Andy's Visit to Australia

After Spring Break, there were only two more weeks until Andy arrived. I had been waiting for his arrival for a few months, so a few more weeks seemed like nothing.

On May 11, Amanda and I hopped on a red eye train to Sydney to pick up the boys. Amanda’s boyfriend, Billy, was visiting during the same time and, ironically, his flight landed within an hour of Andy’s.

I have to admit, I was extremely anxious to see Andy. I was pacing throughout the airport and I had a minor panic attack when his flight wasn’t listed on the screen of arrivals. Like any worried citizen, I marched my way up to guest services and frantically explained that their arrivals needed updated. Turns out I just had the wrong flight number. Oops, my bad.

After an hour of anxiety, Mr. Andy Mohling strolled through the arrival gates and I think I started jumping up and down. Emotions got the best of me and as I went to welcome him to Australia, I started sobbing. Happy tears, of course. Looks like I’m still a giddy little girl.

We immediately caught a train back to Newcastle and spent the rest of the day catching up. That night, we met the whole crew for pizza down by the harbor. It’s a Monday night tradition and Andy was able to meet my newest friends. We only had four days in Newcastle so on Tuesday, we took a long walk around the entire town. I showed him a few of Newcastle’s famous beaches and historic sites, as well as the ‘downtown’ district. On Wednesday, we took a wine tour through the Hunter Valley. Yes, this was my third one. But, as my mother’s daughter, I can assure you that no one can have too much wine. We had a great time and the weather was wonderful for us. I’m proud to say that Andy is now a wine lover and he even dared to take the infamous chili schnapps shot – which leaves your tongue and throat on fire.

  

After the wine tour, we had a few hours to eat and get ourselves ready. Our apartment is known to throw great parties and we had a special one planned for Wednesday. Here in Australia, boxed wine (known as goon) is rather popular with the college students. For $12, you can get 4 liters of wine. For that kind of money, you can stomach the unpleasant taste. Wednesday night, we threw a ‘sack race’ party and goon was the only type of alcohol allowed. You had to compete in teams of four and the first team to finish their sack of wine won the bragging rights. It was a great night and I’m glad Andy had the chance to hang out with my Newcastle friends. After the sack race, we all went to the bars for a few drinks before calling it a night.

 

Thursdays are my long days at Uni. For some reason or another, Andy was really excited to tag along. He came with me to two of my classes and had to sit through a lecture dedicated to Oprah’s sociological impact on talk shows. I know, it sounds thrilling. We had a quiet evening on Thursday night as Andy prepared dinner for me and I quickly finished a school essay. By 9 p.m. we were in a taxi and headed to the Greyhound station.

I wanted to show Andy as much of Australia as I could in the 10 days that I had him. We decided to travel to Byron Bay, the surfing capital of Australia. After 12 hours of agonizing Greyhound traveling, we arrived into Byron Bay on Friday morning. We had signed up for a 2-day surf camp and our first surf lesson started at noon. After checking into our hostel, we spent the rest of the morning walking around the town. I fell in love!  This town was the perfect combination of quaint and touristy. We took a stroll along the beach and grew very anxious to begin our surf lessons.

At noon, the crew from Mojo Surf came and picked us up from our hostel. We were put with a group of about 15 people from all over the world. Since I had already had surf lessons, I was in the water before the rest of the group and I had my own personal coach for about 45 minutes. With his help, I was up on the first wave and doing great! After about four runs on the small waves, he moved me to the bigger ones – the ones in the back. These are the type of waves that you ride before they break. It was AWESOME. I couldn’t believe that I was doing so well.

 

After learning the basics, Andy and the rest of the group joined in. I got to witness the waves throw him around a bit before he got the hang of it. But, being athletic and good at every sport, he quickly became just as good as me and before long, we were both riding the big waves in the back.

