Week 8!

I have been incredibly busy this past week, doing papers and course work for midterms.  Yes, I actually do have school work to do here… on occasion.  So thats the reason for this super late post!

This weekend I went camping! Yep you heard that right, I slept in a tent in the wilderness! well, not quite the wilderness, we set up camp just behind some dunes on North Noosa beach!  As many of you know I am not really the outdoorsy type, and was a little reluctant when I heard there would be no bathrooms or showers, but it turns out that camping on the beach is 10x better than camping in the woods.  Mekila, her husband Nick, set this entire weekend up for me, I can't thank them enough for everything they have done for me since I've moved to Australia! They have been a godsend since I've been here!  We started our trip bright and early on Friday morning at 6:30 and packed up the trucks, along with their couple friends and that couples kids, and we were headed up north!






There were lots of interesting places to see along the 2 1/2 hour drive up the coast.  The thing that still gives me a good laugh is the names of the towns, seriously they sound like fictional places.. imagine introducing yourself like Hey Im Ali I'm from Wagga Wagga… I kid you not there is an actual town in New south wales named Wagga Wagga. Cant make this stuff up.









Once we got to the beach we had to do some 4 wheel driving on the beach to get to our camp site.  I was pumped about it because I love off roading!  We did some major off roading on Saturday, though unfortunately the trail was incredibly rough and Mekila was feeling sick from it :( Thankfully enough when we got to the paved road she started feeling better.

As you can see, we were just off the beach! Such a prime location.  There was zero cell reception, which I was kind of freaked out about, but in a way it was really nice to not be glued to my phone every second like I normally am.  I got some sunshine, finished my book, played with the kids and just enjoyed everyones company without any distractions.

 Nick is pretty handy, and installed a grill right into the back of his truck.  Pretty incredible, Ive never seen anything like it in my life! We had every meal on the grill and I was loving it! Had some hamburgers the Aussie way… which was close to impossible to eat.. seriously the amount of stuff they load onto their burgers is a bit excessive haaha.  I also tried something called a Jaffrey, which is basically a home-made hot pocket…. lets just say.. if I could eat one of those things every day, I would.

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Nothing  better than a bonfire on the beach.

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On Saturday we went to Rainbow beach! 

At first it didn't look like much.. When people say Rainbow beach you think the sand is just all multi colored all along the water. Not the case. The multi colored sand was all up in the cliffs and you needed to climb up a little ways to get to the good stuff. Honestly that was half the fun :)

 Racing up the sand dunes.

Black sand was probably my favorite, I've never seen anything like it!

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Sunday was a day of firsts! Though I was very nervous, Nick insisted that I drive the 4x4 on the beach!  It was a LEFT hand drive, AND a manual…. I was terrified! But I had so much fun and Im glad I got to experience it at least once while being down here!

Unreal concentration right here.

Seriously, can't believe Nick trusted me with his truck, after my driving history…

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Oh hey its a Goanna..

This big fella came to check out our campsite on Sunday.

I couldn't believe it just walked right past us!  Ive only seen them on the crocodile hunter! At that to the list of dangerous animals I've encountered on my trip down under.

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Im going to wrap this post up because its long overdue and I could honestly go on and on with all the things we did this weekend.  I am so thankful to have friends like Mekila and Nick that want me to really experience all of what Australia has to offer! 

Until next time

xoxo

-A