Day 1
6/20
Airports. I love airports! They're so nice and calm, and the staff is so polite and helpful...
Video: See how much I love airports?
I'm pretty sure this became a mantra after the second hour waned and the third transport nearly ran me over. But, still, airplanes! I do love airplanes, no sarcasm involved. I love flying. And Glory Road was a nice movie, despite the fact that I'm not really a sports person.
Day 1 1/2
6/...21? 22?
Where did Wednesday go? I'm fairly certain it was supposed to be Wednesday when we landed in LA. I'm positive we had five minutes of Wednesday while taxiing dow the runway.
The rest of Wednesday, however? I'm not entirely sure what happened to it.
Day 1 3/4
6/22
Ahahaha! I love airplanes!
How much do I love them? I love them so much that the Crying Infant Choir, imitation egg-and-sausage soufle and the inexpert massage the young girl beside me was attempting to administer to my thigh with her heel (while sleeping, even) didn't put me in a bad mood.
Video: Welcome to Fiji in the Nadi Airport
The Fijian Countryside: 1, 2, 3, 4
A Hindu temple: 1, 2
A very big, very cool house
Video: Driving in Fiji
I am told there were frogs in the wildlife park (Kula Eco Park), but I was too busy holding Becky the python and attempting to convince a parrot that my arm made a lovely roost to look for frogs. The lack of frogs was not diasppointing.
FWEE! BOA CONSTRICTORS & BATS!
Our resort is... amazing, despite slight shortcomings in the shower department (Read: ankle-deep water while showering, nothing major). The Roomie and I went through twenty minutes (or so) of polite, well-meaning maneuvering before I finally pointed out that I had no idea who she was. Introductions and fake Texan accents (painfully fake) commenced.
The view from our porch
The view from the foyer
Then there was much sitting on the porch watching the birds (and muttering about boys who chased birds and interrupted the serenity of our pause), doing the window-shop-and-grit-our-teeth-at-prices thing, and the food thing.
Video: Carl, Nathan and David trying to climb to the second floor balcony
Mmmm, candied plum pastries.
Day 2
6/23
Fijian school (Nandroga Navosa Province Private School) was alright. It was school. It was fun talking to the students. There were card games and lessons and a sport called Netball, which as far as I could tell consisted of two teams, a ball, and a whole lot of shouting.
I still don't know anything about Rugby, other than the fact that Fiji won the world cup.
Thoughts on the English lesson: Apparently context clues and somewhat complex spellings are very difficult for freshmen in Fiji. English is, after all, simply a mishmash of Latin, German and the grammar one uses when one is inebriated, so it is unsurprising that it causes Fijian students large amounts of stress, especially when surrounded by those who speak natively.
After school, we went to the marketplace. As predicted, marketplace prices were exceptionally reasonable compared to hotel prices, and I am now the proud owner of a sarong and a hair clip (Post-travel note: The hair clip is now broken. Oh well.)
I am told there will be firewalking shortly.
Excellent.
Firewalking was very interesting, although it wasn't quite as exciting as I thought it would be. It is really strange to watch these guys walk over red-hot stones and not have the bottoms of their feet burnt, but I could do without the well-meaning Hotel Staff Guy who was constantly giving explanations to the ritual over the microphone.
The national tongue-numbing drink of welcomeness (Kava) does indeed numb one's tongue, and it also tastes faintly of muddy water.
Kava ceremony
Video: Kava ceremony
Me drinking Kava
Day 3
6/24
My bathing suit is full of sand.
I'm certain this is the byproduct of attempting to boogie board despite the lack of boogie boards.
Apparently the island's local weather spirits dislike Americans, because this is the second day it has rained in Fiji.
Sea kayaking consisted of lots of exercise and very little relaxation. The kayak must have had a grudge against me, as I could not keep it from spinning, and it endeavored to dump me out several times. However, I returned triumphant over the Kayak, if muddy.
The nasty muddy river in which we kayaked.
My pen has unfortunately gone walkies, so I am using Wesley's pen for now. The journal itself is becoming slightly worse for wear, and will most likely fall apart before Australia.
V. difficult to write in a moving bus.
Kaysha and Kasey are v. awesome (have forgotten how to say awesome in Fijian), and Kasey and I miss our guitars dearly. Will not mention to my boyfriend that I miss my music more than I miss him.