After our first day of surfing, we grabbed a quick beer with a few of our surfing mates. We met up with them later at the bars, too. I’ve said it before but there are few things better than making friends with other travelers. I’m given the chance to meet new and interesting people every day. I think Andy really enjoyed meeting new people, especially like-minded travelers from around the world.

On our second day in Byron Bay, Amanda and Billy arrived. They joined us for our second day of surfing. The waves were a bit tougher that day, but we still stuck to the big waves. All in all, we both did great and we got amazing pictures to capture it all. That night, we had an amazing dinner at Asia Joes with some of our newfound surfing buddies. For being a tiny shack in an alley, the food was absolutely delicious. Later on, we hung out with a few England girls in our hostel and made our way to Cheeky Monkey, a popular nightclub. Amanda and I had fun dancing while the boys acted tough and were content with just watching. Boys will be boys.

On Sunday we were booked for a tour through Nimbin. Nimbin is an interesting town. It’s known for it’s alternative lifestyle and it was booming with hippies. Imagine the 1970s and condense it into two blocks and you’ve got Nimbin, Australia. We took a party bus into town and stopped along the way to check out some markets and jump off a waterfall. It was cold so I didn’t jump, but the boys did! They checked that off life’s to do list.

On Sunday night we dreadfully took another overnight Greyhound bus to Sydney. We had four days ahead of us and we wanted to fill it with as much of Sydney as we could. For being one of my favorite cities, I was an excellent tour guide and I had an itinerary for us to stick to. After checking into our fabulous hotel, we made our way to a nearby movie theatre and saw Angels and Demons. The theatre was huge and we had assigned seats – weird. The movie was great and afterward, we walked a few blocks into the heart of Chinatown and had a nice dinner at Golden Century. I had been there before with my parents and loved it. It was just as good the second time around. That night, we met up with Billy and Amanda for a drink along Darling Harbor before calling it an early night.

It was now time to be an official tourist. We woke up bright and early on Tuesday and began our journey through the city. We walked to Circular Quay and stopped at St. Mary’s Cathedral along the way. It made me want to visit Rome! The inside of this cathedral was absolutely immaculate. After taking way too many pictures inside the church, we continued our journey to Circular Quay – home of the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House. We took pictures and walked around the Opera House before boarding a ferry to Watson’s Bay, where Doyle’s is located. Doyle’s is famous for its fish & chips. It’s one of the oldest restaurants in Sydney and I’ve heard nothing but great things. We missed our stop and had to ride the ferry around again, but that’s OK. It gave us a chance for some great photo opportunities of the city. However, by the time we landed in Watson’s Bay, we were both famished. We literally devoured our meals and they were delicious as promised! Once we were back in Circular Quay, we walked around a bit more and stopped at a German bar for a few beers. Then, we hit up a steakhouse for dinner so Andy could try kangaroo. When we got back to the hotel, we met up with Billy and Amanda on the rooftop pool and hot tub. Talk about a great night view! We drank a few bottles of wine and hung around until the early morning.

 

We spent most of Wednesday in the Darling Harbor area. We checked out the Sydney Aquarium and then walked over and entered Sydney’s Wildlife World. We took our sweet time in each of them and saw some neat stuff. All of which is captured on film, as I’m addicted to my camera. The coolest part of the day was the butterfly garden inside the Wildlife World. You entered a bubble full of butterflies and trees and if you were lucky, they would land on you. It took me awhile to get one to land on me. I looked back at Andy once and he had four on him. I wasn’t bitter or anything.

We headed back to our hotel to change and get ourselves ready for our harbor dinner cruise. It was a good way to end a great trip and it gave us a chance to get all dressed up. To top off the night, we headed to Max Brenner Chocolate Bar for dessert – chocolate dipped strawberries. My favorite! I’m convinced that we need Max Brenner in America. So, if any of you are looking for a business opportunity, there is one!

