well here i am...in freaking austrilia! can you believe it? cause i cant. it is hot as hades over here! i just dont get how this could possibly be their winter! alright so where so i even begin?!
day 1 (which is day 2 also but still only one day...dang you time change...ill never have lived on june 29th, 2012!): sweet trevor curtis drove me to lax on thursday and off we were! the flight to brisbane was a whopping 14 hours! i was astonished by my 11 hour sleep with out any magic medicine to konk me out! i got go lucky! i woke up and only had 3 hours left, so i had to take full advantage of the fancy tv in front of me! if i didnt sleep the 11 hours, i wouldnt have even cared! the selection was ridiculous! i watched "the lucky one" and "we bought a zoo." before i knew it we were landing! the aussie next to us was so nice and chatted with us about tips and tricks of traveling in this country. who would know that a "napkin" only meant the feminine product not what you wipe your face with!? we landed and had a few hour lay over before our flight to cairns. here is where i managed to be totally and completely ripped off at currency exchange and experience the most delicious chicken wrap of my life! we were of off to cairns! i planned to work on our last quiz that was to be due upon landed but ehh more sleep and missy higgins (had to listen to her, im in her stomping grounds!!) seemed like a better option. we landed and met up with our instructor and his wife. their last name is taniguchi...so just imagine the nick names i have created! so if i refer to anyone as something weird sounding like his last name, know it is the head honcho of the group. anyways! we loaded up the vans (mind you, the driver is on the opposite side) and nearly died but didnt on out way to our camp site. we drove up to "cairns holiday park," the most luxurious camp grounds in cairns! well i wouldnt entirely call this place luxurious but it is home for a week so ive learned to love it. we have a slab of grass for your group in the back corner of the site (the bathroom is in the front... so my 3 trips to the bathroom last night were a fuzzy gross memory i woke up to this morning). now is when we had to pitch our tents. everyone is assembling these nice looking tents and im thinking "hey this wont be too bad!"...then kenny pulls out our tent!! hahaha okay so our tent in a one man tent that is only the size of a baby's crib! we thought it was hilarious! guch man looked at us like we were idiots and said "um, you know that is a one man tent, right?" we made the most of it and ended up putting our monstrous duffles in someones elses tent and that made a worlds of difference. beach time!!! we headed to the local beach and holy moly i cant even put in words the beauty. picture hawaii times a gadrillion and maybe that will compare. the water felt like a bath, the sand felt like powdered sugar, the tropical trees that came from the mountains all the way to shore, came together as if it were straight out of heaven! we swam and danced and screamed and honestly it was such a surreal moment. we forgot towels, so a nice stroll down the beach was the perfect answer! then it was dinner time! and at this point we were all dead! so we ate at the locals fish and chips place and headed back to our tents and fell right to sleep at like 745 at night! the night in out tent begun with a jacket, long sleeve, sweats and socks, then turned to just under wear (bless you kendall! the semi naked barrier was totally crossed the first day in europe so luckily this was totally okay!) then i had to walk a mile to pee a few hours into my sleep, so long sleeve and sweats put on in a half asleep dreamy state...then i dont really remember walking back and falling asleep with all those clothes still on. cause i woke up to pee again a few hours later dripping in sweat! our baby tent turned into a sauna! this continued and long story short, the weather here is insane!
day 2: we woke up and it was sunday july 1...fast sunday! yahoo! i was so relieved it was the sabbath because we all needed a relaxing day. we woke up and got ready for church and headed to the local branch. the building looked just like the ones at home except there was this whole grassy tree sun area right in the middle! so beautiful! when we pulled up, this family was getting out of their car and picture a total islander family right out of the pacific and that was them! all the men wore the skirts and floral shirts, the women were a little larger and had hair to their butts, and the children were exactly like that too! their smiles were beaming and i was so happy to be there! sacrament meeting was powerful due to the testimonies that were shared. i felt like i should go up and standing before this branch and seeing all their smiles, i felt the Spirit radiating in the room. it was a sacrament meeting ill never forget. all the people were so nice and welcoming and made all of us feel right at home. the sunday school and relief society lessons were incredible and i learned so much while at church today. so now we are having a little nap/lunch/journal/scripture reading time before we figure out our plans for the day. speaking of which, i probably should go find the group and get out of the internet reception area. tomorrow we go out on the boat to dive in the great barrier reef! ill be sure to post as much as i can! i love you mom and dad and family at home! until next time!! xoxo
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