12/31/2014

Damien guest blog to catch you up on the week. 

Happy New Year! Damo biked down a day later after celebrating his Dad's birthday. The following day we went scuba diving and saw lots of fish despite the choppy water. Maddie needed an Aloha bag but instead used the side of the boat. We also played lots of board and card games, including Rummikub, Ticket To Ride and 500. Other activities including long romantic walks on the beach (actually Maddie made me do 60+ Crunches so I made her run up enormous sand dunes haha), accidentally hitting golf balls into dams, and her first ever Aussie Surf-ari! She was really good and stood up on the board for at least 5 seconds ;) However the biggest highlight has been the endless quantities of food and wine! Maddie prepared a delicious choice of two pastas for everybody and then topped that off with a delectable chocolate cheesecake. Everybody wanted seconds and thirds! Clearly Americans make the best desserts! We are staying at a big house on the beach, so for midnight NYE we climbed up on to the roof deck so counted down and drank champagne :) unfortunately we have to head back to Melbourne in a couple of days - everything has been perfect: weather, friends and summer fun. Hope you are all celebrating in style. Best wishes for a happy and successful 2015!

12/27/2014

Day 2 at the beach house. I woke up earliest and had coffee while watching the ocean. Our morning was taken up with grocery shopping. So much food! After lunch we hit the rail trail. It is 6km from the house and goes for 16km. It is dirt track so not the best for my fancy bike. I rode down with everyone else and then back via the highway and an extended 10km. On the dirt track I got a flat which slowly leaked out over my ride home. Damien arrived around dinner time. Dinner was Ange and Dave tonight. They make delicious grilled vegetables and lemongrass beef. After dinner we played ticket to ride followed by more 500. Then we did a holiday gift exchange where we passed around discarded presents. I got glow sticks and Damien gave away a "go anywhere toilet" so much fun!

12/26/2014

On a beach vacation until new year. This morning I woke up cleaned a bit and grabbed all my things to leave. I caught the 10:25 train to Drouin about 100km south east of my house, then I rode the last 75km to Harmer's Haven. It was a beautiful ride, my bike didn't appreciate the quality of the road but it was lovely none the less. I arrived at 4pm and met the others who were already here. I am on vacation with justin, Svie, Ange, Dave, Dan, and Damien will be joining us tomorrow. 

Today we explored the house, went for a walk on the beach, and had beer can chicken for dinner. We have also started the game tournaments. This evening we played blockus and 500. 

Tomorrow promises more food, bike riding, and games.

12/26/2014

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah too... Since I missed blogging all Hanukkah. It gets dark so late here that I was doing Hanukkah candle right before bed instead of blogging. 

Things I have missed: I graduated on December 20th. I had 4 great graduation guests. I am going on a beach vacation with 6 friends for new year. We are heading to the beach tomorrow. 

Today I spent Christmas with Damien and his family. It was lovely. So much food, as expected. It was lovely to chat with them all day. 

12/11/2014

I feel like my life has been going non-stop for months now. Since about the time exams in April. Now, my days are still packed but I am really starting to realise that I am done with the DPT program and things are coming to an end. Some friends have started moving away back to where they are from or off to somewhere new. I found myself wondering for the first time today: How many of my classmates will I keep in contact with? 

I also have a big decision to make. Kat is moving out at the end of January, So I need to decide if I want to stay here or move somewhere else and if I want to live alone or find a housemate. Big questions. 

All whilst trying to clear my to do list. I am making very slow progress but I'm getting things crossed off. 

More work tomorrow and then cleaning on the weekend :)

12/8/2014

Happy birthday Dad! I know what I'll get you! A blog post! I'll write to you(and everyone else) for your birthday. You should feel special it's literally been months and I almost went to bed without doing it. 