Am not precisely homesick, however I find that in quiet moments I am couting the days until we fly home.
Note to self: Must not write as if I am in a bad romance novel.
Have already found the two people here who jump repeatedly upon my last nerve (Tara and David).
The Roomie often resembles a somewhat pale blonde ghost in pink glasses; she rarely speaks and follows me most places. Her name is Michelle and so far she has given me v. few adjectives to describe her. Quiet & nice.
Day 4
6/25
Still v. difficult to write in a moving bus, & my pen is still AWOL. This makes me slightly upset, as in addition to being my only writing utensil I had on the trip, it is also the one I permanently borrowed from my hotel room.
Oops.
Polynesian dancing last night was both captivating and fun. There were hardly any boys there, the irony of which was not lost on me when the women dancers came out in coconut bras and woven miniskirts. Their loss. The look on Tyler's face when I told him was absolutely priceless.
Kaysha & Kasey had better not be late again, or I will be having words with them. I'm friends with them, but I'm still annoyed. Tara is annoyed too, but she seems to enjoy expressing her annoyance by making sure that everyone around her is just as annoyed as she is. What she doesn't seem to realize is that we get v. annoyed with her.
The feminist in me is beginning to set up a royal racket about having to follow the boys off the bus and take second seat to them at the cultural museum. However, I will refrain from getting up onto a soapbox, both metaphorical and physical, as
a) I don't know where I would find a soapbox and
b) it would be entirely rude.
So I'll have to grin and bear it (learning about foreign cultures is why we're here!) for today, and if said grin looks more like I'm gritting my teeth and scowling, that's hardly my fault is it?
Video: Welcome to the cultural center
Inside the temple
A carving outside the temple
Inside the chief's hut (clockwise from the left: "Chief's spokesperson," "Chief," "Chief's wife.")
Mrs. Yarborough with the "chief"
Amyna with the "chief"
Ancient Fijian weapons: 1, 2
A lovu (buried oven): 1, 2
Francis glazing a clay turtle with sap
Amyna pounding flax
Me pounding flax
Lunch came out of the lovu, which is like an underground oven. They wrap the food in banana leaves and sadwich it between potato sacks, on top of hot stones, pile more hot stones on top and bury the whole thing. Then when it's time to eat, they dig it up.
(LATER)
I have a brain fork. This brain fork is a replica of an ancient brain fork used to actually eat people's brains when Fiji was a canabalistic society.
I bought said brain fork for my boyfriend, and he will most likely wave it around and loudly declare that he's going to eat my brother's brains.
Excellent.
I would mention other things that happened at the cultural center, and it's probably futile to deny said things, but in the interest of not embarrassing myself in print, what happened in the cultural center will remain in the cultural center. Except for the boys attempting to dance, because that's just plain funny.
South Pacific Island dances: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Video: Fijian Island Men's Dance
Video: Samoan Fire Dance
Video: The boys trying to follow along
We got to take pictures with the dancers and were surprised. Very surprised.
Goodbye from the cultural center staff
Amanada H. still has not found her wallet, and I believe she is at the point where she will attempt to search people's belongings. Even though I know I do not have set walled, I will kick up an unholy fuss about fourth amendmant rights if it comes to that. There will be no searching of my stuff unless there is a delegation leader standing right over me, and even then I will br displeased and they will definately know about it.
Day 5
6/26
It is while sitting in the bus listening to Creedance Clearwater Revival and watching Kaysha & Kasey play some game involving a grid and a bunch of random-seeming lines that I discover an important fact that I somehow missed.
Our bus driver is a madman.
It is only because there are somewhat high guardrails on either side of the road, and we have a full lane between us and the drop off the side of the mountain, that I'm not perpetually afraid he's going to pull a Thelma & Louise and roll the bus into the ocean, but as it is, I have made very good friends with the armrest.
The portable clothesline my mother forced into my suitcase has beome a community possession. Amanda Z. and Francis's room resembles a rainforest, so they have commandeered the line outside my window, and I believe Nebraska (her name is really Brittany, but she's the only girl from Nebraska, so therefore... Nebraska) has some clothes on it, too.
