God for that :) on Sunday, we'll be headed to Adelaide for a week to do some conservation work, and then we'll be driving through the Outback for a whole week! Not sure when I'll next be able to update, so that's the downlow for now. Thanks for reading :) Until next time!
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
adventures galore.
Yo, readers!
For those of you who actually read/check this thing, I really do apologize for my severe lack of updates. Internet access is really sporadic (and we usually have to pay for it...I'm currently being a computer hog at our hostel and not exploring Wellington on our only day here...oops), and I usually am using all that time to reply to emails, so...sorry! Know that I do appreciate you for checking this out and seeing how I'm doing. Sorry I can't do the same for everyone :( it'll be some major catching up when I'm back...but I'll get there when I get there.
Anyhoo, here's a quick update of our time in NZ so far. Since my last update (which was in Auckland, when we'd just gotten to NZ), I've gotten to work on an organic farm, live at a marae (communal living area of the Maori, the native New Zealanders), and spend a few days at Blue Mountain Adventure Center (BMAC). Needless to say, everywhere we've gone has entailed so many new things to try and new awesome (kiwi) people to meet :) Praise God for that!
The farm was really fun--not just all the things I tried (milking cows, shearing a sheep, witnessing a sheep slaughter, using a chainsaw and pickaxe to cut wood, bushwhacking, making bullets, shooting a rifle...), but also the family that lived there and the two other WWOOFers (WWOOF=willing worker on organic farm) were super awesome and fun to be around :) I miss them quite a lot.
Living at the marae was another chance to really cross cultures and learn about the history and culture of the Maori. We were only there a few days, but it was a lot of fun, and all the women there were really friendly and funny and taught us so much about their culture and beliefs. We ate SO much there, too...eep.
BMAC was awesome--we got to go rappelling down the side of a waterfall, white water rafting (super fun), and caving! So much fun stuff :) It was also so refreshing and encouraging to be around a few brothers in Christ--one my age (an intern) and two older ones, who were our guides. I had a good talk with one of them (Dan, our main guide), and it was just so encouraging. Even having them pray and send us off made me so happy. :) I really miss all my brothers and sisters back home, but praise God for the Holy Spirit who's always with me :) and who encouraged me with this verse:
"When I said, 'My foot slips,' Your unfailing love, LORD, held me up. When anxiety was great within me, Your consolation brought me joy." -Ps. 94:18-19. Amen!
So now we're in Wellington for the day, as I mentioned earlier, and then we fly out to Queenstown (on the South Island) tomorrow to get ready for a multi-day trek + kayak experience! Whoooo :D so excited. Logistics for a group our size kinda stinks, but I'm trusting the Lord. It's so weird to think that life back home is still chugging ahead at full speed...ptL for reminding me that I need to think about course selection soon for the fall, as well as summer plans. And spring break is already over? Whoa. Which means...Not for Sale (at UTD) is happening! Prayers going out to y'all as much as I can remember :)
Mmk, that's all for now. Thanks for reading, and hopefully next time won't be too long away! Lots of hugs to you all :)
For those of you who actually read/check this thing, I really do apologize for my severe lack of updates. Internet access is really sporadic (and we usually have to pay for it...I'm currently being a computer hog at our hostel and not exploring Wellington on our only day here...oops), and I usually am using all that time to reply to emails, so...sorry! Know that I do appreciate you for checking this out and seeing how I'm doing. Sorry I can't do the same for everyone :( it'll be some major catching up when I'm back...but I'll get there when I get there.
Anyhoo, here's a quick update of our time in NZ so far. Since my last update (which was in Auckland, when we'd just gotten to NZ), I've gotten to work on an organic farm, live at a marae (communal living area of the Maori, the native New Zealanders), and spend a few days at Blue Mountain Adventure Center (BMAC). Needless to say, everywhere we've gone has entailed so many new things to try and new awesome (kiwi) people to meet :) Praise God for that!
The farm was really fun--not just all the things I tried (milking cows, shearing a sheep, witnessing a sheep slaughter, using a chainsaw and pickaxe to cut wood, bushwhacking, making bullets, shooting a rifle...), but also the family that lived there and the two other WWOOFers (WWOOF=willing worker on organic farm) were super awesome and fun to be around :) I miss them quite a lot.
Living at the marae was another chance to really cross cultures and learn about the history and culture of the Maori. We were only there a few days, but it was a lot of fun, and all the women there were really friendly and funny and taught us so much about their culture and beliefs. We ate SO much there, too...eep.