So I'm trying to get several chores done. It doesn't seem like much but it took up my entire day and I still didn't cross much off my list. I am organising paperwork to get registered as a physiotherapist, organising visa paperwork, working on MBA assignments, organising myself for graduation guests, and various other small errands. My to do list fluctuates slightly but for everything I accomplish it brings up 2-3 more things to take care of. To make matters even funnier I need to make several phone calls and my neighbors are remodeling their kitchen. It's been a gamble if it will stay quiet long enough to make a call. 

So a little bit exciting: I went on a run today and did a workout at the park. It's lovely and sunny here. I went down to laksa king for dinner and it was just as delicious as ever. It was strangely quiet tonight so I had a chat with the owner about how I don't eat bean sprouts. 

And that's the day! Have a picture... Not of today but of another day.

9/22/2014

First day in my final placement today. It was a crazy day! It started with train problems. I was taking the train because my bike is getting fixed. The train got to 2 stops away from the hospital when we ran into trouble and it turned around and went almost back to the city. They booted everyone off the train. We thought that there were buses, there were, but it took them 45 minutes to arrive. Then it took a while to get to where I needed to be. My 8am start was suddenly transformed into a 10am start. Luckily I had classmates stopped by the train problems too so we all showed up late and went to orientation upon arrival.
After orientation I took the train over to the Repat. I met my supervisor, quickly saw the ward and then we went back to the Austin because they were short staffed.
We saw several patients but my supervisor had to leave by 2 so it was a short day. I was a little bit slow while writing my notes so I didn't have them finished by the time she left which meant that I had to ask Jo, the most terrifyingly brilliant PT in Australia, to look them over for me. She was super helpful but I was just anxious to leave. I of course feel bad about this because I was rushing a fantastic learning opportunity.
I got back on the train which was again delayed 15 minutes and met Damien in the city for lunch at 4. Not much of a lunch but I had a fritatta and hot chocolate and relaxed away all of the stress of the day. Well some of it. Then I came home and was worthless for the rest of the evening. Man, the first week of clinic is always so tiring and stressful.

9/18/2014

Today was the very last day of placement. Dave was relatively uninvolved but I got to treat 2 patients on my own and had plenty of coffee breaks. He left at 10:30 and I waited around until 12:30 to treat his last patient of the day before heading off. My left arm was vey sore so I had one of the Physios take a look at it for me. I think that I have a bit of a tear and as it is heeling, I am pushing it harder and it's just rebelling.
After clinic I met some classmates at the pub for an end of clinics lunch. It was great! Especially because most of our class was still in clinics :)
Thursday rock climbing as usual. Malaysian for dinner at Mamak. I had never been before. It was absolutely amazing! I will definitely be going back.

9/17/2014

I had a productive morning trying to get chores and papers done. They guideline deadline of Friday is quickly approaching. I started my last shift with Cory at 2pm. I picked up cupcakes from Mister Nice Guys bakery on the way. They are the Dairy free, soy free, gluten free bakery. Somehow they are able to create delicious master pieces with no allergens. Crazy! So I got a box of 12 cupcakes and one coffee scroll… Then I had to ride 4km to the clinic… Through the wind…on my bike that didn't have working brakes. Yikes! but I made it with minimal trouble and only 2 minutes late. The last day was good, I felt very involved, everyone loved the cupcakes and I got good end of placement feedback. Only 1 placement to go now!

9/16/2012

Finishing up my last week at physiohealth I had a productive day treating patients. I also gave a presentation on nerve palsys and discussed concussions. 

After clinic I did a study on cognition. The guy said that I had the best memory for lists he had seen. Yay power pegs! 

I also got my results back from a study I had done a week ago. Apparently I have very efficient glucose processing but I am homozygous dominate for a gene that has been linked to obesity, diabetes, uncontrolled eating, and rapid weight gain. Awesome...:/ I guess that just means that it is very important that I keep exercising and eating healthy. 

This evening I worked on my clinical guidelines appraisal. It's a painful assignment worth so little but causing significant headache. 

9/20/2014

Alright these are a little back dated but life's been stressful. 

