Cairns tour and the Party Bus!!

We landed in Cairns at 9am and were taken by vans to Gilligans Hostel. We took a quick tour around and were shown a man made pool/beach (picture to the right) where people could swim because the waters off the coast of Cairns had alligators and murky waters.

After the tour we camped out at the beach pool at our place and this guy named Bud came up to us promoting a party called The Party Bus Experience. We agreed and 11 of us paid the $30 for later that night.

 Adelle Desiree and I went on a run in the meantime. On the run we ran down the coast of Cairs where there was a boardwalk, bands playing for a large public laying out in the grass, a flea market and tropical palm trees.

We then had the skydiving meeting across the street and the promo videos definitely got me nervous. Then I heard the song “Just a Dream” by nelly that always reminds me of John and the Renegade gang and I decided I was going big. 

The start of the bus party was at Gilligans and I had one drink to toast the night. Then a few of the girls and guys in our group participated in this bubble gum competition on stage and then blow the biggest bubble possible. Our girls didn’t win but it was fun to watch.
They then took a big picture of the 250 people at the event and we were in the front row. The next pub was shenanagans two other 2 guys and 1 girl from our group did the competition at the next club. Brent and Olivia won a free bungee jump and wake boarding trip blowing up a big balloon and having it pop first.

At the next club we were taken to, The Mad Cow, one of our girls participated in the dance competetion. There was an American who did the ho-down, an Aussie who did break-dancing and then there was the Italian who did the strip tease. I was sitting in the front row on the floor with a bunch of others when the guy (mid-strip tease) walked toward me and handed me his shirt. I was laughing hysterically as he continued to dance and it was absouluety hilarious. 

Next up our very own American did the air guitar and was amazing. We were all cheering like crazy for her!

Next up was a kid dressed in a SpongeBob Squarepants outfit. He had to do a ballet rendition and for the finale he “attemped” a jump and landing splits. It looked quite painful, but he did come away with the win.

The last pub we were taken to, Adelle and I decided to participate in the competition. It was a two person competition of Simon Says. You needed somebody to be the knight and the other the lady, and since Adelle is stronger than me she offered to be the knight. In the picture to the left is Kelsey and Brooke in the competition.

 She had to catch me in her arms, jumping on her back, have me sit on her knee and fly into the wheel barrel postion. Of the 25 two person groups, it came down to the final five and Adelle and I were still in it. We were then eliminated during the super-speed round, but two of the guys in our group were still in it together for the final against a guy and girl Aussie group. We had USA chants going and our guys pulled out the win!!
 We went crazy jumping all over them and they won a free skydive and also sweat like they just ran a marathon in Michigan’s heat wave.

Our night commenced of singing the fight song on top of the double decker bus and we couldn’t have been happier. Thanks for reading, and I’m sorry for the delay in posts. Tune in for my next post on the great barrier reef!!

Manly World, Crazy Ferry Rides and Eggs to the Forehead?

I've been M.I.A for sometime, but the memories haven't gone anywhere. On the Wednesday before we left to Cairns, I took the train and ferry to Manly World at Manly Beach. Before getting on the train I asked an attendant at the gate if this was the right one and all I saw was this fat fist come into the picture and punch the old man attendant in the jaw and neck. I screamed “Oh my God?! What the hell?!” and looked at this red skinned guy who looked part drunk in his eyes and also like he was on steroids. I couldn’t even understand what he said to me and then to the attendant. The attendant called security. 

I then took the ferry across the harbour and in between the two syndey Head’s (rock cliffs at the entrance of the harbor) and it was a little bumpy because a storm was coming.

Manly world was kind of a bust. It had sharks you could dive with and some stingrays but it was really small and just not that great. I left and caught the ferry back and that is where I found my entertainment for the day. 