Not that I might. Francis & Amanda Z. are welcome to use my line whenever they want as The Sauna (their room) is not condusive to drying clothes.
Plus the look on Karen's face when she looked down the porch and saw us hanging clothes on it was excellent.
Oh, for a camera that would take instand pictures. There is something to be said for analog.
I almost wish that co-ed rooming was possible; some of the boys would be fun roomies. However, there is a very high chance I would get a room with Kyle, or David, or any of the other boys I can't stand, so I don't want co-ed rooms.
The High-Class Lady. That's the literal English translation of the Fijian name for the ship.
Onboard entertainment
We're packed in here pretty tight
The view from starbord
Viti Levu (the main island) from port
Mystery Island off the starbord bow
I was in a good mood earlier today, what with snorkeling and pretty coral and standing on the bow of an actual seafaring vessel (and being able to say "I'm going below until we get underway"), but after tonight, I am in considerably less than a good mood.
The Mad Driver took what seemed like five million years to get back to the resort, in which I sucessfully succeeded in embarassing myself by falling asleep on Wesley. Who was a complete jerk later about something near and dear to my bleeding heart, even after I hinted with all the subtlety of a frying pan to the cranium that it was a sensitive subject that should be dropped.
Cleared all my room charges with the hotel, including my laundry charge.
Discovered upon returning to my room that my laundry was neatly folded on my bed, if inside-out.
Excellent Not remotely excellent.
Only half (not even half) was clean.
I would like to believe at this point that the laundry animated itself, crawled away from other, more well-behaved pievese of laundry and squirreled itself away in the various corners in which I discovered it (mostly draped over chairs). However, as I know with my rational brain, that is completely impossible, so I have to conclude that housekeeping mysteriously neglected over half the laundry I requested done for no discernable reason.
Threw an undignified mini-fit in the hotel room but ultimately decided against complaining, as I was entirely too exhausted.
Upon exiting the shower and going to pack my clothesline, I discovered a random tennis shirt hanging on it. Naturally, since Francis plays tennis & I told her she could use said line, I assumed (never assume) it was hers.
Of course not. So a random someone randomly walked up to my porch and randomly draped their random shirt over my line.
If they had asked, I probably would have said yes. Even if they had asked randomly.
So as I'm writing this, I see someone randomly walk over to the random shirt, randomly pick it up, and walk off. Naturally I go ask them to ask before stringing random clothes on my line, but I discover that they have vanished, and Karen's clique is on the porch.
Karen's clique intimidates me, but I still went to ask who picked up the shirt. They said Laura had.
Allow me to digress and mention that the person I saw randomly retrieving the random shirt was totally not Laura.
I will allow you to draw your own conclusions.
Day 6
6/27
Goodbye to Captain Sevu
Goodbye to Liz in the Nadi airport
More plane rides, more airports, more customs. Thankfully New Zealand customs were quick and efficient, and nobody asked us to take our shoes off, although there were sniffer dogs.
Kaysha, Kasey, Philip and Wesley said an almost-tearful goodbye to Wilson the coconut (it had a face!), and foisted him off onto the customs official. Hopefully, he will take as god care of Wilson as he does of his beagle, although somehow I doubt it.
Carvings in the Auckland aiport
New Zealand countryside: 1, 2, 3
Our new delegation manager seems to have acquired the perpetual title of "not as ___________ as Liz was." I endeavored to point out that nobody is going to be as funny/cool/nice/informative/fun as Liz was, but I believe my attempts fell flat the fourth or so time Dennis attempted to imitate the airport bell.
There was food from McDonald's. It succeeded in introducing itself to my stomach, however my stomach expressed its displeasure at being fed McDonald's for the rest of the bus ride. Not quite as much displeasure as Kyle's, though, poor guy. I'm glad I wasn't sitting next to him when he hurled.
After discovering the excellent ambient smell of Rotorua, which resembles rotten eggs and fireworks, I attempted to ignore it and eat. Surprisingly, I was successful, most likely because of the food itself. There was pizza and chocolate mousse.
Most excellent.