I am pacing the Sydney Half-Marathon tomorrow, so Damien and I went up to Sydney at 6am. He is running the full Marathon very little training. We arrived in Sydney around 8am the first stop was the Marathon expo to pick up our numbers. Then the hotel to drop off bags. Circular Quay for breakfast and then we went to Manly beach planning to do a walk back toward the city. When we got there we decided to do a different walk up to north head, which was very beautiful. We stopped at a cafe along the walk for lunch. I had an incredible baked eggplant dish. Damien is learning that I absolutely adore eggplant.
We headed back and checked into the hotel. They upgraded us to the penthouse for free. It was amazing! Two story hotel room.
For dinner we went to Enmore where we had Faheem's Fast food, Pakistani restaurant and Cow and Moon Gelato. I thought that it was amazing. I specifically loved the affogato flavour.
Extra sleep makes happy Marathoners,  I fell asleep immediately upon coming back to the hotel.

Dear Abbie Damien was really trying to get you a birdy friend. 

9/15/2014

Clinics all day 8am till 8pm. I am finally getting back into the swing of this I got to treat several patients almost completely independently. It was a good day. I felt productive. Then home. Food. Sleep. Back in at 6am

9/21/2014

Sydney Marathon Day!
I woke up at 5 to get to the start line at 5:30. I guess I was a little bit late because by the time I got off the train everything was so packed that I had difficulty getting to where I needed to be.
Today I paced the half marathon. My goal time was 1:50. I had forgotten my watch but another pacer brought an extra for me. I was very appreciative. I really liked the watch. I'll have to put a new Garmin on my list of things to buy when I have money.
At 6:15 the race started and I was off. I was suppose to be running 5:12 per kilometre but with kilometre markers that were just slightly off of where they were meant to be and the tall buildings in Sydney messing up my GPS, I finished just a bit fast at 1:47.
After the race I went to the sydney striders tent where I enjoyed some cookies and fruit, while having a chat to some of the sydney runners. The marathon started an hour and 15 after the half, so I went back to the hotel, showered, did laundry, and checked out. Then I went back to the finish line and arrived about 20 minutes before Damien finished the full marathon. He was struggling a bit today and made 3:57.
At 12:30 we met some of Damien's friends in Sydney for lunch. We went to a northern China restaurant which had delicious curry lamb, cucumbers in vinegar, eggplant dumplings, and beef dumplings. So much food and it was absolutely delicious. We headed 6 blocks up to Messina the Gelato shop. The flavours of the day were amazing my favourite was carmalized mango.
We had a very lazy remainder of the afternoon lounging in the grass in the botanical gardens. We had a light dinner at the Opera house bar before catching a late flight back to Melbourne.

9/14/2014

Busy day today Starting with the farmer's market at 9am.  I needed to get bread for dinner. I also got a vanilla bean and some bagels. At 11 I went out with Damien and some of his friends to Yum Cha. Damien was not considering my allergies and invited me along which I thought was awesome because most everyone else is too scared to let me come along to Yum Cha. It was delicious. We started out with several things that I was allergic to but I had plenty to eat in the end.
After lunch we went to the Mexican festival at federation square. It was pretty cool but we became enthralled by a street performer and missed the majority of the festival as it was around the back of the building and was very very crowed. Before leaving I got a taco and added some death sauce. The death sauce came out of the bottle much faster than expected so the food was so spicy I cried. It took me about 5 minutes to recover from each bite and it continued to burn until dinner....but when it stopped hurting it was lovely. 
After mexican I went home to cook. I made garlic bread and Kat made Lasagna. We had friends over for dinner and a game of ticket to ride. It was good and Kat got her game back which they had borrowed over a month ago.

9/13/2014

Hey I tried out a new sport today!