I was sitting inside the ferry with my rain jacket, uggs and a winter hat on and thought, “come on Molly, how many times do you get to ride on a ferry through Sydney harbour.” So, even though it was windy and cloudy I went and sat outside the front of the ferry in the closest seat to the front of the boat. I was basically could’ve been in the movie the perfect sotrm because I caught video of us dropping into waves and getting sloshed by tons of water. One kid fell on the ground and started screaming for his mom to take him inside and please that were inside the boat were watching through the glass windows as we weathered the storm outside. If you watch the video, about 4mins. in is when the craziness begins, but the harbor is what you'll see in the beginning!

Thursday, Zach and I did a presentation on HIV/AIDS in Australia and it went really well. Friday we had two exams and both went quite well. Friday night we had everyone in our room and listening to music.

Amanda then taught adelle and I how to crack eggs on our head and we caught that on film and I was beyond excited and I’m going to do it everytime I make eggs now which is a lot. The video is hilarious so you should definitely check it out!!!



 Security was called on us eventually, but we were just over it at that point. I pulled an all nighter uploading videos and hopped on the bus at 4:15am with everyone else to go to the airport. Good Bye Sydney..hellllloooo Cairnssss!!

Love,

ME

My Second Tutorial on Film

This is my second tutorial video that I have done for www.spartanedge.com , which
highlights some helpful film tips when starting out. Please check it out! Comments welcome!


Love,

ME

Shops.HarryPotter.PlayingRugby.ProRugbyGame.YES!

I've been lagging so I'll try and sum this up the best I can.

Paddington

Paddington

Saturday: I went with a few of the girls to Paddington market because it is said to be a great type of market on the weekend to shop. Long story short, I was told to not take pictures by one guy and then when I asked a lady how much one of the dresses was on the mannequin she told me it was $213. Soo, obviously I got over Paddington real quick.

We then hopped on the bus and went to Paddy's market over by Darling Harbour where I got my Uggs.

Paddy's

dressing rm @ paddys!

 A couple of the girls bought a pair, some purses and even extra suitcases! I bought a winter hat and some cool lace up shoes for $25. We also tried on a few things inside this dressing room that was a little curtain right in the middle of this open market and shoved in between some clothes. hilarious!

We then went out because it would be our last Saturday in Sydney. We were told by a girl here that she could get us in for free at this club in Kings Cross but we ended up have to pay $10. We split up because some people didn't bring money and went back to our local dive bar.

harry potter night

I ended up having to leave early because a friend of mine was not doing so hot so we had to catch the bus home. She went to bed and I stayed up with Alex and AJ for a bit but then Alex passed out.

AJ and I stayed up talking until about 3am about ice hockey, field hockey and music...and then we heard a knock on the door and I joked, "Ha watch us get a warning with only two people." Turns out, we did. The guy was raising his voice to A.J. and I, asking if we think it's funny and this guy gives our group warnings whenever we have gotten together to go out. A.J. was respectful and told him we were sorry and that was it. We cracked up about it and the guy gives us glares whenever he sees us up late walking around.

Sunday: was the epic of all days because we went to see Harry Potter on the biggest IMAX screen in the WORLLDD. We made sure to get there early because it was sold out and there was a beautiful senset.

As we were waiting to be let into the actual theatre, we took pictures in front of the sign and got our group together to go in. As we walked in we saw some posters to get some necessary pictures with. In one picture is Adelle and Harry Potter and I'm hanging out with Lucious Malfoy!

While we were sitting on the floor in line waiting to be let in to the actual theatre, we were talking about the series and how it's crazy it's over. Then, Desiree started to cry! The rest of us thought it was soooo funny, but she was a hugee fan. Adelle and Liz are in the picture with Desiree below as she is starting to cry and I think they are about ready to burst into tears as well...and laughter.

As we were being let in we were handed out 3D glasses and took our seats in the middle of the theatre.
We were lucky we booked early. I had never seen a 3D movie before because they cost around $13 at home, but this movie was fantastic.

