Here's some links to some more pictures also.
Manly and Art and About: https://picasaweb.google.com/114301813770586203479/Manly?authkey=Gv1sRgCKaBkNSru4qW6QE
Skydiving: https://picasaweb.google.com/114301813770586203479/Skydiving?authkey=Gv1sRgCP2fxKOZhs2MNw
Rafting: https://picasaweb.google.com/114301813770586203479/Rafting?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ3E3Onh366eeg
Snorkeling: https://picasaweb.google.com/114301813770586203479/Snorkelling?authkey=Gv1sRgCKmD4LCGi6GWNw
Other: https://picasaweb.google.com/114301813770586203479/SpringBreak?authkey=Gv1sRgCL_Wr5i5mIStUg

Spring Break!!!

Wow, it's been a while. A lot has happened. So here we go:

Woo! Spring break!! We flew into Gold Coast yesterday. It’s gorgeous. On the way to our hostel we passed Palm Beach and Miami. Right next to our place here is Vegas (restaurant and bar) and today we walked past long beach during our wanderings about the city. This was after our walk up the beach and mini golf at King Tut’s Putt Putt, but before our visit to Coldrock Creamery. It looked awfully familiar, but don’t recall ever going to a place called Coldrock. We then went to a Woolworths to grab some chicken and pasta to make for dinner. After dinner we went to

On Monday we went to a wildlife park in Burleigh Heads, just south of Gold Coast. It was a bit of a hike to get there, but it was a really cool site. We got there just in time for the snake show. It was mostly just a guy talking about the snakes, and he had a few to show us. We also saw a tree kangaroo talk and a platypus talk, as well as many other animals. 

Afterwards, we wandered around Burleigh Heads for a bit, and had an excellent dinner at Wahoo. That night we went to bed pretty early to get up for our early flight. We made it to the airport really early and got through security. We then had to go through customs since our flight was also a big transfer for an international flight to Japan. It was really bizarre, but there were no complications. When we got to town, we checked into our hostel and walked over to the lagoon where we met some people from Uni that were leaving in a few hours. We sat with them for lunch then saw them off. After that we just wandered around and did a little grocery shopping for the week to keep costs down. We had free dinner at one of the restaurants in town since we’re staying at the hostel.

Wednesday we got up early again to do a rainforest adventure. We got in a big van and picked up some other people, then drove north an hour or so to stop at a rainforest zoo. Saw lots of kangaroos and wallabies and koalas. It was pretty cool. We then drove a bit further and got out and wandered through the Daintree Rainforest a little. About an hour further up the road, over some mountains, we had lunch at a resort in a literal rainforest café and walked on the beach a little bit. There were some good climbing trees. After lunch we headed back south. We stopped for another quick walk through the rainforest, then at a scenic lookout to look out over the ocean. We then stopped for an hour-long river cruise where we saw a few crocodiles and a tree snake. We then drove back home and made dinner and watched some movies before bed.

Thursday we had a day off. We spent the day wandering around Cairns and hanging out at the Hostel. It was pretty uneventful. That evening we met up with some friends from England who live in Parklands

Friday we got up early again, this time for White Water Rafting in the Tully River. It was a two-hour drive or so to get to the top of the river. We got our life jackets on and got in the water. After a brief briefing of the rules of the raft, we went on our way. We rafted for a few hours, hitting a couple level 4 rapids. Towards the end of the morning half, the guide put us in the front of the boat and we went over a meter and a half tall waterfall. We all fell into the water and got stuck under the raft for a few moments of panic. It was totally awesome! We then stopped for a lunch of Aussie BBQ. We had a hot dog and burger on a bun with some coleslaw and beetroot. Top it off with some sweet chili sauce for a super savory sandwich of monstrous proportions. It was quite delicious.

The afternoon was full of more gentle rapids, but was still fun. I didn’t put on enough sunscreen at lunch so I got some wicked sunburn on my shoulder blades and the back of my neck. That evening we made more pasta and sat around and relaxed. The Saturday afterwards was another day off. We spent the day recovering from sunburns and colds by reading and movies and hanging out in Cairns. It was pretty relaxing.