At 7am I got up and drove an hour to Trentham, an hour north of Melbourne to do a 6 hour regaining event. http://vra.rogaine.asn.au 

Despite what you might think Rogaining is not competitive hair growth.  Rogaining is similar to orienteering except that it is a completely Australian sport where you look for the check points in teams.  Damien and I made a team of 2. As it was the first time either of us had done rogaining, we didn't want a large team but now that we know what it's all about, we will invite more people next time. We had a good day of bush bashing and using a compass. We scored very high with 1000 total points. However, we got stuck in thick bushes on the last checkpoint and didn't make it back until 45minutes after the event had finished, so we were disqualified. Luckily, we were still able to enjoy the food so we ate grilled cheese and chocolate milk until my stomach hurt. On the way home we stopped to see Trentham falls and sunset on Mt. Macedon.

9/12/2014

Friday was meeting day. I had meetings 9-5. All over campus… and then at starbucks. After the meetings were over I went shopping for outdoors supplies. I got the waterproof pants that I have been looking for….ON SALE! super excited. Then I went to the wrap up of the environmental film festival, A British movie called Planet Re:Think. It was pretty good. A tiny bot in accurate and they had a periodic table mistake but otherwise it was very good. Afterward there was a panel of experts that discussed local environmental issues and a party, where I had a dinner's worth of free pizza and popcorn. On the way home I took a detour to see one of Melbourne's most scenic bathrooms.

9/11/2014

Finished up clinic for the week 6-12 today. Then I headed into the city where I saw a future of digital printing display with Damien. It was super cool. If you can see, that is fabric with it's chemical structure printed in macro. Then Thursday evening rock climbing, I have taken it easier the past 2 weeks but I am feeling stronger and more agile recently. Korean for dinner. It was great.

8/27/2014-9/10/2014

My goodness I have been terrible recently. 

I have been super tired with clinics. I am working 8-8 and then 6-12 which means that I'm getting absolutely nothing done when I get home. Wait no I get some things done. I usually make dinner and get organised for the next day before falling into bed. 

Damien got back from Asia the beginning of September. It's been really nice to have him in Melbourne but it means that I have to squish even more into my day. 

Last night we went to the environmental film festival, which was interesting. 

I have still been running tons trying to get ready for the Sydney half in 2 weeks and the ultra marathon in a month. Sydney should be work but do able, the ultra is going to be hard. 

I have enjoyed clinic quite a bit more the past few weeks. I am following the clinical reasoning a bit better and getting to do much more of the treatment myself.  

8/25/2014-8/26/2014

I'm on placement at a private practice. Back to early mornings, long days, and no chairs. It's taken me a few days but I'm enjoying it. Both days I came home and went immediately to sleep. But I'm getting used to it so hopefully I'll be back at it by tomorrow. 

8/24/2014

Grand final day. Our footy team one the championship today. I started by getting a bagel. This time from glick's because I had a coupon. I got a large coffee and a bagel with cream cheese for only $3 which is absolutely unheard of around here. We played a close game but in the end we won by 2 goals. I was going to go back to the club to support the team but instead decided to go home and be productive. In 5 hours all I managed to do was clean my room and make lunch for tomorrow. I am disappointed that I didn't make more of an effort to support the team just to go home and waste the evening. Tomorrow is my first day in the private practice. How exciting!

8/23/2014

I had grand plans of ring productive today. I was only a little productive. I have done about 1/3 of the table that I need to do for the capstone project. Other than that I ran 36kms. It was gentle and slow but somehow I my legs still hurt. Very strangely they hurt at rest but not on movement. Oh well it's what I can expect from not keeping up with my training program. 

8/22/2014

There were not enough hours in the day between Thursday evening and Friday at 5. I finished reviewing all 15 articles, then I had a meeting for a project that I haven't started yet. Class for 2 hours. They showed us the put yourself in someone else's shoes video. https://youtube.com/watch?v=cDDWvj_q-o8

Somehow it seemed longer than it did last time I watched it. 

Then I did a psychology study. I was the control for something to do with autism. At 2:30 I met with my group and we went through the articles and compared/standardised our analyzes. We were working so late that we got kicked out of the building. 