The movie was nothing short of amazing, well except for the fact that Desiree was crying the entire movie. She sat in between Adelle and I, and listened as she recited lines about to be said because she read the books a few times.
We cracked up about it after the movie because it was literally sniffles and tears the whole time.

Monday: We had our Australian class on sports. We learned about the Aussie Rules Football(AFL) and Rugby League/Union. We also learned about cricket and watched videos of the AUS. Olympic team beating the USA team in men's swimming relay.

Centennial Park

 As part of the class he headed out to the park in athletic gear and everyone had a shot at cricket. Brooke and I batted in the most "runs" for the two of us, just beating Alex and A.J's team. Adelle, Desiree and I both had a chance to "Bowl" the ball which is an over arm throw with a straight elbow the whole time. My lower back, ribs and arm were shot the next day. Cricket was absolutely a blast and we're planning on playing in Cairns. Thennnn, we played touch rubgy.

Zach and my dragon faces

Adelle and Desiree were on the other team and I was with our teacher Russ because our team wasn't doing well. All I'm going to say is people were yelling and beyond competitive and I just got over the intensity because I felt alone when it came to trying to cool people down. Adelle got punched by a girl on my team right in the arm and it was soooooo funny at the time because Adelle looked the girl in the eye and said, "Don't punch me again," because the girl had hit her before. Adelle has a fat bruise from it.

Dragons CLub

Later Monday night, Russ took us to his team the Dragons in a stadium right in the middle of a neighborhood. They sell out all the time, but they want to keep a tradition and not build a new stadium.
The tradition is to go to the team's club restaurant and eat dinner and fill up your beer belly...I skipped out on that last part. Before the game, a bunch of us bought face paint and I drew a dragon on my face in the mirror. Zach wanted one too so as we were on the train I managed to paint one him a fierce looking one.


The stadium was packed because it was the final home game and their hall a fame player was retiring. They were playing the Sharks who weren't very good and the Dragons had the best defense in the league.

We ended up winning (we stayed till the end, some people left early) and it was just an overall great experience and nice that we actually understood the rules because of class and playing earlier. Here is a 2 min. clip of the game.

Hope you enjoyed the post. We leave in 3 hours for Cairns which is up north and where the Great Barrier  Reef is...I'll catch you up more then and fill you in all the happenings!

Praise to Derek! God Bless!

Love,

ME

Sydney Opperraaaa!!! House

eFriday was obviously a big day because after the zoo and blue mountains, the last thing on Friday to talk about was the Sydney opera House. Our group attended Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet symphony at 8pm sharp.

We all got dolled up and left early for the show because we were told they will lock you out if you are not there a certain amount of time before the show begins.

We're on the subway and we're starting to worry we're cutting it close. We already left three of the girls in our group because they weren't down in the lobby when we wanted to go.


Our luck got even worse when we hopped off the train and saw it was pouring rain outside and us girls were all in heels and dresses with a good 3/4 of a mile run to the opera house.
We started to run with our bags or whatever we had over our heads. We made it with a few minutes to spare before they rang the bell and asked everyone to take their seats. The picture to the right is what I saw entering the opera house room. The wood floor was beautiful and everyone was dressed very nice.

We were seated the second row facing the conductor, and with the symphony's backs to us. They were great seats that sat a little higher and we could see every expression on the conductor's face.

Our groups were a little separated but I sat next to Hallie, Kelsey and Aj but then, rushing in was Brooke, Olivia and Hannah who caught up with the group and made it inside before the doors closed.

The rest of the group was a row up and to the left from us. When the symphony started, myself and a couple others fell in love with the performance. I've never had the musical talents like my mom and brother, but I can appreciate the great details that went into the music we heard that night. Our conductor James Gaffigan is one of the most outstanding young American conductors working today and that night he made his Australian debut.

The lead violinist is a young guy named, Sergey Khachatryan, who is one of the best in the world having been the youngest to win an international competition and has played all over the world. The violin he played that night was a "1740 Ysaye Guarneri violin on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation." You gotta be good if they're lending you something that old. I cannot even begin to tell you how many times we must have clapped for him and actually caused him to come out and play an encore.

