Toowoomba

Upon leaving Brisbane, we headed to Toowoomba to stay with my friend Laura who I met last year in Canada while she was on NET. We visited a couple really cool places, like Sugar Maples, a Canadian cafe with aaaamaaazing peanut butter and chocolate frappes! We also went for a picnic in the park and the city's Christmas light extravaganza. It reminded me of attending the Wildlights growing up, except here it was plus 25 with no snow!
Another night we put on some Christmas carols and decorated the tree and the rest of the house, which really put us in the Christmas spirit.
Was a pretty chill couple of days, but Laura and her parents were so good to us - they even spoiled us with little Christmas gifts! We left so loved! I got an ornament, a red star that says 'JOY' on it in big, white letters. It now hangs on my backpack!

We really loved Toowoomba, but mostly cause Laura was there.

Fraser Island!

After our unreal experience on our sailboating tour, we needed a few days of R&R. Hence, we called up our buddy Mick, from Brissy, and were able to stay with his sister in Rock Hampton for a couple days to recoup. We spent a whole day watching season 5 of Gilmore Girls - not quiteeee the whole season, but close! Hahaa. We also had some solid beach time. Was exactly what we needed before taking a night bus to Rainbow Beach, the coastal town across from Fraser Island.
We had heard Fraser Island, largest sand island in the world, was beautiful and we'd seen the pictures to prove it, but our experience even better than I imagined. Our tour consisted of 30 of us, plus Karl, our 'Captain' (or guide, as some might say). We were lucky enough to stay at a resort while we were on the island, most tours camp on the beach (and hope the Dingo's don't eat them!). Day 1 we went to the Champagne Pools for a quick dip, then Indian Head lookout, 360 degree lookout where we could see Turtles and Manta Rays! Sometimes you can see sharks from above too!
Day 2, November 29th, was my quarter birthday! We were hanging out with some people we met from another tour (some fellow Canadians!) around midnight, so Jennine told them it was my 1/4 birthday, and they all started singing to me. Was a great start to the day! We headed to Lake McKenzie early on, a freshwater lake with ridiculously soft sand. Karl's tours always have this competition to see how many times they can keep a volleyball up in the air. The record was 158, the lowest scor
e was 19. Thankfully, after a while of trying, we finally hit 93! Pretty decent. After lunch we headed to see the Maheno Shipwreck, which washed up on Fraser Island in 1935. After some photos, we headed to Eli Creek, and floated down a couple times - I felt like a crocodile. We played some legit volleyball on the beach!SO FUN! Met a couple Danish guys, whom we ran into at our hostel later on, one of which we noticed had a super swollen ankle. We thought maybe it was a sports injury of sorts, but soon discovered he got bit by a SNAKE. Yeah. Intense (just to freak you all out a little ;)  I also got to drive the SUV, on the right side! First time everrrr. Was definitely the best quarter birthday I've ever had!
Day 3 we headed to this sahara-sized sand dune (maybe that was an exaggeration) with a lake (Lake Wabby) on one side, which is slowly evaporating. It likely will be entirely gone in about 5 years.
Headed on back to the mainland after lunch.

It's been super cool running into multiple people over and over again from destination to destination. I feel like I know people everywhere we go! It's great!

Each time we go to a new town, experience new things, we leave thinking things can't get any better... and then they DO! hjfdfguguifhaefheuiaelhfhdaugudfhdhfr
JUST LOVING LIFE. I feel so blessed to have had the experiences I've had so far. Day after day, I fall for 'Straya a little more. Weirdest thing ever... it's December. Christmas is in 20 days. It is SUMMER. The shops are all decked out with Christmas decor, but since the ground isn't covered in a blanket of white, my brain is so CONFUSED. Although, we listened to Michael Buble's Christmas album this morning, so that helped.

Just watched Finding Nemo, we spent the entire movie going "OMIGAWSHHHHH! THEY LOOK EXACTLY LIKE THAT IN REAL LIFE!", "Hey! I touched Crush!", or "I SAW GIL UP CLOSE!" was really funny. I'll never be able to watch that movie in the same way again.

Kay. I'm done blabbing now,

Continue on enjoying your lives.

Much love and prayers!

-Silks (the name I often go by now, cause 'Silken' is too complex! ...yeah. I know.)

Samurai Sailboat Tour - Whitsunday Islands

Sailing on the Whitsunday Islands was definitely at the top of my list of 'must sees' while in Australia. We booked a 3 day, 2 night tour on Samurai. There were 23 passengers, plus 3 crew members. The boat definitely wasn't huge, so it's a good thing we all got along. We slept on the boat both nights - me, Jennine and Sarah were especially lucky cause we got the spacious three person bed (basically a queen size). We felt so bad cause these two French guys had to share a "2 person" bed, comparable to a single bed (they ended up taking turns sleeping on the deck).
We got to go scuba diving again! (my first time was on the Great Barrier Reef). We saw so many cool fish and choral! My feet seem to consistently take a beating, this time I rubbed up on some choral (which, little did I know, is often made up of a thousand little knives), I thought I might have to amputate my toe, but thankfully one of the crew members, Shawn, graciously took time to carefully pull out all the little prickles. Praise God. Relief.

Day 2 we went to Whitehaven Beach, which has the worlds whitest sand! Seriously, the sand feels like flour between your toes. It's unreal. We spent the morning there - saw some Sting Rays and little sharks in the shallow water swimming right beside us. Honestly though, it felt like I was in a postcard. We climbed up on some rocks to gaze out upon the breathtaking view. We exfoliated our skin with the sand, and Sarah scrubbed her teeth with it (me and Jennine thought they were joking about that, but apparently it's a real thing).
Day 3 we got to snorkel with TURTLES! Another thing to cross off my list! It was such an epic experience, I even got to touch it! We had brunch then headed back to Airlie Beach *sniff*. I looooooved our time on Samurai, we had amazing weather (though not much wind for sailing), met some beautiful people, and the crew was hilarious. Couldn't have been better! You need to go to the Whitsundays.