Easter Break

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So, sorry that I haven’t written in a long time!! So lots to get you caught up on.
We had Easter break a little while ago which was a week long. Emily and I decided to rent a car and travel up the east coast. We ended up camping in caravan parks with our little $25 tent and got attacked by a lot of possums, but it was def an experience. The first day Emily drove us through the city (and we actually lived and didn’t hit anything) to hunter valley which is about an hour and a half north. This was good so she could get used to driving on the wrong side of the car and the road. We set up our tent and slept for the first night. In the morning we awoke at about 7:00 am because the birds go crazy!!! OMG! There is this one called the laughing kookaburra and it was insane! It was sooo loud. Needless to say we got up early every morning and went to bed early because when it gets dark you cannot do very much anyways.
The next morning we got up, rented some bikes and did wine tasting. We biked for miles, but it was so much fun! Then, I was going down a hill and tried to stop so I wouldn’t get run over by a car and I fell way over my handlebars. Emily was in front of me and all she heard was HUH! The wind got knocked out of me really badly! Haha… so my knees and arms were all scratched up, but it was ok. We spent that night in Hunter Valley and got up early the next day.

We were headed to Port Stephens and Coff’s Harbour. On the way there a small rock hit our windshield and started to spread across the whole thing! Also, we were really worried about kangaroos and koalas because there are signs everywhere and some dead ones by the side of the road  Also, the weather wasn’t very good because it was kind of cold and rainy, but we went on a dolphin watching tour and saw lots of wild dolphins swimming next to the boat. We also saw a chick with the most wrinkly legs ever… it was nasty. When we got back to our little rental car we realized that we left the lights on, so our battery was dead. We went into this old man bar/lawn bowling/betting center and a manager helped jump our car. Then, we were off to Coff’s Harbour: the banana capitol of Australia (get excited).

So, we got there and we were late for check in and the lady at the caravan park was super rude. But, the campsite was really nice. We set up camp and then halfway through the night an animal came up and banged on our tent. I was scared to death, but Emily didn’t wake up until I started pounding on the side of the tent to try to get the animal to go away. It was an experience. So, we woke up the next morning and visited the big banana that was a 33ft concrete banana. It was sweet. Then, we went to Dorrigo rainforest to do some hiking. Let me tell you, it was AMAZING!! It was sooo beautiful. We saw some sweet lizard and were scared of snakes the whole time, but the forest was great! So, we were walking down the trail towards the big waterfall and two guys stop and say “how are you goin with the leeches?” Emily starts to say good then looks down and realizes she has like three on her. They gave us some leech spray (yea, weird) and we were good. So, after the hike we went back to the car and took off our shoes. Then, I go to take my sock off and it is soaked with blood. Sweet. A leech had been eating on my toe the whole time. The leech ended up exploding because it drank so much. It was pretty awesome (sick).

So, then we get in to the car and head off to Brisbane. I got to drive and I didn’t even kill us! So that was a plus. So we got into Brisbane and took forever to find our caravan park because obviously someone designed the city streets when they were wasted and blindfolded. It was really hard to get around because there were roundabouts every minute and to stay on one road you had to turn tons! It was really frustrating. So we finally get there and set up camp.

The next day we got up and went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. It was really cool and we got to hold koalas. We took the day pretty easy because were tired and even managed to sleep in!

The next day we got up and went to the glass house mountains, which were really beautiful. Then, we went to Australia Zoo (aka the Steve Irwin zoo). I got to hold a baby alligator and I was going to hold a giant snake but wussed out at the last second. We got to see the crocodile and snake show which was really good! Then, we drove to Surfer’s Paradise (Main beach). We set up camp and went to the beach at night and looked at the stars.

The next day we woke up and spent most of the day at the beach, which was really beautiful! Then, we drove to Byron Bay. We got there around 3pm so we had time to go to Nimbin (the renowned “Little Amsterdam” of Australia). It was INSANE!!! OMG!!! INSANE!! It was like going back in time to the 1960’s. There were hippies with no shoes and everyone was high. There were weed cafes and lots of herb shops. It was crazy. We then went to town to eat. Finally, a real meal!! We went to Hog’s Breath Café and had an actual meal. This is the first sit down restaurant I have been to in Australia (crazy I know). We then went back to our campsite and decided to find the beach that was supposedly ten minutes walk away. We walk and there are toads all over this path. I mean TONS of toads. So, we freak out and turn around because it’s pitch dark, I’m scared the flashlight is going to run out and we were in the middle of nowhere with no one around and there are tons of toads. And you know what comes with tons of toads, lots of snakes…. OMG!! So we went back to the tent and slept after someone finally told the huge group of hippies getting crunk to shut up around 4 in the morning.

We woke up to rain pounding the tent and had to close up camp fast and couldn’t spend time at the beach because the weather was so bad. That was really disappointing so I really want to go back to Byron Bay soon! Then, we drove to Hawk’s Nest, which is north of Port Stephens. The caravan park was stayed at was nice, even though there was no barbeques, so peanut butter and jelly is disgusting to me now! So, we went out to the wonderful, secluded, unspoiled beach and walked around and sat and watched the absolutely beautiful stars. I have never seen a sky with that many stars before in my life. Then, we went to bed.

The next day we got up and drove home to Sydney and returned the rental car. By this time the windshield was pretty much cracked all the way across. Luckily Emily got insurance on the car so it was covered. We of course made a pit stop on the way home to a mall and Aldi’s supermarket for lots of cheap food outside of the city. We loaded up and it was much, much cheaper than the prices we were paying. And it was great having a car that way we didn’t have to carry everything back to the apartment. We ended up driving over 1750 miles, so lots of driving.

So we got back on a Friday and took it easy that night. The next night we went out in Sydney and then it was back to class on Monday. It was a really good trip though!!

Since then, I have been really busy with school and taking classes at the gym. I have been going out a couple nights a week too which is of course always fun. I miss my friends and family a lot though so make sure to email even if I can’t reply very often.

This past weekend we went to the Red Bull flugtag (google it) and that was a lot of fun as well! Well, I’ll write again when something interesting happens.

<3 me

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Photos

tent
Our little tent!

Car
Our rental car Bessie

Comments

[Drew]

haha
I can totally see you in your tent beating the hell out of it trying to scare shit away haha. I'm glad that things are getting better for you and can't wait till ya get home.