Shortly after I got home Ange dropped by on her way to work. Somewhere in conversation I mentioned that I had never seen Bridget Jones' diary. So we scheduled an impromptu movie night once Ange finished work at 10:30. Lovely end to a stressful day. 

8/19/2014-8/21/2014

For the past 3 days I have been writing a paper and reviewing articles. I am actually blogging right now because I so brain dead from reviewing articles that i needed a break. 14 articles to review in 3 days. I'm only half done. On a more exciting note we had mock interviews today. Mine went fairly well. It amazes me the difference between the US and Australia it also amazes me how many of my classmates are still putting information from high school on their resume. I also submitted a job application this week. It's part time work in rural victoria. I really hope that I get it. It looks like a great job. 

8/18/2014

Oh man what a long day. I keep trying to skip the date ahead to tomorrow or next week but no luck it's still today and I have so many projects to do! I have a complex case that is due Friday. I thought that I was doing well but I re-read the criteria and now I'm way off again. I also had a full day of class with a capstone meeting at lunch. There is so much work to do. I came home and filled out a job application for a once monthly clinic in rural Victoria. I would absolutely love that position. Then I was right back to trying to finish this paper. I'm hoping to have it done by tomorrow evening so that I can focus on the remainder of the projects that I need to do this week. 

8/14/2014-8/17/2014

Before my sisters left on Thursday morning we went out to breakfast at a place called pepper that I have been meaning to try. I have been meaning to try it because the front window reads, "Hygienic Library" I was very intrigued what type of restaurant would have that painted on the front window.

It turns out to be a very delicious and very friendly place. I still don't know what it means though. After breakfast we rushed back and I took my sisters to the airport. As they speed through security, I ran the 15 home. Since they have left I have been trying to catch up on everything that I have been putting off over the past 3 weeks or so. Assignments, cleaning, buying groceries, cooking….Additionally, I have been talked into selling health care products with a friend for a few months. If you are interested or know anyone else who might be interested send them my way. http://maddiewellness.myitworks.com/

August 12

It was the best day ever! Ever! EVERRRRER. I (Abbie) met my soulmate! But we'll get to that in a minute. We woke up sorta late and, after some lazing about, left our delightful, beeping apartment for breakfast! We went to a nice little cafe called d'bar, located somewhere. There was a beach nearby! Rachel got a Tim Tam milkshake in order to cement her transformation into a Tim Tam. We shopped a little bit in an adjacent gallery/store, and then we went to an animal sanctuary! I was not super enthused because there wasn't a place to snuggle with birdies. But! When I was there, I met the best birdie in the whole hemisphere and my best friend in the universe (tied with Sammy bird). It was a male red tailed black cockatoo! I named him danger because he was black and red and handsome all over. As soon as I walked up to his aviary, he flew over to me and sidled up a branch to be right next to my face. Then we talked for hours, and I looked into his deep brown eyes and I knew things would never be the same again! Maddie and Rachel probably did some stuff, I don't know. Eventually I had to tear myself away from my new love because otherwise I would die in front of his enclosure. He followed me down the road for as long as he could! Our bodies parted but not our souls. Danger bird, I love you. 

8/11/2014

Today started off early because we were heading up to Tree Top Challenge and the Gold Coast. After about an hour drive and about twenty minutes of getting lost we arrived at the Tree Top Challenge. When then had to be put into harnesses, for insurance reasons, before we could get climbing. The first track, the green track, was full of lots of super slow people and was not nearly enough of a hallenge for iron Maddie. We eventually made it through to the red course, which had significantly less people but was sill super easy. Then came the black path. It was awesome! It was the challenge I had been dreaming of as I went through the first two snoozefests. Meanwhile Abbie went on a walk and literally ran face first into a snake. By the time we were all back together it was already 1 o'clock, and I was much desirous of our lunch picnic. It was wonderfully delicious except there was a gross caterpillar that made us change venues to the trunk of he car. After the picnic we headed down to the Gold Coast and the beach! The water was pretty cold but I am told it got better the longer you were in it. I(Rachel) was just as cold when I left as when I got in, but Abbie and Maddie spent lots of time in the water and waves. After we got told there were strong currents and

we got out because the shallow parts aren't as fun, we went back to our 21st floor serviced apartment to wash the sand off. That night we headed to a small "vegetarian" restaurant that was really a Chinese restaurant. The food was good and the cheapest meal we've had while in Australia. After dinner we returned to our home for the night and there was a mysterious beeping. We never figured out where from, but it didn't keep us that night. 

