Blog Blurb

I'll just have to do a blog blurb because my life sounds so uneventful at the moment! I have to constantly say to myself "Just think of the days a month from now where you will be wishing you had a free minute (or second for that matter)".
I was so excited because today I got to see all my peeps from the Tap leadership team; I didn't realize how much I missed them until I saw them all! God is going to do some amazing things through the Tap and through Daystar in the coming months and we are just excited and gearing up.
This weekend I'll be traveling to Lenoir Rhyne college for Teaching Fellows Junior Conference, so it will be good to hopefully learn some things and see all my TF friends; plus, I get to see my roomie for the first time in 6 months, so I'm grinnning from ear to ear about that :)
I found out today that I officially got accepted into Teacher's Academy for elementary ed at UNCG, woot! halfway there baby. How scary is that?
And I have one confession to make. I like Harry Potter. You don't understand, this is a major deal. I have vowed over the last few years to my bro who is obsessed and insisted I would like them, that I would NOT watch the movies or read the books. I just wasn't gonna do it. Well, mom managed to suck me into watching the first movie so of course I had to watch number 2...and 3...and 4...and 5....and 6. So, you know how it stinks to have to give in/tell someone they were right?, yea, I had to do that with my bro...ughhh. I'll start reading book number one ASAP and then hopefully have finished through the 6th one by the time the 7th movie comes out.
I still have pics to put up from Australia, some of them I need to save from other people off facebook, but here are some I took when I went to a garden/park in Townsville with my friends Rayna and Mel; such a pretty area with lots of neat trees and plants.




This spider had some cool spiny things coming off his back

Such pretty water lilies, couldn't help taking several pics of them...

Transitions

Sorry to all my devoted blog followers out there, the many hundreds, that I have neglected my blogging duties as of late. I've been home 3 weeks and it feels like over a month! I'm finally starting to feel organized and not so much like I'm completely living out of a suitcase.
My mom recently relocated to Chapel Hill, and I went with her, so that is one reason why life has felt a bit hectic. Chapel Hill is a beautiful area and I'm enjoying my time here, I definitely DON'T miss the OBX traffic! I had to go back this past weekend on the 4th of July to pick up my car, and it drove me absolutely crazy. There IS traffic here, but it's a much different type of traffic than what you'll find on the beach.
I'm not working for the month of July since I worked in Australia and I have such a small window between my time home and when I go back to school, so the remainder of summer vacation will be spent getting my life in order, prepping for the upcoming school year, and spending time with family and friends.
Looking back at my time spend in Australia, I get "homesick" when I look at pics and all the fun times I had while I was there, and I realize more and more how great of an experience it really was! I'm looking forward to compiling a scrapbook of pics and mementos, and I'll hopefully put a post up about my trip to Cairns, which was amazing.

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