There was also a Great Laundry Caper involving the other delegation, in which two girls from the other delegation took our clothes out of the washing machine and threw them on a chair, and cut in front of us for the dryer. We bullied them into sharing their dryer with us, but when that cycle was up, our clothes weren't dry. Since the Other Girls hadn't come back yet, we threw their clothes out of the dryer onto a chair and put ours in for another cycle. I am now very tired from standing guard over the dryer.
Day 7
6/28
Went to an "adventure camp," sort of like Ropes camp in the whole teambuilding-motivational-speaking way. I repelled down a wall and snarked at Wesley the entire way down, which kept me from thinking I was going to fall on my tailbone from fifty feet up.
But I think some people took more away from today than others, as evidenced by Wesley and Cody being hateful prejudiced bigots. I don't understand why my friends can be awesome and fun one minute, and then the second the subject of gay people comes up, they begin spouting hateful bigoted prejudiced nasty language.
Aside from that, because I will go on for pages about it...
Repelling was interesting. I mean interesting in a variety of ways, such as "scary" and "completely insane," but since the entire point of today was stepping outside my comfort zone, it was pretty fun. (Post travel note: I will totally never be doing it again)
If I have to sit next to Wesley anymore-
-but all that aside because it will make me upset.
No, really, I can't write anymore now because the Bigoted Hate really did hurt. And it really made me upset. And although I got an apology from them for nearly making me upset enough to cry - I get very passionate about this - I didn't get an apology for the hate.
I just wish more people thought the way Nebraska, Kaysha and Kasey do.
And after an empowering feminist speech with Nebraska about boys not being worth the heartache, I will close this entry by saying that there are a lot of things wrong with this world, but a lot of them can change if people like me and my friends live by example and work to change them. We are the next generation of voters, we are the people who will change policy.
Day 8
6/29
Today there was entertainment of the museum variety, which I do not have any pictures of because cameras are not allowed in the museum. The museum was a converted bath house, and there was a movie about the history. Once one disregards the obviously computer-generated graphics, the movie was quite entertaining as well.
Rachael Spring outside the museum
Museum courtyard
A leaf covered in frost. Yes, it was that cold.
Steam rising from the hot springs
A baby volcano
However, when arriving at the council building feelings such as "interested" and "educated" evaporated into complete nervousness. I was selected to represent the state of Texas to the city council of Rotorua. How exactly does one present a Texas state pin to a city councilman?
They did endeavor to make us feel at was, which was greatly appreciated. The presentation went off without a hitch. Now I must make an appointment with out illustrious blow-dried (toupee-wearing?) governor to deliver the diplomatic missive from said councilman.
Then there was luge. Luge froze my hands off. I promptly lost everyone I had been hanging out with. However, I did find souvenier spoons for my mother and godmother, so it all turned out for the best.
The gondola ride up to the track: 1, 2
The ski lift back up from the bottom
Part of the track as seen form the ski lift
The Geothermal Park smelled strongly of rotten eggs. Was still interesting, especially the acid lake, although we did not get to see anything dissolved in acid.
Steam rising from the springs: 1, 2
Bubbling mud pit
Emerald Lake
Cool sediment deposits & water formations
River of boiling water: 1, 2, 3
The Silverfern, native to New Zealand. This is what their rugby team is named after.
Following hotel check-in, dinner and such, around five of us went to the hot salt pools, which felt amazingly good and did not smell of eggs at all.
Excellent.
Day 9
6/30
The day I was most looking forward to, I was ill.
The irony of this is not lost on me, although I'm beginning to wish fate would point its cosmic finger to laugh at someone else.
However, I did get to plant a tree, make a flower and necklace from flax, and play a guitar (and there was much rejoicing!), so the day was not a total loss. It was kind of strange to find out that the Maori in New Zealand could sing along to the chorus of City of New Orleans.
But I am very ill. Since I missed the dances, Francis recorded some of them for me.
Video: Maori Women's Poi Dance
Video: The boys trying to learn the haka, Maori challenge dance
Day 10
7/1
Am still ill. Have decided to call this thing the Kiwi Stomach Flu, as I have never felt this way before. Will write more later.
Have found my pen, though.
(LATER)
Since I slept most (or all) day in the bus, by the time I met my homestay family, I was feeling a lot better. Kim & Peter (the parents) were really eager to learn exactly where we (Julie was my homestay partner) lived in the US, and they had an atlas, so it made it easier. Ella, Molly and Joe were really cool. Joe went over to babsid someone's kids, so we didn't see much of him. Molly was so cute - she was seven, and she was such a cute little kid.