8/10/2014

Today we flew up to Sunny Queensland. It was about a 3 hour flight, but Maddie and I(Rachel) played sandwich stacker and scoops to pass the time before taking a short nap near the end of the flight. Once we arrived we took a short train ride and had a short walk to get to our living arrangements. It is a decently sized apartment in a building with an upper and lower apartment that the owner seems to be using as a mini hotel. After dropping our baggage off we went in search for lunch and wound up at a cute cafe called spoons. We all got milkshakes and decided it would be a great place for breakfast tomorrow. After lunch we stopped at a small grocery for fruits, bread, and some jams for a car picnic. We then headed back to the apartment until we decided to head into the city proper for dinner. We walked around the city a bit then along the river where we had dinner. By this point it was decently late, so we headed back to go to bed since we have to get up decently early tomorrow to head down to the Gold Coast. 

8/09/2014

Today we all had to get up bright and early(5:00am) so we could make it to the airport for our flight to Hobart. The flight was fairly short, but I(Rachel) was super tired and slept from take off to landing. Once we got to Hobart we took the MONA Roma into town. The driver was very kind and let us stop off at our hotel to drop off our luggage before driving us to the pier to pick up more potential customers. While we waited Maddie ran over to the Salamanca Market and bought a lovely skirt. After Maddie's incredibly short trip to the Market and the driver found out that he did not have any other passengers, we drove over to MONA or the Museum of Old and New Art. The museum was built bunker-style into the ground and the largest floor was the on the bottom. There was, as the name suggests, a lot of interesting old and new art and some not so interesting new art. After exploring the bottom floor of the museum, we stopped by the cafe and had some hot beverages and a delicious giant palmier. My hot chocolate was adorable and came with one marshmallow on a spoon. After our little snack we explored  the rest of the museum, except for the death gallery, then headed up to the surface for lunch at the wine bar beside MONA. When lunch was over we headed back into MONA to stand in line to get into the death gallery, but as we were waiting the fire alarm went off and everyone had to file outside. We spent a while outside watching quails, ducks, and chickens until we could go back inside to see the last part of the museum we missed. The death gallery looked a lot like a part of a Zelda dungeon and held a sarcophagus along with a short animation of what the different layers of the man in the sarcophagus looked like. We then left the museum and took the ferry back to Hobart proper. We walked around a bit before stopping at a wonderful cafe, Daci and Daci, for some sweet treats and returning to our hotel. When we got back to the hotel Maddie did homework, Abbie read her book, and I felt like my face was on fire. I'm not entirely sure what caused it, but that didn't stop me from having way too much food at dinner. We went to The Duke for dinner. The food, though we probably got too much for three people, was very good; however, the service was very slow. I did not really mind the slow service though because I was having wonderful conversation with the two lovely ladies I was dining with.  

