Australia...and all it's craziness :)

I originally said I would add in different Australian words or sayings...but I have failed to continue this. I'm just going to put them all on one blog & update them as they come up...

Going - Do --> "How you going" or "How you will go"
Mate - Friend
Potatoe Nuggets - Tator tots
Billy - teapot (boiling water)
Chokkie - Chocolate
Hoon - Hooligan
Chips - French Fries
Brissie - Brisbane
G'Day - Hello
Bungie Smugglers - Speedos
Oldies - Parents
Nipper - Small Child
Exy - Expensive
Holy Dooley - "I'm Surprised"
Feral - Hippie
Tea (as in "I'm going to tea...") - Dinner
Brekky - Breakfast

I know...they seem quite odd but you get used to some of them. I'll be sure to add more as they come up :)

Charlie Brown Christmas Trees

I know this sounds odd, but they are everywhere! We have the craziest trees & they look exactly like Charlie Brown Christmas Trees! Every time I walk across campus or sit at the bus stop I have a little chuckle because of these trees. I have a few pictures but I'll have to get the ones by the bus stop (they are even better!)

RAINBOW BEACH!

This was probably one is the neatest things I have ever seen. Rainbow beach is on the easterly coast of Australia & it has 72 different colors of sand-naturally. We drove down the beach then played in the sand. I decided I wanted to climb up part of it & it was pretty hard. While we were playing Steve, our driver, made “Australia” out of the different colors of sand. It was so pretty & I loved it! I couldn’t put all the different colors up, but I tired to show the different ones. I wrote messages in the sand (Johnny already made fun of me, but I thought it was cool!)

Lake Berrabeen

Lake Wabby

Lake Wabby was towards the center of the island. We hiked up into the rainforest then over a sand dune. We were all exhausted because it was the end of the day, but it was worth the trip. The lake was at the bottom of the hill & was a beautiful dark green. Cortney almost fell down the hill trying to do the “ski dance”…she always keeps us entertained.

Maheno Shipwreck

The Maheno was built as a luxury liner. During WWI, it was used for a hospital ship. After the war, it returned to its previous use as a luxury liner. It was sold to Japan because it was believed the ship was outdated and it took to many men to work the steam engine. The Japanese picked up the ship with 6 men. A tugboat and a rope pulled the ship because these men could not operate the ship on their own. A cyclone came about and they had to cut the rope to save themselves. The Maheno came ashore on Fraser Island & it’s still there today.

I found all of this quite funny. The Japanese bought this huge ship, didn’t bring enough people to operate it, then lost it during a cyclone—what a waste of money! It was interesting to see how the ship had decayed over time, but still standing & looking like a ship.

Lake Allum (...the snapping turtles)

We left Indian head on our journey to Lake Allum. It sounds pretty cool & we heading up there to see the snapping turtles. YES! (I know, it’s crazy…we have those back in Missouri!) Needless to say, we got to see all kinds of snapping turtles in a lake…I’m pretty sure they took us there at lunch because there were picnic tables there so it was convenient. I didn’t want to leave anything out so here they are…fresh water snapping turtles of Australia.