The Story of our Lives!

Look at these beautiful studious faces!



Trust me, like Rayna's original caption said, we only LOOK happy; It's been the story of our lives for the past 2 weeks-study, study, study. I finally finished my last exam on Saturday morning, and am just recovering from my extended lack of sleep.
Sighhh, my time down under is coming to an end much too quickly; I've met so many amazing people, 2 of them, Ari from Germany and my RA, left yesterday and today, and another one, Shane, leaves tomorrow for a summer experience in Indonesia. Where are the tissues? I really am excited to go home though and see my other friends and family, it will just be hard leaving initially.
Everyone is completely done with exams on Friday so we'll have a bit of fun partying it up on Friday night before I leave for Cairns with some friends early Saturday morning; I'll then be leaving for the states out of Townsville on Monday and be back in NC Tuesday morning. This week is a pretty low-key one, hanging out with people (and watching amazing movies like 'Finding Nemo'...), finishing up my last 3 work shifts, and doing all the little last minute things.
The last week in May I went on a weekend field trip to the Townsville tablelands; we did quite alot of traveling-around 1,000 Ks or around 700 miles-in a short time period so we were pretty beat when we got back; I did enjoy the camping aspect and we got to see several cool sites.


Our first stop at the Reid River


Our campsite at Fletcher Creek


The area west of Townsville always reminds me of the African Savannah, it's pretty in its own way


Fletcher Creek


I had alot of fun getting some closeups of the bridge across Fletcher












Getting in a creek bath











One of my favorite sites at Red Falls


Crossing all of this to get to the other side was interesting





My second favorite site at Mt. Fox-a scoria cone volcanic landform; you can see the caldera that's formed around it








It doesn't look like much but we climbed all the way to the top and it was vertical the whole way up, we were huffing and puffing like champs

I'll post some pics next time of the little venture I took with Rayna and Mel to a garden in Townsville that provided some study time, nap time, and picture time :)

Billabong Wildlife Sanctuary

Who doesn't love cute (well most of them are cute) Aussie critters? I went to Billabong Wildlife Sanctuary in Townsville a couple of weeks ago with my friend Shane, and we had a great time visiting with the animals. I'd have to say the highlights for me were getting to hold an Olive Python ( I LOVED snakes as a kid and still do), and meeting up with the kangaroos.


Sleepy Koala


One of the top 3 deadliest snakes in the world, I believe this one is the coastal Taipan


Another top 3 deadly snake, the Brown Snake


And the last of the top 3 deadly snakes, the inland Taipan


Water Buffalo (did you know there are actually 2 different types of water buffalo? You can tell by their horn shape)


Lunch time for the crocs


Yep, it was love at first sight





Check out this fella, the wombat looks like how I feel sometimes


The koalas really were cute














I was absolutely fascinated with the joey hanging out in there, mom decided it was bath time


check out that gut! I mean she DOES have an excuse


I'm ready for my closeup


These guys really liked being all up in my grill


I'd say that's a pretty good paint job, one of my favorite colors


Was a little bit nervous to get too close to the fence with this big fella


I like this one with the Kookaburra in the background








Wouldn't want to be swimming with this guy

Mission Beach Skydive

I got a great opportunity to go skydiving this past weekend with my friend Shannon in Mission Beach (about a 3 hour bus ride north of Townsville), and it was amazing! I am definitely looking forward to doing another jump in the future. The steps it took to actually get to the point of jumping out of the airplane were pretty simple:
Step 1: Sign your life away (AKA: who do we notify if you die).
Step 2: Get weighed so the plane won't be overloaded (they write your weight in marker on the inside of your wrist)
Step 3: Finish up making any payments, order pics/video.
Step 4: Meet your tandem master and get suited up (My tandem master was a pretty cool guy named Strop).
Step 5: Run through a brief talk about what to do with your body when you jump out and when you land (the jump out position is called the banana).
Step 6: Load up on the plane with your tandem master.
Step 7: Get shoved out of the plane at 11,000 feet.
Both me and Shannon were a bit nervous but really excited at the same time. The view during ascent was fantastic, we had a great weather that day; I remember it being really chilly at 4,000 feet when we opened the exit door for the 2 camera men to jump. I was the second girl to go (all girls-me, Shannon, and 3 Brits), and I was almost laughing out loud watching the terrified facial expression on the first girl's face; When I got to the door's edge and swung my feet out, I just started smiling and don't remember being scared at all at that point, I was stoked! During free fall, I spun around on all axis for a bit before we stabilized, I kept reminding myself to breathe because there was so much air being shoved into my mouth at once, and I loved keeping my hands in the fist position because I was afraid if I opened them, they would fly back and hit my tandem master in the face! Once we stopped free-falling and opened the main chute, it got completely silent, and I just enjoyed the amazing view of the rainforest, mountains, ocean, and beach; Strop thought it was funny to spin us around in circles a few times, however, being an individual with motion sickness, I wasn't too keen. Our landing was a sit-down in the sand because there was something going on with the wind, so no one's landing was the smoothest; I thought ours was pretty soft and no worries there. All the pictures that I got were taken by my tandem master with a camera attached to his wrist, and we all got certificates with the first picture below scanned on it and membership in the Australian Parachute Federation (till July).
So, if you get the chance to jump out of a plane (with a parachute), do it!



































Mission Beach itself was really pretty, and the hostel we stayed at was a good one, clean facilities, nice people, right across the street from the beach, with a good restaurant on the corner. Shannon and I just chilled on the beach after our jump Sunday morning; we even found a few coconuts and were able to get one completely open to eat some of it-very tasty. It was a quick trip but really fun and relaxing. I'm actually headed back out this weekend to go camping in the tablelands west of Townsville for a field trip, so hopefully that won't be too bad.
Only one more week of classes! Then a one week break before 2 weeks of exams, and then I'm USA bound :)