Andy’s flight left bright and early the next morning so we were up and out of the hotel by 7 a.m. It was much harder to say goodbye this time. Back in January, I was excited for Australia and all of my upcoming adventures. But, this time I didn’t have any upcoming adventures to keep my mind off the fact that I’m away from home – and away from all of my friends and family.  I was so happy that he had the chance to come and visit. Long distance isn’t the easiest thing to handle and it was nice to be in the same time zone for a while.

Thanks for visiting me, Andy. You’re the best J

XOXO, Jennifer Lynn

Elevator limits are NOT suggestions

People are always asking me to hear my stories. Well, here’s one!

After a few days of recovering from Spring Break, we hosted a dinner party at our apartment and gathered all of our closest friends together for a reunion. After two weeks apart, we had a lot to catch up on and we spent the night eating, chatting and watching videos and pictures from everyone’s various Spring Break trips.

We’d been enjoying a few drinks during the evening and around 10 p.m. we decided to head to the bars. All 17 of our guests hoarded out of the apartment at the same time and as we waited for the elevator, we all commented how absolutely hilarious it would be if the elevator broke while we were all inside of it. Thinking it would never happen, all 17 of us jammed into the elevator once it arrived. I should note that it was clearly stated that the maximum capacity for this certain elevator was 14 people. Apparently, we thought 14 was a suggestion. So, there we are – inside the elevator, shoulder to shoulder and without a steady flow of oxygen. Unexpectedly, yet predicted, the elevator breaks in mid-flight and we become stuck somewhere in between floors.

Now, I’m not one to panic when stuck in small spaces, but I think I had my first taste of claustrophobia. There were 17 people stuck in a 7 x 5 dimensional steel box. It was like taking the Subway during rush hour – a nightmare.

We tried ringing the elevator company but after no answer, we had to take matters into our own hands. Without my blessing, one of our friends pried open the elevator doors and started fumbling with the gears. By some act of God, we managed to manually maneuver ourselves a few feet down. About ten minutes later, we were stuck between the first floor and the ground floor. We could see that we were only a few feet from the ground floor so we pried open the doors all the way and jumped the few feet onto the ground floor.

Once we were all free, it took us about 20 minutes to stop laughing. Inside the elevator, it wasn’t very funny, but looking back … it was hilarious. I take full responsibility for my actions, of course. And, it came as no surprise when we received a phone call a week later informing us that the entire episode had been caught on security cameras and we owed $400 for late night elevator repairs. Luckily, we have great friends so we all split the bill. But, let it be known that passenger limits are not suggestions. Who knew!?

XOXO, Jennifer Lynn

Our mad dash out of the elevator!

Spring Break 2009!

My sincerest apologies for the lack of entries lately. Trust me, getting this blog up to date has been on my list of things to do for months. But, after Spring Break, Andy came to visit and lately, I’ve been so busy with finals. But, now I can breathe. I’m done with school and I’ve only got one more month left in paradise. So, let’s start where I left off: Spring Break.

Alright, so technically, it's called 'Easter Break' since it's currently fall right now. But, as Americans, we couldn't help ourselves but yell out SPRING BREAK whenever necessary. Needless to say, we got a few confusing looks during our recent 18 day trek up the east coast of Australia as we repeatedly referred to our trip as SPRING BREAK! It was amazing - but you figured that already, right?! Let's start at the beginning ...

We left Sydney early in the morning of Friday, April 10 and hopped on a Greyhound bus. I might be joining the millions here but ... I loathe Greyhound. We had the worst luck with them. Apart from one of the buses breaking down for three hours, the drivers were so rude! Anyways ....

