some time with the girls and we went to the mall to do a little bit of shopping. Afterward, we played a little bit of dress up in Jeppo's room looking for dresses to wear for Saturday night because everyone dresses up to go to the races and then into town after. Later that night, Lex walked a bunch of us out into some of the brush behind the dorms where he has an area cleared with for bonfires. We sat around talking a lot and somehow happened on the topic of scary movies. I was getting quite anxious because we were sitting in the dark in the middle of random brush and Lex didn't help the matter because he thought it was hilarious to throw rocks behind me to make me jump. All of the conversations about scary movies prompted us to actually watch one, so the guys peed out the fire and we went back to davo's room to watch a scary movie called Wolf Creek. It didn't help that it is about people traveling across Australia who get picked up and killed by this crazy man living in the middle of nowhere. Great.Thursday was another low key day. Today we actually got our first chance to go down to the river where the row club has a rope swing as well as a pontoon/dock area where they launch the boats where people go to swim. A whole group of us w
ent and once again it was super fun. The water was a lot warmer than the ocean and i splashed around a little bit with somebody's soccer ball. I also managed the courage to try the rope swing out. You have to climb up this big tree that angles over the water and then shimmy to the very end and grab the rope that dangles at the very end. Once you grab the rope, you crawl back until it is taught and then let yourself fall to the side. SOOOOO MUUUUCH FUNN!! The only downside is that the dirt you walk through after you get of the water makes your feet dry and makes it harder to grip the tree with them. Also, the water level is way down since they’ve been repairing a dam further up the river so the drop is a little bit higher than usual. I had a few problems with my bikini becoming misplaced after dropping into the water, but luckily the water is murky enough that I didn’t have to worry about anybody creeping. I think the river is one of my new favorite places and definitely will be looking forward to going back again and again. After we were done at the river a bunch of us went to the tavern to hang out Thursday night. A few people got pretty schwasted and I got teased for just sticking to water, but it was still a fun night. I was rolling around in Davo’s wheelchair and having an overall good time. We left the Tav and got back to the GR dorm’s around midnight. I had to help Lisa out because she had a little too much to drink, but I was being a good friend and made sure she was tucked into bed and had a garbage can and water in case she needed it. Somebody was supposed to walk me home after that because I didn’t want to sleep on the floor here, but I managed by myself. It was definitely a little spooky and I don’t think I will do it again, just to be safe.
Today was another great day of many great days. The international students had the opportunity to get shuttled to Billabong Sanctuary to check out all of these cool animals. Of course, the oregonians and I thought we should take up 
this opportunity despite it costing $50. This place was absolutely beautiful and I shelled out the $25 to have my picture taken with both a wombat and a Koala. It might have been a lot, but they are kind of hilarious and at least the money is going towards a good cause. Before pictures they let the wombat run around a little bit and they look so funny when they run. This little guy ran straight up to Lisa’s and my ankles and started nibbling on them. We also had the opportunity to get pictures with an Olive Python and a baby salt water croc, but those were free, so of course we all took advantage of that and got ridiculous pictures of one another modeling them like high fashion accessories. One of the coolest things about this place is that you could go into a fair number of the animal cages and interact with the animals. There was a pen with these tiny red kangaroo-looking creatures that you could just walk into and play with, just as long as you didn’t pick them up. I can’t remember what they were called, but I will post pictures later. There were also a few with a mimicked rainforest area with water features inside that house a few different kinds of birds including the laughing kookaburra. There were also grey kangaroos hopping around all over the place (or maybe they were wallabies) and you could buy animal feed for 80c to feed them with. A lot of them seemed to be females because you would see little baby joeys just running up and head diving into their mothers pouches. All of a sudden you would just seed a kangaroo that looked like it had a large tumor growing out of its belly and then feet sticking out at an awkward angle. This was highly amusing. Before they fed us they also gave us a behind the scenes Crocodile show where the keeper gave us really good facts about them and baited it with a chicken drumstick. He talked about how a lot of what you hear about them is myth, and that most people who die from them are complete idiots who don’t acknowledge posted warning signs around areas where rivers meet the ocean. Ever since they have been protected in Australia (since the 60s or 70s) there have been less than one death per year by crocodile, whereas 3 Australians per year d
ie from jiggling a vending machine and having it fall on them. I don’t ever have a need to go back to Billabong Sanctuary, but It would definitely be a really cool place to work and it was both a fun and educational trip. Right now I’m chilling in Lisa’s room and I brought my stuff so that I can just stay here for the evening instead of having to walk back again tonight. I might take a nap and then later everybody is feeling like keeping things low key with a movie night. People were suggesting things like anchorman and zoolander until I said we should watch super troopers, so now we are watching super troopers because lex and I seem to have both decided that there are too many people here that have not seen it. I win!
this opportunity despite it costing $50. This place was absolutely beautiful and I shelled out the $25 to have my picture taken with both a wombat and a Koala. It might have been a lot, but they are kind of hilarious and at least the money is going towards a good cause. Before pictures they let the wombat run around a little bit and they look so funny when they run. This little guy ran straight up to Lisa’s and my ankles and started nibbling on them. We also had the opportunity to get pictures with an Olive Python and a baby salt water croc, but those were free, so of course we all took advantage of that and got ridiculous pictures of one another modeling them like high fashion accessories. One of the coolest things about this place is that you could go into a fair number of the animal cages and interact with the animals. There was a pen with these tiny red kangaroo-looking creatures that you could just walk into and play with, just as long as you didn’t pick them up. I can’t remember what they were called, but I will post pictures later. There were also a few with a mimicked rainforest area with water features inside that house a few different kinds of birds including the laughing kookaburra. There were also grey kangaroos hopping around all over the place (or maybe they were wallabies) and you could buy animal feed for 80c to feed them with. A lot of them seemed to be females because you would see little baby joeys just running up and head diving into their mothers pouches. All of a sudden you would just seed a kangaroo that looked like it had a large tumor growing out of its belly and then feet sticking out at an awkward angle. This was highly amusing. Before they fed us they also gave us a behind the scenes Crocodile show where the keeper gave us really good facts about them and baited it with a chicken drumstick. He talked about how a lot of what you hear about them is myth, and that most people who die from them are complete idiots who don’t acknowledge posted warning signs around areas where rivers meet the ocean. Ever since they have been protected in Australia (since the 60s or 70s) there have been less than one death per year by crocodile, whereas 3 Australians per year d
ie from jiggling a vending machine and having it fall on them. I don’t ever have a need to go back to Billabong Sanctuary, but It would definitely be a really cool place to work and it was both a fun and educational trip. Right now I’m chilling in Lisa’s room and I brought my stuff so that I can just stay here for the evening instead of having to walk back again tonight. I might take a nap and then later everybody is feeling like keeping things low key with a movie night. People were suggesting things like anchorman and zoolander until I said we should watch super troopers, so now we are watching super troopers because lex and I seem to have both decided that there are too many people here that have not seen it. I win!
I love this!!! You are doing incredibly amazing things!! I wish I was there! The pictures are amazing/don't even look real! Keep me updated :)
ReplyDelete