Ella took us over to a party that the rugby boys were throwing after they won a game.
It was nothing like any of the parties I've been to. First of all, there were loud drunken sing-alongs, which only happen in America at parties full of theater people when they decide to put a musical on. Zane, whose flat it was, was so drunk that he couldn't hardly stand, and he waved the bottle in time with the music while he attempted to sing along. Dwayne, one of the other boys, drank a funnel of beer (despite declaring loudly that there was mold in it minutes before).
Crazy boys. We could hear them from two houses down.
Day 11
7/2
Julie and our family went on a picnic, and a bunch of Ella's friends came too. Joe and his friend Alex played a little rugby with some boys from Chicago, Justin and Mike. Julie, Molly & I kicked a soccer ball for a while until the food was ready.
Mmmm, food. Kiwis, tangerines and sausage.
V. excellent.
After picnicking, there was a large fit thrown by a certain seven-year-old, because she wanted to go to the hot pools and her mother said no.
So we all (including Molly) got in the car to go, and I realized that the Kiwi Stomach Flu was not entirely gone, because Kim's car made me a bit ill. But it was all good for the moment because we got to the hot pools and relaxed for a really long time.
Excellent.
Only when we went to the hamburger place, and I saw the giant thing they put in front of me, I felt more than a little ill again, and when we got home Kim gave me some awesome herbal remedies that made me fall asleep really fast. I think it was something like a lavender and lemon compress and a spoonfull of honey and peppermint oil... something like that. It knocked me out.
Until the dog decided it wanded to crawl in bed with me, and woke me up by licking my nose. I dreamt I was drowning.
Day 12
7/3
Leaving my homestay family sucked. I almost cried. Kim really almost cried. I'll mail them some genuine Texas salsa when I get home, and that'll make it all better.
We did more teambuilding activities, which ended in me climbing a one-hundred-foot tree with five other people, and without a ground line. The most awesome thing was helping Maegan climb a tree for the first time in her life. First time up a tree and it was one hundred feet tall.
Excellent.
The Sky Tower was most interesting, although the elevators made me wish there were stairs to the top of the building. I dislike elevators. And that's if one exchanges the word "dislike" with "irrationally fear." Yeah. Not excellent at all.
The Sky Tower from the bus
View from the observation deck: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Me in front of the window
From the left: Tess, Amanda, Kyle, Maegan, Amanda Z., me
Video: Going down the elevator. (Don't ask me what they're talking about. Something about pirates, that's all I know.)
I obtained Maori music of some sort shortly afterward, with baby seals on the case, so the elevator ride was shortly forgotten.
Then there was shopping and Starbucks (first good coffee I'd had on the entire trip), two things which are guaranteed to make my day most excellent, so all was good.
Nebraska and Cody's DRAMA threatened to take over the entire hotel, but after a small stint in the bathroom hugging a crying Nebraska and cursing on Cody, all was well-ish.
Day 13
7/4
2:30 am
Heinous.
Mrgphlagrph (insert grumbling/whining noises here)
Airports at 3:30 am
Shoot me.
Hey, P2P, do us a favor, mm?
Don't book a flight for 40 teenagers at 6:00 in the morning, plzkthnx, because it makes us want to fly to Seattle and kill you. Especially when 30 out of 40 are female. It only makes us catty and grumpy and sick of each other that much faster.
And now a list of things airports have taught me on this trip.
* If the group leader gives you the passport, the airport officials want them all at once. And vice versa.
* America is the only country fanatical enough about security to require the removal of shoes.
* It is possible for ten teenagers to pay attention to a deadline and actually hurry when food is involved (through the Burger King line in under ten minutes, go us!).
* Airport officials get frosty when confronted with 40 teenagers
* Instructions really do have to be repeated twelve times to a group of 40 teenagers.
* The in-flight movie often doesn't suck, amazingly.
* Continental is apparently the only airline that charges for the use of its headphones.
* The well-meaining stewardesses think that you really need to eat their food, No Really, even if it looks nasty and you are asleep, and please wake up for breakfast have a nice day!