8/4/2014-8/8/2014

Sorry we've been so bad about getting blog posts up this week. We have been running around Melbourne seeing sights and by the time we get back in the evening we just fall into bed. The week started off with a trip to the National Gallery of Victoria. There was a lot of beautiful pottery and china, but otherwise the most interesting part of the museum was a special samurai exhibit. After the gallery we had a quick sushi lunch then strolled around Melbourne Central and other surrounding shops before heading off to Chin Chin for dinner. Once we were finally seated, after a one and a half hour wait, we got some lovely tea a lot of spicy, delicious food. While we were waiting for Chin Chin we stopped by the Croft Institute where I ordered my first drink that tasted vaguely like robitussin, but the bar was old-school chemistry lab themed so I enjoyed the atmosphere. Tuesday started off with a trip to the Queen Victoria Market. We spent a few hours walking around looking at the various stalls and what they had to offer before walking down to D.O.C. for a lovely Italian lunch. After we were full of delicious pasta we stopped at Koko Black for some delicious chocolate. That night we took a short drive down to a hot spring where we soaked in the hot water, steamed in a Turkish steam room, and had $2 messages in the relaxation room. It was a wonderfully relaxing evening even though the hot spring was fairly crowded for winter. Even though we got back late from the hot springs we were up again bright and early to go to the Hillsville Animal Sanctuary. There were lots of big and little birdies along with koalas, kangaroos, and dingo puppies. That night while Maddie was at work we(Rachel and Abbie) went to the Eureka Skydeck in the Eureka Tower which offered some beautiful views and the highest publicly available toilet in the Southern Hemisphere. After the tower we met up with Maddie for a wonderful dinner of dumplings and bao at Supernova. Thursday was a big travel day again. We had to travel quite a bit because we wanted to go to the beach. It was about an hours worth of traveling by a combination of train and tram, but we eventually made it there. The beach was shockingly warm and surprisingly crowded for winter. That night was rock climbing at Hard Rock, an indoor rock climbing gym. It was super fun, but made my(Rachel) arms super tired. After we were all climbed-out we went to a wonderful Korean restaurant for bimimbab and hotpot. Friday was a bit of a lazy day. We got up late and did not really get around to doing anything until we played Ticket to Ride with Kat. That night we headed over to the Glenferrie Tea House to watch a tea ceremony. We arrived about an hour too early for the ceremony, so we stopped by a tapas restaurant just down the street for dinner before tea. The food was pretty good, but the service was a bit lacking. The tea ceremony was short and sweet and not entirely what we were expecting, but we got to sample a lovely red tea. After tea we made a quick stop at Dessert Story for fruity

shaved ice before heading home and packing for Hobart.  

Sunday, August 3rd

Today started out pretty bad. We got up super early(before sunrise) to see sunrise at the twelve apostles. It was very beautiful but very cold. After sunrise we went back to our cottage to pack up but we mostly layed in bed for a while. Then it was back to the twelve apostles to take pictures since our phone died earlier. The apostles were still lovely, but unfortunately I(Rachel) didn't feel so good and had my breakfast revisit me. After that I wasn't super up to doing much else  . We saw a few more sights then stopped at a small cafe for breakfast. We all got variations on toast and hot comforting beverages(tea and hot chocolate). We then drove to the Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve. I was feeling much better at this point, and we spent an hour walking around looking at the scenery and searching for bird friends. We saw a superb fairy wren and emu! After our walk we piled back in the car for the journey to Melbourne and Laksa King. Once we were inside and seated we got some delicious drinks and vegetarian and duck laksa. It was glorious! For those not familiar with laksa it is a coconut based noodle soup with Malaysian and Chinese flavourings. After eating laksa until we were human shaped laksa vessels, we made a quick stop at the grocery store before heading home and promptly falling asleep. 

8/2/2014

Guest bloggers Abbie and Rachel here! Taking over for Maddie who has been a little slow on updating. Before starting our adventure down the great ocean road today, we stopped in Geelong at Winter's  cafe. We had lamington(?) waffles which was coconut flavored with cherries, hazelnut pancakes with chocolate ice cream, and duck roti with chips. We also tried to go in a dress store down the street from the cafe, but everything was super fancy and expensive. Afterwards we set off down the great ocean road. We stopped at a lot of beautiful vistas to take pictures, a lighthouse, and a short trail that lead to Sheoak falls. Along the way we also saw a flock of cockatoos, so of course we had to pull over and take a few pictures. The falls were quite beautiful when we got there, but we had to wade through a rather large puddle to get there. The hike otherwise was pretty dry except for some mist by the falls. After the falls the road got very curvy, and we got very carsick, which ruined Maddie's wonderful dinner plans. We instead got take-out pizza and watched Frozen. All in all today was a pretty great second day in Australia. I can't wait for our adventures tomorrow!

