Friday 30 November 2012

Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast

Well, a week of relaxation did me good I must say. It was great to see Byron again and we managed to cram in a ton of stuff in just a few days...

I left on friday afternoon, which was a bit of a rocky start, my advice, if youre gonna go out the night before as a good bye thing, have all your stuff laid out, packed, and cleaned ha, just saying. But for you who know me, you know that this isnt possible, so ya, busy morning. And nothing like lugging two suitcases, a purse, and a backpack through train stations and airports...
Well after that, smooth flight, landed and Byron picked me up. That night we went out into the city for awhile had a few drinks and just checked out what there was. Went to the craziest 3 story club, all decked out like a jungle. It looked like a scene out of Batman. Its called Cloudland in Brisbane...look it up. The next morning we got up fairly early and headed up to the Sunshine Coast to see his sister and check out the beaches. His sister  was super sweet and we had a good time hanging out. She lived a block from the beach so we packed a cooler and hung out for a few hours in the sand. Next morning went into town to check out the really popular beaches and a few of the shops. We headed back to Brisbane that sunday night because we got 2 free tickets to the outdoor movie theater to watch FrankenWeenie. It was really pretty, laying out in beanbags on a warm night watching a movie with the city in the background...

Then Monday byron had to work, so i took a walk around the town and by the bay to check out what there was. I found this manmade wading pool and park, and it was filled with seawater and sand. It was the coolest thing I had seen. Then later that night when Byron came home we had a seafood feast of oyster, prawns, and Moreton Bay crabs. Apparently this is the only place that you can find these crabs and they are this weird mix of a lobster and a crab. There is a ton of meat and they are delicious.



Next Morning, Tuesday, Byron had to work again so I went back into town and went to the wading pool to swim and tan...I might have been a bit too light on the sun screen, but its all good now because this gal has got a tan. yeeeaaaaah.  Then that evening we went into town again and checked out a few bars and walked around downtown checking out the night scene. The next morning though Byron had off, so we woke up early and headed down to the Gold Coast, where he grew up. The beaches here were beautiful. We had an awesome breakfast at the Viking surf club then headed to the Alley to swim and watch surfers. 




Viking surf club with Byron and his sweet  hawaiian shirt, sitting outside on the deck, over the ocean.

After we went to Carrumbin Valley to hang out with his Grandpa for a bit; funny guy. Then he took me up to the mountains to check out the rainforest part of Queensland. Ah, so cool. On the way up the mountain it actually started raining some which made the jungle even more awesome. We went to a state park and this river with some waterfalls where we jumped the railing and went wading up and hung out by the water. 




Jungle

We headed back to Brisbane that night because we both had flights out that morning...:(. Very, Very sad to leave...Its been so great and im ecstatic that I got to see so much and do so much before I left...its been a great 5 months here and I will make it back one day...


Now for the longest plane ride ever .....


<3






Wednesday 21 November 2012

Melbourne Cup and Finals!

Hey all, ya its been awhile I know, but a lot has been going on these last few weeks.
So we had the Melbourne Cup, which is the Derby of OZ. It was great fun, our house was packed! All the Girls had people in town so our house jumped to about 20 residents. It was a bit crazy. The races were great, we hung out on the lawn and watched the races. Well, big better over here lost  a whopping $10. All the top horses, didnt even place in the top 5!! Green Moon for the win...Maybe next year.

After the racing week we had to dive straight into our finals week, which of course is always stressful. I had two studios and one furniture design class. Out of all the classes, I was the happiest with my stool design. The brief for the class was to design a stool within 400 mm x 400 mm x 400 mm and must weigh less than 2 kg ( 4.4 lbs). So I worked with 4.5 mm polypropylene... issues? yes. Its a very soft and bendable materials so getting it to work too some canoodling. So here it is...


We had to add tension wires to keep the stool from compressing too much. 


The stool was slightly bouncy. I was really happy with the design but I wish I had the money to create one more prototype because there were a few kinks that needed to be worked out. Wish i could take this home with me :( but no room in the suitcase!

My other finals for Inhabitation and Sustainable went pretty well also. But it was great to actually be done! I was so tired...


So Julia, Maren, Frida, and I rented a car and did a two day trip on the Great Ocean Road. Its a drive along the southern coast with all these stops and sites and ends at the 12 Apostles. We had the best weather, it was sunny and bright. It was also the first time we got to see wild Koalas!! Ah they are so cute, but they make the craziest noises. They actually grunt really loudly. 