We arrived into our first destination, Spot X Surf Camp, in the evening. It was gorgeous there! I literally felt like I was at summer camp. On our first morning there, they woke us up at the peak of dawn for surf lesson number one. After two hours of learning and one-on-one lessons, we had the rest of the day to perfect our form. The nights were the most fun, though! Talk about the ultimate Australian experience. We spent the nights with all of the camp attendants either playing drinking games, chilling around the bonfire or strolling along the beach. We befriended most of the surf instructors and ended up getting a free surf lesson on our third and final day. Surprisingly, I was able to ride quite a few waves. But, don't congratulate me just yet. I also spent plenty of time fighting the waves and getting thrown around like clothing in a washing machine. That, and my surfboard was constantly trying to run away from me. One of my favorite memories of Surf Camp was meeting Brett McDonald. Originally from Canada, he had been working at Spot X for a few months and had made a name for himself with his music. He learned how to play the guitar when he arrived in Australia and, only a few short months later, he was playing nightly concerts at Spot X. This guy is amazing! I would urge everyone to check out his MySpace page. He’s definitely got a music career in front of him. We continue to stay in touch and will be expecting him to make his way to Iowa sometime in the near future.

 

 

Surf Camp proved to be amazing and our trip was off to a good start. Next stop: Surfer’s Paradise. I would relate this city to Las Vegas. It took us about a day to get there and when we did, it was spotted with neon signs and tall apartment buildings. This city is known for surfing and it’s three theme parks. We were scheduled to be in Surfer’s Paradise for two nights, but we had nothing planned. Unfortunately, the only time we ran into rain was during our stay here. It rained the entire time so we were unable to show off our newfound surfing skills. Instead, we spent a day at one of their theme parks, Dream World. Although not as entertaining or exciting as Disney World, we still had a fun day. It started raining about two hours into our day. That sent most of the crowd home, but we wanted our money’s worth. We spent the rest of the day soaking wet, riding all of the rides and bypassing all of the lines. On our last night, we went to one of the nearby casinos and tried our hardest to understand slot machines. It didn’t work. But, don’t worry, I only lost about $2. We’re in a recession after all.

The next leg of our journey brought us to Fraser Island. This was probably my favorite part of our entire trip. Fraser Island is the world’s largest sand island. Upon arrival into the nearest town, we were handed the keys to a 4WD vehicle, all the necessary camping equipment that we’d need and three day’s supply of food. We were put into a truck with about 4 other people and the 11 of us hopped on a ferry and made our way to Fraser Island. We had a map and an itinerary to stick to … but the map was a little hard to read and we ended up getting lost in the middle of the woods while 4-wheeling our way toward our campsite. It was a bumpy ride, but oh so much fun. Dave was our designated driver, so the rest of us cranked up the tunes in the back and started drinking. We were lost after all – what else was there to do? We finally made our way to our campsite and only a few hours behind schedule.  Unfortunately, we had to put up our tents in the dark. Well, correction: the boys had to put up our tents in the dark. We fumbled our way to the beach late at night and it was there that I witnessed the brightest night sky that I’ve ever seen. It was like looking up into space through a telescope. The stars were everywhere and they were so bright, we didn’t need flashlights. I was in awe. On the next morning, we were ready to go by 6 a.m. We hit the ‘highway’ – which is nothing more than the beach – and started to explore. We saw an old shipwreck that had been washed ashore, spent some time in a freshwater river and climbed some of the nearby hills for picturesque views. On our third and final day, we made our way to Lake Mackenzie, the world’s second purest lake. Nestled in the middle of the island surrounded by lush greens, this lake was crystal clear and absolutely gorgeous. We only had a few hours to swim and soak up the sun before we had to head back to the ferry. We made some great memories on Fraser Island. It was the perfect combination of fun and responsibility. I loved how we were on our own during the trip and we made the most of it. Fraser Island was amazing but it’s also a very dangerous place. Only a week after we left, we learned that a group of similar travelers had rolled their vehicle on the beach by turning too fast. All of the passengers inside had died. After hearing that, we all praised Dave for his responsible driving. After all, our lives were in his hands.

