Jet Lagged

I sit here, writing this as I fly across the Pacific ocean. Back to the familiar: my friends, my family, my home, my reality. I spent the past 225 days overseas, primarily in Australia, but also a couple weeks in New Zealand. It was my dream. As a 7 year old child watching the Olympics in Sydney, something about Australia caught my attention. About a year later, 'Survivor: the Australian Outback' aired on TV. Not only did this start my Survivor obsession, it fed my desire to one day visit Australia. As I grew up, that desire grew and grew into the dream of all dreams. When I was 14 I went on a family trip to Europe, the excitement and constant adventure brought me so much joy, and that's really where my extreme love for traveling began. Mix it all together, you have the recipe for the #1 item on my bucket list: explore and live in Australia. 

I had met a few Aussies within the past few years at home, and they just added to the intrigue, not only did the place sound epic, I knew the people WERE epic! Maegan Williams was my first Australian friend, I originally met her through mutual friends at a party in 2013 but a few months later she was staying at my house as a missionary on NET. We hit it off. She gave me a hair wrap and I hoped it'd never fall out! Throughout the year  we sent each other letters, and once she returned to Australia, emails. In the spring (March) 2015, I decided if I didn't get into school (College) I'd go to Australia. When I told my Mom this, she cried. "You're gunna go there and find a boy, get married and never return!" I laughed about that. Since all my mail from the school was going to my parents house, my mom found out the result of my application before I did. I got wait listed. She didn't tell me for a few days.  When i finally found out, I was SO EXCITED! Maegan was the next to know - I was finally going to fulfil a dream that started when I was a little kid. I had never been more sure about a  such a decision before.

I invited a couple friends to join me on my radical adventure: Sarah and Jennine decided to grace me with their presence. 

Jennine and I arrived in Sydney on October 18th, 2015 (we met up worth Sarah in Brissy later). We spent our first week staying at Maegan's house - we instantly fell in love with the South Sydney community, and from then on I'd planned on living there for a few months after all our gallivanting was done. And it was so. I scored the BEST possible host family to stay with, getting my fix of delicious Asian cuisine, as well as some rock hard abs from all the silent laughing. I made some of the best friends a girl could ask for, going adventuring every weekend and having solid D&M's - conversations you can only have in a 'safe place'.

Dehydration 4 Lyf, you made me feel so welcomed from the moment we returned to Sydney, the nachos and Oatley Pub experience was one to remember :)

After all was said and done, and it came time for JinJin and I to say our goodbyes, you - the people I care so deeply about - threw us the best,  most shocking, heartfelt, EPIC surprise farewell party possible. I felt so loved. Even if you had to disappoint me in the process, cancelling all previously spoken about goodbye parties, I forgive you - this party definitely made up for it ;) Kudos to all of you for keeping the secret!

Today I'm flying back to Canada, had a layover in Sydney enroute. As we flew in I could spot Cronulla, the Shire, and had a good sense where Mortdale was - they announced 'Welcome to Sydney!', but my heart sank... knowing I was so close to all my Aussie friends, but so far. What a tease. As we departed, I felt like I had to say goodbye all over again - for real this time... back to the northern hemisphere, the true north strong and free, the land of Timmy's and PEROGIES!

This trip was literally a dream come true, I imagined it would be amazing, but I couldn't have anticipated it being anywhere as good as it was. I will keep all the memories close to my heart, for they will be a smile on my face that is incomprehensible to everyone else. 

I love you all, and miss you more than you know! 

Camellia Gardens

The day before our epic adventures in the wilderness, I had an interview with a job agency in the City. The basis of the job would be traffic stopping people in department stores trying to promote/sell fragrances. It was the farthest I had got so far with job applications, so I pursued it, although from the start I was pretty leery about it. After a group interview of 14 people, I was convinced I was the lease qualified person there and didn't expect to be called back for a second interview. Well, lo and behold they asked me to come back and offered me the job! I decided they just wanted me 'cause I'm foreign and have an accent since 5/6 of us were from abroad. After learning about everything that was required of me for this position, I didn't even have the honeymoon of being excited. Plus, there were meticulous grooming standards, none of which I approved of.

After my first day, I went home and ranted about how awful it all was and that I'd finish the 3 shifts they had given me for the week, but after that, I was DONE. And I was serious. Tom (my host dad) found the whole thing hilarious, thinking I was just being terribly dramatic. But it was that bad. After day two, I got a call from the agency asking me to cover 3 more days the following week, I was trying to find excuses to decline, but I had a weak moment and gave in.

I had mentioned to Pete I was in need of some solid fun times after my first few days of pure torture, so that weekend he arranged to go for brunch at the Camellia Gardens Teahouse in Caringbah. Everyone was interested to hear about my new job, so I gave them the DL... but they were not very compassionate. I told them I had to cake my face with make up wearing bright red lip stick and smokey eye make up, slick my hair back into a pony tail and wrap the elastic with hair to hide it, and wear 2 inch heels. They were like "So basically you're a model and you're complaining about it." Raaaaaaage! Ahhhh! Nobody understood. My mom had called me to video chat after a shift one day and she didn't even recognize me... that's how different I looked.

Sarah, Mae, Pete and I at the Camellia Gardens.

