Lismore Flood

We had some huge storms roll in off the coast and heavy rain settled in for nearly 3 days in Lismore. The wind gusts were up to 60mph and the creek flowing through downtown Lismore busted, overflowing into the street and soccer fields. Water in the street was over 4 feet high.

My house is safe & dry. We are located on top of a hill so there was no chance of us getting flooded but I was still apprehensive as I've never experienced a true flood before!

The rain has subsided for now and most of the water has been cleared from downtown and nothing but sunshine from here on out (I'm hoping). Here are some pictures of the aftermath!

Main street heading into the CBD

People floating on the water, car is submerged!

This WAS a soccer field!

Conversations with an Australian, Pt. 5

Australian: "Do you have to make deviled eggs to join a sorority?"
Me: "Is this a joke?!"

And the Winner is...

DEVILED EGGS!!! (start cheering, applauding, woo-hooing now)

I thought, why not make the one thing I've made for almost every Thanksgiving since middle school? And when I asked the Aussies if they've ever had one, they looked at me dumbfounded so there you have it! The picture up top for some reason won't let me rotate but that is my lecturer, Baden and my eggs. Please tilt your head to the left now.

This is my class. Countries represented in this photo: Australia, Spain, China, Japan, Germany, and of course, USA! I am going to miss this class very much because it taught me a lot about Australia and its history as well as the acceptance of other cultures around us. I learned so much from all of these people and I am so glad I got this experience. Thank you!

American Food-- Suggestions?

I am having my last lecture and tutorial for the course Australia, Asia, and the World this week. The final paper (that I already finished thank you very MUCH!) is due on Friday and then the class is officially over for the semester. So each tutorial we always bring in snacks to share with the class, makes things a bit more relaxed and let's people talk more openly about topics. Yeah food is pretty powerful in our class.

So for our last tutorial our teacher has asked us to bring in a dish that is uniquely tied to our country. What on earth can I bring food-wise that is represented by the United States? Please leave comments and let me know, I need some help with this one! Think American!

Race Day

What happens when you take Southern Cross uni students to a horse race with free drinks? Lots and lots of madness! Once each year, race day occurs and uni students take over the turf. We get dressed up and cheer on for those ponies. See it for yourself, our own "Kentucky Derby" in Lismore.

Conversations with an Australian, Pt. 4

Australian: "Peanut butter and bread, that is so American."
Me: "Well I would've added jelly but I didn't have any."
_______________________________________

Australian: (reading my t-shirt) "Is that a sorority? Gamma Phi Beta?"
Me: "Yeah, it is."
Australian: "Oh cool, so what's it like? Do they actually hit people to make you join?"

Whitsundays and the greetings from Grandpa

Proof that Grandpa Wallis indeed sailed with me: First of all, getting onto the plane from Brisbane to Proserpine, I am sitting in a middle seat with Trace to my right and an empty seat to my left. An elderly gentleman comes to sit down next to me in the aisle seat and as I'm adjusting in my seat to give him some room, I see that his hands are identical to Grandpa's. And granted I was twelve when Grandpa passed, but I remember those hands. And once we're in Airlie Beach, Keri, Trace and I sit at a bar where we discuss our life stories. Keri is in the U.S. Navy. And was stationed in California. Do you believe in coincidences? Because I don't. You may take this as just a "coincidence" but I like to think this was Grandpa's way of saying "hey girl, I'm right here with you!"

Now aside with my contact with the 'other side', the islands are amazing. Our Captain Chris told us stories underneath the stars of how he's been stuck in the middle of the ocean with an approaching hurricane and how he's made a hut on a Samoan island. Talk about intense! The two skippers, Gemma 1 & 2 were so entertaining. Gemma 1 is from Scotland and she knew so much about the islands and put up the sails with an effort from me and some volunteers. Gemma 2 a.k.a Duckie is a kiwi and is the craziest person I've met from NZ. She made delicious dinners for us and told us about Elvis the fish which we got to see when we snorkeled later that day.

The beaches, islands and wildlife are so indescribable! We saw so many dolphins and sea turtles, and on the last day on the Reef, I got to swim with a sea turtle! The scuba diving was great, the coral reefs tower over you and I felt like I was in an episode of Planet Earth. These reefs with colors so bright- orange, purple, pink, red, white. These are things humans were never supposed to see. Whoever invented the concept of scuba diving: thank you.

Airlie Beach

The hostel we stayed at in Airlies called Beaches

Welcome to Paradise

Me and my Navy girl, Keri!

Whitehaven Beach, softest & whitest sand in the world!

Lookout point down onto Whitehaven

Our boat, the British Defender a.k.a The Defy!

Getting ready to put up the sail on the grinders