Australia Zoo - I miss you Steve Irwin

Today Dave and I went to the Australian Zoo which is well known for being the home for the family of Steve Irwin. For those who don't know who he was; well he used to have a TV show called "the Crocodile Hunter;" where was would actually wrestle crocs and take on poisonous snakes and come face to face with any other dangerous/non dangerous animal. Well Dave and I were able to check out the croc/snake show at the exhibit, as well as hang out with some kangaroos in Roo Heaven, and pet some koalas nesting in the trees. Koalas are the cutest but laziest things I have ever come across, all they so is sleep in eat (mostly sleep). But they are so cuddly. I just want to take one home with me. Unfortunately Canada is lacking in its ability to grow eucalyptus trees to feed these amazing animals. I guess I'll just have to be satisfied with seeing them at the zoo. It was was great seeing all the amazing things the zoo does for wild and hurt animals. Everything there is to help protect and educate about wild and dangerous animals. You can tell Australia is proud of their local icon Steve and I was lucky enough to get a picture with him, even though he has past on. We love you Steve.

Luv Jenn

O'Rielly's Raintforest - Lamington National Park

Earlier last week, Lauren (my roommate) and I spent the day at a beautiful dry rainforest in Lamingting National Park. We drove the hour and half in the country side through little suburbs like boyland (which I believe is an incorrect name as there were little to men to be seen). We surprised ourselves by not really getting lost on the way there; it was only difficult to find the correct roads once in a while. Thankfully we were able to use Dave's car as White Magic (the girls car) probably wouldn't have made it up the mountain on the last leg of the trip. I would wager that road up the mountain would give the "tail of the dragon" strip a run for it's money. I lost count of the number of hairpin turns I had to make. We finally made it to the rainforest retreat and decided to take one of the hiking trails to Moran Falls. Even though I have been here for over four months, I am still astounded by the Fauna and flora that can be seen. The trees and plants are amazing and unlike anything back home.
Vines are everything and can be as big as trees and the mountainous landscape is breathtaking. We hiked the 2.5kms to the falls which had an 80m drop, took some pictures, has some lunch, and the mosied on back to the car. Within the hike, Lauren and I made sure to get some good use of the vines, swinging on them like Tarzan and climbing and hanging on them like gymnasts. Thankfully, along the trip, we didn't run into or see anything remotely poisoness or life threatening.

luv Jenn

Sydney for Christmas

I was fortunate enough to get some time off of work for the Christmas holidays this year. My roommate, Carissa, had her heart set on going to the famous Bondi Beach for Christmas day. In our minds, we pictured hot weather, warm sandy beaches with beautiful rolling waves and a lot of good looking people haha. However, what we got was rain and more rain with a side of cool winds. However, we made the best of it by enjoying ourselves Christmas eve at the Scubar club right beside one of Sydney's Hostels. There we met up with some friends from Fiji and had a great night, with Santa coming in at midnight handing out gifts. It was great spending time with all the other Christmas Orphans this year haha. Christmas day we heading to Bondi Beach in our sweater and shorts, shivering all day. We saw the beach through the misty rain and decided to have some hot chocolate and bailey's inside the warm restaurant. We then proceeded to have an amazing Christmas dinner, Pizza from Domino's with some fine entertainment, watching 'the Hangover.' Boxing day was spent travelling the city, where we went a saw the Opera House, taking pictures of us jumping down the miles of stairs. We saw the Sydney harbour bridge and people doing the bridge climb. However, my favourite was the Darling Harbour. It is a beautiful water front with many nice restaurants and a nice skyline. It is definitely a place where I would love to sit and people watch. That night, the girls and I went out for a nice dinner in the city and then went out for our final night to a awesome bar called Ivy. The next day the party was over, we packed up all our stuff, went out for some breakfast, and then hit the airport for our long 1.5 hour flight.