* Fijian airline food is considerably nastier than any other airline food.
* You will always sit next to the person who fidgets, or pukes, or looks like he's about to puke, or has a panic attack. Or all of the above.
* Both your bags will never fit into the overhead at once.
* A guitar really can fit into the overhead, however.
* A two-hundred-foot drop is really fun for some people, but really freaks other people out.
* Everything is minor turbulence.
* Nobody ever explains the weird noises the plane makes.
* The flight attendants mysteriously vanish when someone starts puking/having a panic attack/screaming.
* The conditions are always "great for flying" even when it's raining.
* The pilot never speaks as well as his co-pilot. He usually stutters.
* A stuttering pilot is not reassuring
* The immigration line is always a million miles long, but never slows down enough for you to sit.
* The drug dogs are cute.
* Their handlers are apparently not allowed to smile.
* The two biggest bags will be right next to each other on the carousel
* The nail you break is never on your own bag
* The last bag will take three people to spot, and will go around three times before it's seen.
* It's worth walking to the other end of the airport for a cleaner bathroom with a shorter line.
* Listening to 40 teenagers trying to figure exchange rates is really funny.
Also, all bust drivers are maniacs. Captain Sevu? Maniac. Dennis? Maniac. Peter? Bit of a maniac.
Hopefully I'll live until the flight home.
Through the tunnel...
Into Sydney! Downtown Sydney: 1, 2
A rainbow over a tree
Awesome downtown archetecture: 1, 2
Sydney at night from our hotel room: 1, 2, 3
Our new manager Sharon is really cool. She's perky, but not to Full On levels, and so she's simply cheerful, not entirely too happy.
We went to the Macquarie House, which is an old governor's mansion turned museum. It's supposed to be haunted by the discontent ghost of Mrs. Macquarie, but I don't think she was home when we visited yesterday. If she were I would have complimented her on her tasted in decor. I would have pictures, but there were no cameras allowed (again).
The sheer coolness factor of being in an Olympic stadium and standing where Olympic champions had kept me in a lovely mood even if Wesely was being a sensitive brat. Still don't understand rugby at all.
The Olympic Stadium
A cool modern thing just outside the stadium
Athlete's Entry. We got to go through here, how cool is that?
I tried to take a picture of the laser-light show. Didn't work too well.
Athlete's locker room. It smelled like sweaty boy.
Famous-people signage board
The field: 1, 2
The Aquatic Center
Mini-video: Ian Thorpe's hands
Lunch was quite like packaged airline food. Yum.
Swimming with small children is always more fun if you find small children to play with, so I did. There was a kid who looked nervous about the pool, and by a combination of the novelty of meeting an American and a Triple Dog Dare, I got him in the water. Him, his sister and I played tag, but they called it tiggy or something weird like that.
Then we went to Costello's of Australia, where there were opals.
The opals were gorgeous. They were amazing. They were fascinating.
They were also entirely too expensive.
I bought one.
I also now have pictures of the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge. That is all.
Day 14
7/5
Happy real 4th of July!
We have a fuzzy comfy bus and the driver is not a maniac.
This feels like the Twilight Zone.
We saw an Imax movie about the Blue Mountains, which are neither mountains nor blue. Then we visited the Blue Mountains, which is actually a valley containing a temperate rainforest.
Go figure.
We also saw a rock formation called the Three Sisters, which according to aboriginal legend were once three real sisters. The wise man of their tribe turned them into rocks to keep them from marrying the three men they fell in love with, because they were from different tribes and that was forbidden. The men they were in love with got angry and attacked their tribe. In the fight the wise man was killed, so he couldn't reverse the spell.
There was naked statuary in front of the tour building, and the boys posed with it. Silly boys.
Australia isn't as cold as New Zealand, but the rainforest was freezing. And damp.
The rainforest: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
A giant termite mound
Jurassic fern
This tree's bark is peeling
A replica miner's hut: 1, 2, 3
From the left: Chanelle, Amanda, Brittany
The cliffs
The Three Sisters: 1, 2
The view from the top
The view looking down
Cockatiels just outside the building
The Sydney Opera House, however, was beyond. Cool. It's so pretty! And big! And... and big! And so cool! Their sinks have no drains! (Actually they do)
Outside the Opera House
Support struts: 1, 2, 3
The Designer's Room, designed by the same guy who designed the Opera House itself
A Possum's Dreamtime
The Sydney Harbor Bridge, from the Opera House at sunset
The Sydney skyline from the Opera House
The Opera House at night from the front
Day 15
7/6
I have come to the conclusion that I am extremely bad at surfing. Extremely bad at surfing. But I had fun.
The Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge from Mrs. Macquarie's Point
The Opera House
The Sydney skyline
Nebraska in front of the Sydney skyline
Amanda T. and Nebraska with the skyline
Kaysha & Kasey in front of the Harbor Bridge
Mrs. Macquarie's Chair (with some random kids that wouldn't get out of the picture)
The surf
The sun over the water
Video: Galveston vs. Nebraska vs. Sydney
Looking for sea life
A tiny crab ("I pinch!") & a sea urchin
After a mad rush to change into formal clothing, in which I washed my hair in the sink because I couldn't wait for Amanda Z. to get out of the shower, we went to the Australian Parliament House, which was a very pretty building both inside and out, but they made us leave our cameras on the bus because, once again, no pictures were allowed inside.
We watched the Youth Parliament debate, which was stimulating and kind of fun in a way, although when they get really passionate and incensed, I could barely make out what they were saying around the accent. It was strange to hear shouting in a political debate ("Here here!" if they agreed with what was said and "Shame!" if they didn't), but it was also kind of cool.
There was a cruise on a yacht with the Youth Parliament. Which involved a dance. Which led to me discovering that there are people who dance worse than I do, and led me to actually get up and dance. Which was fun, to my surprise.
I also had a long political discussion with the majority speaker (they call it something else over there, I can't remember what), about Australian politics compared to US politics, and how horribly corrupt politicians were. Fun, fun, fun.
Day 16
7/7
More museums! And footage of Aboriginal dancers with digeridoos! WHEEE!
The boys with Aboriginal weapons
The girls with Aboriginal gathering tools
Video: Introduction dance
Video: Creation dance
Video: Frill-Neck Lizard dance
Video: Delegation members attempting the Emu dance
Video: Playing the digeridoo
A really big dinosaur. I can't remember if it was a T-Rex or something else.
Silliness in the gift shop. Koala!Kaysha and Kangaroo!Kasey.
And even more museums! We went to an old criminal barracks, where Brittany (not Nebraska, the other one) was dressed as a convict and Carl was dressed as a young Irish immigrant woman. Fun times, fun times. I also discovered that I am most likely not related to any Australian convicts. Good to know.
Mini-video: Brittany as a convict and Carl as a woman
At the Sydney Zoo, there were cuddly koalas and bouncy kangaroos, and also big cats. I love big cat exhibits. Was going to buy a souvenier but then decided they were too expensive. Also, curse the batteries on my camera. There are no pictures from the Zoo.
Dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. (Post travel note: JLKgdsjil;grinlghjnreha;f <--- That is a keyboard mash of great excitement.)
I WAS SITTING LESS THAN A FOOT AWAY FROM SOMETHING SIGNED BY GWEN STEFANI. There were things signed by famous people all over the place. There was a guitar signed by Pink Floyd. There was a guitar signed by Eric Clapton. There was just. FGUH. Michelle and I flailed all over the place, and Amanda Z. and Francis endured it, because they had no idea what we were flailing about.
And we leave tomorrow. I'm... I don't know. I kind of want to go home. Only not.
Brittany and Jackie packing
Amanda Z. packing
Day 17
7/8
Goodbye to Sharon.
I stole Chandler's awesome hat.
Cody sleeping while wearing his awesome hat
Phillip in his awesome hat
Jackie asleep with her hippo. And Amanda H's face in the camera, because she was being weird.
Wesley was very, very tired. We all were.
I. Hate. Airports. And yet I love airplanes. But I hate massively long flights. I watched three movies on that flight! Three movies!
And then when I got to LAX, I laid down and slept on the terminal floor. Yeesh.
(Post travel note: So much fun. And my family made me signs. And someone made us a big banner. I cried. But I was so glad to be home and sleep in my own room and take long hot showers without having to worry about using up the hot water.
I would totally go again if I had a chance, though.)