To the right is a quick video I took while inside the opera house during their warm up before the performance began.

During intermission we took pictures (on facebook) and a few people grabbed a drink before the bells were ringing and we had to head back inside. I can't do the show justice and try and describe the music, so I just won't. However, I'll say thats definitely not my typical music of choice, but I ended up loving it.

More to come on what happened this weekend and the start of this week. Thank you for reading :)


LOVE,

ME

KANGAROO & KOALA PETTING!!!

Even though I posted first on the blue mountains, the zoo was actually our first stop on Friday before the Blue mountains and then the Opera House. I was the last person to get off the bus still groggy and tired, when we were met at the entrance by a zoo keeper holding a baby wallaby that we all had the chance to pet and hold. 

After that, it was off to races as everyone stormed into the zoo with tickets already in hand. Since we had quite a bit to do today, we were only allotted an hour at the zoo which was quite small. 

The next little critter we got to see was the wombat in the picture to the left. He was kind of preoccupied with munching on his carrots, but he does look like a miniature tank. I was told that wombats can actually total cars like deer in Michigan. I was told by some of the field hockey guys we play with that the reason this happens if because when wombats have a light shined on them in the dark, they freeze mid-movement. They talked about turning a flashlight on and watching the little guy stop moving and then turn it off and he goes about his night. 

I caught up to a few of the girls and Kelsey and I decided to take pictures with the lizzards.

We also got to put our hand out and have this creepy owl looking bird jump onto us, but the name of the bird was just too complicated to remember. A picture of this bird and myself are to the left.

Up next we got to hang out with some little guys who I met earlier in the trip at the WIldlife World in Sydney...KOALAS! I took a video because normally these guys never move and are just bundled up in a little ball, but not this hyper little guy so here it is..

The main attraction was obviously the Kangaroos. We entered a gated area where little baby "joey" kangaroos were hopping around, fuzzy grey ones were munching on the ground in front of a few visitors and the big guys stuck to feeding on lettuce out of their tin bowls.

This zoo is different then most zoos because the main focus of the zoo is personal interaction with the animals from petting to holding, feeding and even one friend of mine, got in a little boxing match with a roo.

Amanda and I spent time feeding the smaller kangaroos over the railing and I think they stayed in there because they weren't big enough to hop over it yet like the others. You can buy little cups of grass and grains for a dollar before you come in to hand feed them.

 These guys never showed even a hint of being scared of humans of all sizes even when little kids came storming after them. They simply just wanted to grab jewelry and hold onto your hand as they stuffed their little nose in your palm to eat.

The bigger kangaroos (who still were relatively small compared to older ones in zoos that won't let you pet them) didn't like the grains and grass but were given their own bowl of veggies to snack on as we probably annoyed them like crazy while they were eating.

One of those most hilarious moments though was when we were watching the kangaroos hanging out inside their little pin area. One Kangaroo decided he was done hanging out with the baby joeys and jumped over the railing(normal to do), but he jumped right into a 10 year old boy who didn't see the kangaroo and started to walk. The kangaroo knocked him almost on his butt and I couldn't help but laugh and then the boy looked at me and I felt really bad, but he smiled and looked excited he just got jumped on by one and probably went and told his friends.

There were other animals such as cute dingos, but we opted to hang out with the Kangaroos and Koalas the whole time..and don't worry, I'm not actually sitting on the Kangaroo and I'll post more photos when Amanda uploads the ones of us petting the koalas.

Hope you enjoyed the post...more to come on the Opera House, Paddington/Patty's Market, Harry Potter on the biggest IMAX screen in the world and our first professional rugby game...and how could I forget, my class and I getting our own shot at rugby and cricket in the park! Probably not the beset idea with a bunch of competitive college athletes :)

CHEERS

LOVE,

ME