We got up early again on Sunday to go out on the reef for some snorkeling. We ran into Ryan in line since he inadvertently signed up for the same trip. We spent the next hour playing go fish on the way out to the reef. I got a wetsuit for the day so that my sunburn wouldn’t get any worse. Once we got to the first dive spot we got to jump in the water. It was plenty warm and within a few seconds of getting in I saw a sea turtle. We spent a few hours swimming around there, enjoying the scenery and the bright coral and fish. After a few hours of that, we got back on the boat where we had another BBQ. This time they had some pasta salads and shrimp as well. It was another delicious and extremely filling meal. We took another hour boat ride to get to our second destination. We got back out and had another couple hours in the water. This trek was one of the most breathtaking things I’ve ever seen. That evening we rested up and went out for a couple drinks and another free dinner, then early to bed since Monday was skydiving day.

We got up early again to catch another bus to go out to Mission Beach for a skydive. It took a couple hours to drive out there, and then about a half hour wait for our group to be ready to go up. We got all our gear on and hopped in a van to take us to the airport. We saw a cassowary crossing the road on the way. Cassowaries are the most dangerous bird in the world. We got to the airport and spent another 20 minutes flying up to the 14,000 feet to get ready to jump. Once there the hatch was opened and the guy I was flying tandem with threw us out of the plane. The first sensation was deafening wind. Then I caught my breath and was able to enjoy the rest of the minute long free fall towards the ocean. The parachute was pulled after a minute of falling and we floated down for 4-5 minutes to land on the beach. It was the most exhilarating few minutes in memory.

Afterwards, Sarah and I went to a beachside café to get some lunch and hope our ears would pop so we could hear each other talk. Had some interesting, failed conversations about not being able to hear each other. It was funny. It took us an hour and a half to get our food, but it was really excellent. Then it was time to head back to Cairns to pack up and get ready for our early flight back to Sydney. We made it back to the Uni without a hitch and had a little welcome home party. I spent the next few days lazing around and recovering from all the excitement of break.

The Saturday after returning, we went to the Manly International Jazz Festival. Manly is a suburb on the north side of the harbour that you need to take a ferry to get to. It was quite a fun outing with lots of good music, good food, and good friends. We stopped and got some dinner and I had the best calamari of my life, then we stopped at a Coldrock for dessert.

Sunday was daylight savings day, so we lost an hour but Monday was Labor Day so we had the day off. That was bittersweet since I don’t have class on Monday anyway. What a waste of a day off of school…

We ended up going into the city on Monday evening to meet up with a German we met while rafting who had made her way down to Sydney for dinner. Tuesday was back to class. Nothing special happened. Wednesday we went to the city to walk around and experience Art and About, an international art festival on the streets of Sydney. It was a bunch of installation pieces throughout the city. It was pretty cool. After that we went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. I got the eel. It was really delicious!

Thursday was paper day. Spent most of the day in the library writing about the original War of the Worlds broadcast. Friday we had a birthday party for a couple of the guys in the parklands.

Saturday was a big day in the city. We had tickets for the Giuseppi Verdi Opera, Macbeth. It was an incredible experience. The words were in Italian, so it was hard to understand them. Luckily there was a translation above the proscenium so you can read along. Unluckily we were in one of the two rows where the balcony blocked the translation, so I just had to work off the synopsis and enjoy the other aspects, which I could see. Overall the show was phenomenal. The only aspect I wasn’t blown away by was the costuming. Particularly those of the Lady Macbeth. The costumes didn’t seem to fit together at all and most of Lady Macbeth’s dresses looked weird or didn’t seem to fit right. It was a little distracting, but the large set, awesome music, and lovely lighting made it an excellent show.

After the Opera, we walked to the Paragon Hotel for some BarCraft. This was really interesting. It was a bar filled with a bunch of people watching a sport. Everyone’s been there. The difference is this bar was full of nerds watching a live stream of the Global Starcraft Team League finals. It was really interesting and pretty intense.

After we made it back to Parklands and had some dinner, some people convinced me to go back into the city to hit up some pubs. We hit Hart’s Pub to get a paddle, which has 4 quarter-pints of beer. They were quite delicious and fairly inexpensive. Made it home and to bed around 2:30, only to get up at 6:30 on Sunday.

Joey and I got up early to help out a girl upstairs. She’s filming a short film and needed two guys to rough up a little Korean girl for her Vietnam flashback story. We spent the morning in the suburb of Cabramatta filming away. We had some Korean food for lunch then wandered through the marketplace there before heading home. And that was pretty much the end of the weekend.