Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentines Day from the Land Down Unda!

My valentines Day Flowers!!!

Thank you Alex Basham for surprising me!
Valentines Day is a day not only for couples but for all loved ones. I think we should all be thankful for the loved ones we have in our life and take today to tell them how important they are to us. We live in a busy and stressful world where we take advantage and often times forget how lucky we are. Not everyone in the world has a mother who loves them, a father who is proud of them, grandparents who support them, siblings who pick on them, aunts and uncles to visit, cousins to play with, and friends who love them. So I would like to thank all of my family and friends for loving me unconditionally and being there for me through the best of times and the worst! I am very thankful that I can share my journey with all of you :)

On another note...Today was pretty interesting...In class we learned about the Indigenous Australians and some more history of the land. After class we headed out for out field trip. First we stopped in town (Lennox Head) to visit an Aboriginal Area. The sight was used for ceremonies for the initiation of boys into the Bundjalung tribe. The area of Lennox Head was once called the Bundjalung area when Australia was organized into kinship's instead of states.



The ground is slightly caved in, this is because the aboriginal people could sit along the edges and watch the people in the middle. There was also trails that lead to other areas like this one that all had different uses. Some were for the men and others for the women.
 After visiting the land and learning a little about the Aboriginal people we headed off to a Naval Museum. Here we learned about how the Europeans come to Australia and the impact they had on the land. We also got to walk around and read all about the wars from the Australians view. It was full of miniature naval ships and other artifacts from the different wars.


Steering the ship!

Australian Navy Flag

HUGE torpedo

The walls were covered in war memorabilia and each war was labeled :)

Some medals from various wars

I liked this newspaper headline! There was a whole table full of newspaper articles about various wars

Diesel Engine


Scuba Diving Suit


Scuba Gear


Next we loaded the bus and went to the Thursday Plantation to learn about the medicinal tea tree oil! Once we arrived we watched a short film on the history and production of tea tree oil products. Then we got to use free testers of tea tree lotion, face wash, lip balm, and much more. There were plenty of products to buy and some good sales! I got a few things for myself as well as some gifts.



SOOOOOO much tea tree stuff


Some of the tea tree products I got :)


Outside of the plantation there was a maze. (I got lost with the professors daughter...and it was super hot outside..and on top of that the entire bus was waiting on us to leave lol) There was also a lot of art work and some trails in the surrounding area.

Shoes between wooden planks...I though it looked pretty cool


Little kids!!!
 The last place we went on our Field trip was the Byron Bay light house! It was a beautiful view! We could see for miles out to see, Julian Rocks (where we dove), sharks and turtles in the waters below, and we stood on the most Easterly part of the Australian mainland!

The light house at Byron Bay



The BSU Group on our Field Trip!


Most Easterly Point of Australia!


The light house was beautiful and the views were phenomenal!


You could see Julian Rocks where we dove from the light house!


As we looked down at the water we could see small sharks swimming and sea turtles! These were the same kinds of sea creatures we saw while diving
 It was a long but exciting day and when we got back to camp we had a group breakfast for dinner...french toast, bacon, sausage, muffins, and backed cinnamon apples! It was delicious and we were all very hungry after all of the hiking and walking we did :)

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!
Love with all of your Heart <3 

Sunday, February 13, 2011

My weekend adventure!

I'm still in love with being here...it has now been two weeks since we left the States and I wish everyone could come visit so you all could experience the beauty of Australia! Friday I relaxed on the beach and went into town to get some ice cream...and let me tell you that the ice cream here tastes soooooo much better than it does back at home. It is most likely the fact that it is in the 80s and 90s almost everyday and we don't have air conditioning...but ice cream is my favorite treat after hanging out on the beach all day :) In the evening we all played volleyball...like usual, and I stepped on something that bit the bottom of my foot. :( At the time it just hurt but the next morning my lymph nodes were swollen and the bottom of my foot had a good sized welt. I took some antihistamine's and that seemed to do the trick! Still not sure what it was though...

Saturday I went to Byron Bay to shop! It was a blast and I got some really good finds! Presents for a few people, and some awesome post cards! Cant wait to send them out :) But I need every ones addresses first!

Byron Bay is the best place to shop that's close to Lennox Head. We just take a bus for a small fee and 15-20 min later we are there! This is where we learned to surf and the scuba diving company we dove with is here.


Clock tower in Byron



My roomie on our fun filled shopping day!
Today we went to NIMBIN!!!! Before I tell the story of Nimbin let me disclose that Marijuana is illegal in New South Wales. lol however...the cops just look the other way because they cant stop it anyways...that's what the locals say at least! The trip started out with a big rainbow bus picking us up!

Our bus...and did I mention we were on this all day and it didn't have air conditioning!
 The bus went around and picked up everyone that was going on the trip...17 BSU students but about 40 people total! The bus was full. Then we headed off to Nimbin where we were briefed and warned about Marijuana being an illegal drug. Our driver also informed us that if we should get any cookies while in Nimbin...we should only eat half of it...but if we are heading to Sydney-that's a three cookie trip!


Finally made it to Nimbin and first thing we see is a sweet sign!


The whole town had hippie signs with rainbows or weed symbols


Nimbin Museum!!!...It was kinda strange but I enjoyed all the quotes


One of my favorite quotes in the museum!


Marijuana signs everywhere in this town!


Love this quote...you are the only person holding you back


though this was cool!


It was a very little museum...not sure why they needed a map but there ya go!


It amazed me how open they were about selling paraphernalia


artsy door :)...I though it was amazing!


One of my life motto's!


The town of Nimbin


Read thorough the street codes...they are very interesting


Being silly with some free standing art work in the town!
 Our next stop was a market with tons of vender's that we got to walk around and do some more shopping! We got to see a lot of local artists and try sugar cane juice!


Driving to the market we kept the bus door open...highly illegal and unsafe but it kept us a lot cooler!!! and nothing on this trip has been legal so far...why start now!



We were even allowed to drink on the bus...haha hard cider for me and the roomie!!!


at the market there were horse and buggie rides!


the market was a huge circle of vender's...this isn't even half of it but you get the idea


Raw Cane Juice with ginger and sugar equals delicious!



it looked a little like lemonade...
 

and tasted better!


to save money...four of us shared the drink :)


here is the machine used to make the juice...you run the raw cane sugar stocks through one side and it flattens the cane and squeezes all the juice out...its pretty interesting

 
It was super hot outside...so we found some shade and a bench to sit and wait for the rest of the group to be done shopping

The group that waited in the shade for the rest to catch up at the market!

BSU group and the bus!

After spending some time walking around the market and shopping we headed to a barbie! We had hamburgers, hot dogs, and salad...not very Australian but nothing tastes American here. The Barbie was out at the Rocky Creek Dam and we got to go on a hike! Took some beautiful pictures and also got to see some wildlife up close.


Here is a map of the area and the finger is pointing to where we are at!


The Guana we saw right when we got to the Rocky Creek Dam


A view on our hike in the woods


another view of the swamp


Our hike was beautiful!


The group of hikers!


The dam



The world is so big! I am so happy and lucky to be able to travel the ends of the earth :)


multiple Guana's came back while we were eating...they are fascinating animals to watch


Chillin in a tree :)
On our way back to Lennox Head we stopped off at the waterfall again to cool off...the only problem was we only had fifteen minutes because some of the travelers with us needed to catch another bus back in Byron. We are hoping that we will get the time to spend an entire day at the falls but we have to talk to our professors about that first!
In the end it was a fun day! I enjoyed exploring new places and learning that every place is unique!