 

 

After three amazing days, we were scheduled for three more in the Whitsunday Islands. This group of 72 tropical islands is the ‘gateway’ to the Great Barrier Reef. We spent three days among the sailboat, Habibi. We cruised around the cluster of islands and stopped every so often at famous beaches and snorkeling sites. Interestingly enough, one of the islands was pointed out to us and we were told that is the location where The Beatles wrote ‘The Yellow Submarine.” Fascinating. It was jellyfish season and every time we went snorkeling, we had to wear a stinger suit, which was extremely sexy. Imagine yourself in spandex from head to toe and you’ll understand. The Whitsunday Islands were something straight out of a magazine. The water was crystal clear and there were tropical islands everywhere you looked. We made some great friends on board and spent the days and evenings soaking up the sun and soaking in the view. Instead of sleeping in the cabins underneath, we all slept under the stars on the boat deck. Talk about another breathtaking night sky.

 

Our final destination was in sight. The next and final stop on our journey was Cairns, home of the Great Barrier Reef. We had one night to rest before climbing on board another vessel, the M.V. Kangaroo Explorer. This was a dive and snorkel vessel and we spent three days cruising to different areas of the Great Barrier Reef. Our initial intention was to snorkel the entire time, but we were tempted and by the second day, we were all signed up for our very first dive. I had never been diving before, but I did surprisingly well. On my first dive, I found Nemo and even rode a sea turtle. Yes, you read that right. I just hopped on and went for a ride. (I’m not sure if that’s legal or not so let’s keep it on the down low.) On our last morning, Dave and I woke up at sunrise and went on a morning snorkel. It was the best snorkeling that I have ever seen. The rise of the sun created a stir with all of the marine life and we saw so many creatures. We saw stingrays, three different types of shark, squid, jellyfish, eel and sea turtles. Plus, the sun was hitting the coral just right and it illuminated into brilliant colors. We had rented an underwater camera and got great pictures. It was definitely a good ending to our Great Barrier Reef experience.

Once our reef experience was over, we spent the rest of our time familiarizing ourselves with Cairns. What an awesome city. The weather was great and the town was just the right size – not too big or too small. The esplanade was the strip that aligned with the coast and it was filled with tons of restaurants and shops. Plus, there were markets near the beach and we had no problem finding things to do to occupy our time. On Saturday night, we signed up for The Ultimate Party, a pub-crawl that takes you to five different bars in one night via a double-decker party bus. Outrageous! We had a great time. We were given VIP access at all the bars and we had the chance to compete in various competitions at each of the bars. For lack of a better term, the competitions were interesting and I ended up winning two of them. To top it all off, Saturday was ANZAC day, which is sort of like America’s Memorial Day. There were men in uniform EVERYWHERE. It was pretty cool to see.

 

The next morning, we were signed up for a rainforest tour. On our way to the rainforest, we stopped for a crocodile river cruise. When they told us to keep our hands and heads inside the boat at all times, I obeyed without a fight. Although a bit scary, it was definitely cool. We ended up spotting a large crocodile named Scarface. That, and we found a baby crocodile hiding in the trees! After the crocodile cruise, we took a few walks inside the rainforest. What a cool place. We found a tree that was 900 years old and we spotted a few little lizards. The Daintree Rainforest is special because it connects to the Great Barrier Reef and it’s the only place in the world where one environmentally protected area meets another. Needless to say, we got some pretty cool photos. After the tour, we all went out for dinner to celebrate our last night of Spring Break 2009. With our charming personalities and brilliant smiles, we ended up getting free wine at a fancy Italian restaurant. The next morning, we sat by the pool before we made our way to the airport.

 

Eighteen days of bliss. I’m not sure I’ll ever have another vacation that amounts to all the fun we had along the east coast. I was able to see things that most people will never get the chance to. Every day was filled with fun and I couldn’t have asked for better traveling buddies. Here’s to hoping that Spring Break 2009 is just one of many exciting trips that I’ll be lucky enough to have in my future.