No this is not from the internet, this is the picture that I actually took. It was a lot of fun riding along the beaches. After the apostles , we stayed the night in a hostel and the next morning headed back to Melbourne, stopped in Geelong on the way back and checked out the beach there. 

Julia, Celine and I also spent one of the days at the famous Brighton Beach! Its a really nice beach and is lined with these little houses for storage that worth a few hundred thousand dollars. It was nice to lay out and catch some sun and not have to worry about school for once! 


Yay Australia!!


This past weekend, Julia, Celine, and I took a last trip out to Willsons Promontory. It was beautiful! We rented a car to drive the 2 and half hours out to the park. But since we didnt have a tent, we car camped ha, which, is not very comfortable btw. But we spent the weekend hiking and hanging out on the coast. I know, hard life right? But if you are ever in OZ, you should really do this trip. My favorite hike was to Tongues Point. We hiked through the forest, well aussie forest. There had been a fire so all the trees were these black crazy looking sticks. It was pretty cool lookin. We hiked up and you come over and can see the ocean and its so blue. We hiked down to Fairy Cove, this small beach, and we were the only ones there...private beach status!


Fairy Cove

 Tongues Point


Overlook

The whole weekend had beautiful weather and beautiful sites! Even better, we got to see wild kangaroos, Wallabys, Wombats, and Emus!! It was crazy, I didnt think I would actually see them in the wild! We even saw a snake...not so great. Not a fan of snakes by any means. 

Skippies!!


Emus!


The most beautiful sky!

It was an amazing weekend  It was kinda sad to leave, but im glad I was able to have this weekend. 

Well my time here is wrapping up :(, and I am very sad about it. I do wish I could stay another 5 months. If anyone is thinking about traveling, ya you should stop by Oz, its awesome. I do have one more week here though. I have a friend in Brisbane, who I met in Nashville, and hes flying me up to stay with him for 6 days. He lives an hour from both the Sunshine Coast and the Golden Coast, which are supposed to be some of the best beaches ever! Im really excited, a week of beach hopping. My life has been real hard hah. Ill be sure to post lots of pictures and tell you alll about it. And yes, people I have been working on my tan and i do have some tan lines, yaaaa. I wont be super dark, but ill be darker than you pasty people and you and your winter clothes. ;).



<3









Monday 5 November 2012

Wrapping up the School year

Hey all,


Sorry its been awhile since an update. Not too much has been happening. We have had some pretty great weather though these last 2 weeks, which is exciting!  .We have had a couple of days where we go out and hang out in the park all, and I have started a base tan. Along with that, school is wrapping up. Classes are over and we are in our finals week so we have 10 days for so when all of our studio projects are due. After the cup, its back to work work work. At the same time though, its pretty sad because it means everyone is leaving, including me. I would love to stay in OZ for another 5 months, its been a really great time.

Also, found out that Halloween is a big flop in Australia. They really do not celebrate it here which is pretty sad. We did manage to go to one Halloween party though and of course it was with all the international students. It was a pretty good time. Also, and update on work, I get some hours but as soon as finals are over  can work everyday so I should be making a lot more money. Still a little weird to rub naked people though...
Biggest news though, The Melbourne Cup and the end of the semester! Yay! Well classes are over and have a week until we turn in all of our studio projects, so after the cup, its going to be very hectic. I did though, finish my stool for furniture today!
This is right after we cut it and screwed it together. We havent added the tension wires yet to keep the stool from compressing.



This is the stool with the wires. Excuse the writing, I left the film on to keep the stool from being scratched up before review on Wednesday. For the brief, the stool needed to weigh less than 2 kilos (4.4 lbs) and i might be slightly over...by 250 grams. Its alright though, i think its cool enough looking that the prof will over look that hah.

But for tomorrow, thats the big day of Melbourne Cup! Our little house is at maximum capacity, its like invasion of the irish here!  We did try to Irish proof the house though, hid all the breakables and bought plastic ware, but some how, we still managed to break a glass door. Ah, so close. Most of our room mates friends came on Friday or saturday, so Saturday afternoon we had a giant cookout. So goooood. But tomorrow all the festivities begin early! The Melbourne Cup is basically the Derby, everyone gets all dressed up and fancy and wears big ole hats. Unfortunately I havent bought any sort of head accessory, but thats alright, I will still be cute.  Tomorrow will be a great time and I cant wait to tell you about it!


<3