BMAC was awesome--we got to go rappelling down the side of a waterfall, white water rafting (super fun), and caving! So much fun stuff :) It was also so refreshing and encouraging to be around a few brothers in Christ--one my age (an intern) and two older ones, who were our guides. I had a good talk with one of them (Dan, our main guide), and it was just so encouraging. Even having them pray and send us off made me so happy. :) I really miss all my brothers and sisters back home, but praise God for the Holy Spirit who's always with me :) and who encouraged me with this verse:
"When I said, 'My foot slips,' Your unfailing love, LORD, held me up. When anxiety was great within me, Your consolation brought me joy." -Ps. 94:18-19. Amen!
So now we're in Wellington for the day, as I mentioned earlier, and then we fly out to Queenstown (on the South Island) tomorrow to get ready for a multi-day trek + kayak experience! Whoooo :D so excited. Logistics for a group our size kinda stinks, but I'm trusting the Lord. It's so weird to think that life back home is still chugging ahead at full speed...ptL for reminding me that I need to think about course selection soon for the fall, as well as summer plans. And spring break is already over? Whoa. Which means...Not for Sale (at UTD) is happening! Prayers going out to y'all as much as I can remember :)
Mmk, that's all for now. Thanks for reading, and hopefully next time won't be too long away! Lots of hugs to you all :)
Saturday, March 3, 2012
21
Haha, I can't believe I'm in New Zealand! And that I'll be heading to work on an organic farm tomorrow morning :) or that I turned 21 yesterday--weird! We spent the day hiking around Auckland (biiig city, but really pretty!) and then celebrating at night with Thai food and New Zealand cake and pinning the tail on the donkey. I really appreciated last night, but I still do miss everyone back home!
Other thoughts:
Planning free travel for 12 people is so much harder than planning my own free travel, sigh.
Auckland is a super diverse city...lots of Asians, too, haha.
I still miss Fiji/Nananu a lot.
I don't want to think about my score :X
Still trying to figure out summer plans...
My group is fun, but I like also meeting and hanging out with myself or other people, too. Maybe that's also why I miss the village.
QTs have been suffering...please pray for me!
All in all, though, I thank and praise God for a beautiful, exciting day each and every day here :) but lots of people aren't feeling so great at the moment, so please pray for recoveries everywhere!
Other thoughts:
Planning free travel for 12 people is so much harder than planning my own free travel, sigh.
Auckland is a super diverse city...lots of Asians, too, haha.
I still miss Fiji/Nananu a lot.
I don't want to think about my score :X
Still trying to figure out summer plans...
My group is fun, but I like also meeting and hanging out with myself or other people, too. Maybe that's also why I miss the village.
QTs have been suffering...please pray for me!
All in all, though, I thank and praise God for a beautiful, exciting day each and every day here :) but lots of people aren't feeling so great at the moment, so please pray for recoveries everywhere!
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Fiji = amazing
Apologies for the late update--this is the second time I've been on the Internet since I left the U.S. (and the first time was just to send a "I'm here" email), and I don't have too much time now (gotta update the group blog, too XP). Today's our free day in Nadi (one of the cities in Fiji) before we fly out to Auckland, NZ, tomorrow!
We just left Nananu, the most wonderful village I've been to in my whole life. The love and hospitality that they've shown us these past two weeks has been mindblowing, and I miss them so much already. For those of you who know how much I like to travel, you may know that it's hard for me to go somewhere that I want to visit again before visiting new places...but this may very well be an exception. Maybe it's just how I feel right now (one day out of the village), but I really am hoping and praying for a chance to return there sometime in the next couple of years. While we were there, we worked alongside the local guys to build a cement footpath at the primary school nearby. Our homestay families were so loving, the food was SUPERB, and the guys were always so funny and lighthearted. We've been through a lot together so far, and I'm so thankful that I'm with the group that I am. Praise God for sure :) He's definitely watching over us. Thank you all for your prayers and well-wishes! Will try to update again soon (maybe with more detail, haha)
We just left Nananu, the most wonderful village I've been to in my whole life. The love and hospitality that they've shown us these past two weeks has been mindblowing, and I miss them so much already. For those of you who know how much I like to travel, you may know that it's hard for me to go somewhere that I want to visit again before visiting new places...but this may very well be an exception. Maybe it's just how I feel right now (one day out of the village), but I really am hoping and praying for a chance to return there sometime in the next couple of years. While we were there, we worked alongside the local guys to build a cement footpath at the primary school nearby. Our homestay families were so loving, the food was SUPERB, and the guys were always so funny and lighthearted. We've been through a lot together so far, and I'm so thankful that I'm with the group that I am. Praise God for sure :) He's definitely watching over us. Thank you all for your prayers and well-wishes! Will try to update again soon (maybe with more detail, haha)
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