7/20/1014-7/23/2014

At 5am on Sunday we left for Lombok, Indonesia. We flew Silk air and got entrance to the Virgin Gold lounge which was pretty cool. The flight was very nice. We had nice blankets and pillows and some of the best airplane food that I have ever tasted. I got vanilla pancakes with peaches. We landed in Lombok and had to haggle to get a taxi. I'm very happy Damien was there because I probably would have made a mess of it. We had a 2.5 hour drive up to Senaru, a village at the base of Mt. Rinjani where we were staying. The car was hot, the roads were windy, the driving was questionable so I spent an hour with my head in an aloha bag, then I threw up, then I spent the rest of the ride trying to keep my stomach calm. I hear that we passed some very beautiful places but I missed many of them. When we finally got to the hotel, the driver changed the price and charged us an extra $10. We had lunch at the hotel that I picked at for a while. Then we went to find someone to take us up the mountain. I was confident that we could do it solo but Damien decided to be more reasonable, so we found a guide and porters. We chose green Rinjani, they are a little bit pricy but a great value. After we had organised the hike we had a few hours before dinner so we went to find the waterfalls. We were stopped on the path by someone charging entrance fees so we turned around and found a path around him. The waterfall was beautiful and very refreshing it splashed at least 15 feet into the air. We had dinner with the trekking company and discussed the details of the hike. The noodles they gave us were delicious, little did we know that we would be seeing many more of them.
Mt. Rinjani Day 1: We woke up around 6:30 to pack and eat breakfast before pus bus left at 7am that went to Sembalum a village on the east side of Rinjani(a volcano). We walked for a few hours, then stopped to plant a tree.
We walked a bit further and stopped for lunch. Then I sped ahead and left the guide trailing behind as we reached our camping spot for the night at around 3pm, way before the porters were ready for us. Dinner was absolutely delicious and the views were amazing.

Mt. Rinjani Day 2: We work up at 3am to make the summit by sunrise. It was quite steep and on fine  volcanic ash which slipped under your feet.  Damien found the climb very hard, I found it much easier but when I tried to push myself I got a bit light headed so I kept an even pace.

Once we were at the top he did much better than me. He got all the pictures while I huddled under a space blanket.


The sunrise was amazing and we stayed for a bit before sliding down the hill. You couldn't quite bum slide but it was nice to slide down. Hiking poles made it feel just like skiing. Back at camp we had second breakfast before continuing to crater lake. The trek down was steep and rocky. We made it to the lake and had a relaxing swim in the water which was around 10degrees C.

 When we got out of the water the weather turned cold and I was back under the space blanket as we ate lunch. After lunch we went to the sulphur springs they were a perfect 38 degrees C. We happily stayed for an hour and a half before climbing back up to the top of the crater rim where we camped for the night.
 The day was only 11.5km of hiking but it was definitely tough. At camp we had  dinner, watched the sunset and were asleep by 8pm.
Mt. Rinjani Day 3: They told us that we needed to be on the road by 7am. We were ready by 7:30. luckily we go fast and don't require much rest. I was zipping down the mountain enjoying myself jumping over rocks and zooming around corners. At one point I let the others get a bit ahead of me while I took off an extra layer, knowing that I would catch up quickly. As I was sprinting to catch up I tripped on a root and hurt my shoulder. I thought about calling out for help but I realised that it wasn't too serious and that I was also the best qualified to manage it so I took a minute to collect myself and continued on my way. I whined about my shoulder the rest of the trip but realistically it is healing well and I should be back to normal by next week.


We had a one stop for biscuits and 1 stop for lunch but were back in Senaru by 12pm.

We collect all of our belongings and headed in a SUV out to the harbour where we took a ferry to Gili Trawangon.