Anyways, the Camellia Gardens were gorgeous. After we had a bite to eat we went for a stroll through the park. There were geckos crawling across the foot path, ducks and geese in the streams, and jovial cries of laughter from deep within our chests. Johno, Sarah, Maegan Pete and myself decided to continue the party in Cronulla at the Simon's apartment unit. We talked about all the things we could do, but ended up just hanging out and talking for most of the arvo. Eventually we ventured out to the beach and rock hopped along the ocean. It was the perfect remedy for a rough past couple days. We eventually decided on a cuisine for dinner, and got noodle bowls from Thai Face. I tried 'Pad See Ew' for the first time, no regret! Was delish. Sarah had gone to Mass, but joined up with us again after dinner as we headed back to the unit. We played a quick game of Smegal and headed home before too late. It was exactly what I needed: good friends and fun times :)

Rock hopping in Cronulla.

Valley of the Fireflies - Part 2

Day two rolled around after a long night, I couldn't fall asleep in the tent cause it was so hot, so I ended up sleeping outside under the stars. It's so weird to think there's no bears here that'll eat you in the night, just snakes and spiders, but somehow those seem less terrifying.

I woke up to the snapping of twigs and crackling of fire, Pete had wasted no time. When Jess got up she explained how when she woke up she thought since I wasn't in the tent that I had fallen down the cliff in the middle of the night and died. So she was happy to see that I was alive.

We made brekkie: bacon, eggs, and toast buttered with avo! You're probably wondering how we managed to get eggs all the way down the canyon, being jostled about the whole way. Well, to be honest, a couple broke... but only 2/24! While we cleaned up, Chris read Lord of the Rings aloud - LOTR was definitely the theme of our trip; the topic of many conversations, the theme song and the card game we played (Smeagol).

We headed to the waterfall by mid morning, it was a gorgeous day, perfect for more adventuring - this time without our backpacks :) At one point we were following the leader, and after scoping things out we came to a place that looked pretty suss. I went to slide down a rock, to jump on to another, but I

lost my balance and grabbed a tree branch, but it snapped... leaving me to fall about 10 feet onto a bed of rocks. Thankfully I fell on the fleshy part of my lower back, just a couple inches to the left and I could have broken my back. BUT I DIDN'T! :) YAY! Everyone was freakin' out cause they couldn't see where I had fallen. I swear, I'm not normally so accident prone, but I just had a few freak incidents that would lead you to assume otherwise. They were really good about it, willing to sacrifice seeing the waterfall to accompany me back to the camp, but I didn't want to ruin the excursion or miss out on seeing

the waterfall, so we carried on, despite the throbbing pain in my back. It was SO worth it. We arrived at Carrington Falls by mid day and wasted no time getting in the water, it was heaps refreshing since we were all so sweaty. We went right under the waterfall, then just relaxed in the water - Pete said we should lay on our backs with our ears under the water and just look up, listen, take it all in. Peace. Serenity. Beauty. My goodness, was I ever happy I didn't miss that! It was the climax of the trip!

Blob time

The arvo was filled with lotsa blobbing; snacking, Smeagol, reading more LOTR, and story time (our worst injury stories, or near death experiences).

Day 3 started fairly early, had breakfast and cleaned up by 9am. Putting our backpacks back on wasn't so fun, but they were lighter than on the way down since we'd eaten most of the food. We smashed it out, stopped for a couple muesli bar breaks along the way. Chris was our navigator, if we started up the canyon at the correct spot, it would take far less time, and luckily he found that spot fairly easily. On the way up, we would hike for a few minutes and stop 'cause it was so exhausting going straight up. I had a serious lack of energy since I wasn't feeling great, but when we finally got to the top and walking on flat ground, just walking normally felt like I was running! So effortless. After what seemed like an eternity, we stumbled into the parking lot area... I was caught so off guard. Pure happiness. JOY. We made it! There were tons of people in the picnic area, a girl came over and asked what hike we just did. We told her we had done a 3-day hike, obviously that wasn't the kind of hike they were looking for. As Pete was talking with them we noticed a massive red stain on the back of his once-white shirt (we figured it was from a leech). He turned to join us again and the girl noticed the blood mark, we could see her whole group staring and pointing at us like we were some crazy people that just emerged from the jungle... I guess they weren't too far off, haha. We rewarded ourselves with a delightful spread of leftovers for lunch. Though of course Chris had to ruin it by exclaiming "the turkey mince looks like curdled milk!".

Gloria Jean's was a must, so we stopped in for a drink, Iced Chai's never tasted so good! While driving home, Pete was like "Hey guys, doesn't that person at the crosswalk look JUST like Silken!?" -there are two people at the crosswalk, a girl with a top-knot and an overweight man in a white shirt. *pause for effect* then he continued "...the one in the white shirt!!!! BAHAHAHAHA!" Everyone just lost it. I was slightly insulted, but it was hilarious.

But WOW. What. A. Weekend.

I have never laughed so much. I think I now have a six pack.

Despite the near death experiences and feeling sick most of the time, those are three days I will never forget... I have the scars to remind me. I constantly feel so blessed by the people God has placed in my life, the adventures He has allowed me to experience, and the beauty of His creation. I am so spoiled.