Crikey! The Australia Zoo!

The weekend here on the Sunshine Coast lived up to its name! It was beautiful, sunny and hot all weekend! Saturday Nikki, Jess, Tahlia and I took a bus to the Australia Zoo! We left around 8:30am and were supposed to return around 4:30pm. A full day! We ended up meeting Amy, from New York and a student at USC, and she toured the Zoo with us. There were posters and photos and life size statues of the Irwin’s everywhere! It was the perfect day outside for walking around. We saw everything there was to see (you’re only there once right?). Our First stop was the saltwater Crocodiles. They look so weird when they aren’t moving. You can’t even tell they are breathing, they just stare and give you the evil eye. So many crocodiles to see and each of them equally large and scary. Then we (well everyone but Jess because she is scared of lots of animals, especially birds) got to hold a Koala! Unfortunately they were fed some type of weird food and were non-stop pooping while everyone was trying to hold them. It was pretty nasty. Lucky for me, they brought out a different Koala for me and the rest of the line to hold, poop free! Poor Tahlia got pooped on L quite an experience though. Koalas are not as soft as they look! In fact they are coarse and have sharp claws that made a mark in my shoulder. 

Next we all went to the Crocoseum to watch the ‘Wildlife Warriors Show’. There they introduced most of their large classes of animals. We saw lots of colorful birds, crocs of course, Asian elephants, and snakes. It was a fun show to see! Then we walked around the zoo and I pet a wombat, fed and pet kangaroos, fed the Asian elephants, saw tigers and tortoises and many more! The zoo was also an educational experience! I learned the difference between a turtle and a tortoise (tortoises have legs for walking on land, turtles have flipper like feet) and that the ninja turtles were incorrectly named because they have legs (should be the ninja tortoises, not quite the same ring to it I suppose).   There were two tortoises together, brothers, and became quite excited to play with each other when we were there. We learned a lot about the conservation of the animals, especially the tigers, which could become extinct by 2020 if people don’t stop exploiting them. All in all, it was an enjoyable and educational day!

Sunday was a lazy day! Sat by the pool and read for class (I can be lazy and productive at the same time!). Then Nikki and I went to the beach with her roommate Ellie. It was so hot but gorgeous outside. The perfect day for the beach. Some woman decided that Mooloolaba should be a nudy beach because she tanned topless (she was given large gifts so it was quite inappropriate) in front of many families with young kids! Not my style, but whatever I suppose. Then we walked around the shops and got a smoothie! Sooo delicious. I stopped in to the restaurant Karma Waters, where Allison’s friend Dayna worked while she was living here a few months ago, and said hi to her friend Jackie on behalf of her! She was very excited for the random hello!

Today started the second week of classes. It is so hard to lose the stressful, organized, chaotic mentality that I have at UND. I am head of my readings and such, but it seems all of my assignments (mostly essays) are piling up fast. I don’t feel like classes are quite as organized or laid out as well as I am used to. Being the organized freak that I am, that does not work well for me! I’m trying not to stress, even though my grades count towards my GPA unlike most of the study abroad students here. Living in the moment and trying to get ahead so I don’t have as much when I want to travel!

I’m quickly learning that I miss mom’s cooking, and groceries and unlimited selections of food. It didn’t seem like that always, for some reason, but compared to this, it was heaven. Cooking for one is hard and very expensive. Food gets old so much faster here. I miss kemps skim milk, light mayo (they only have full fat or no fat), hidden valley ranch (the ranch here is so gross) and baby carrots. Also, they don’t really have strawberries and any time I want a burger, it is stuffed with something unexpected and nasty! Can’t a girl just get a beef patty with some cheese and ketchup? They have tomato sauce which is their ketchup and obviously don’t have American cheese (its cheddar here) so that means no orange colored cheese! Sad day. They think us Americans are so weird for having orange colored cheese. Anywho, I can’t wait to eat a good burger with fruit when I get home!


Today random things were happening to me. Well, one in particular I suppose. One of the maintenance workers at Unicentral has a gray cat that roams around with him. I left for a study skills class at 8am and locked the doors. When I came home, I unlocked my doors and started to make lunch. All of a sudden, I turned around and sleeping on the couch was this gray cat! I was startled and so surprised to see a cat. I have no idea how it got there. Must have jumped the fence in back I guess. After lunch I hit the pool to do some reading in the sun and water and came back 2 hours later. My room was clean and I locked the door when I left, so I unlocked it when I got back and was startled to find a cat sleeping on my bed! I have no idea how it snuck into my room while I was gone. Must have been sneaky  when I wasn’t looking and hid until I left. So crazy and random! But, I love cats so it was okay. She’s cute (not as cute as Nala) and nice so I let her be until I had to kick her out when I had to lock my room for class. Well, Until next time, I’m hoping it’s a good week ahead!