March 21-31

We haven't done anything too crazy or gone on any big trips this week/weekend...we have been planning for our New Zealand trip and trying to figure out accomodations and what things we want to do and see! We've been getting pretty excited for it.

Work has been crazy as the weeks are getting closer to the games. We were getting really bummed out that we weren't going to be able to see the actual games, due to us leaving the 16th of April and the games are held April 19-24. We found out some AMAZING news..and that is the Special Olympics are paying for Shar and I to stay here in Adelaide for that week..It was this long process of Shar and I looking for flights and it just ended up being way out of our budget. We were convinced that we weren't going to stay...but sometimes, impossible things seem to just happen :)

Besides that awesome news...the weekend was uneventful. We hiked Mount Lofty..took about 45 minutes (ALL UP HILL) to get to this awesome look out that showed all of Adelaide. Pretty cool.

Shar and I have been doing pretty good on our training for our half marathon--we're up to about 7 miles!

This weekend we're heading out on a road trip/tour to The Great Ocean Road-Melbourne! I'm sure I'll have some good stuff to share!

Cheers!

Latest updates Feb 27-March 21

So my computer officially got sent home :( so I have gotten really behind on my blogging..bugger

There was this kick of mass fire alarms..literally there were 5 in one week! If you can imagine 13 floors evacuating the building. It got to the point where we were packing a bag before we went to bed in order to be prepared to be outside for a good half hour at random hours of the morning/night. Did I mention we live on the 11th floor...you get nice and dizzy by the time you reach the bottom. It was awful!

Work has been really good, we've been doing a lot of work with accreditation and allocating volunteer roles...to over 600+ people!

We have been keeping busy with all of the festivities going on during this time, the Fringe Festival, Future Music Festival, and Garden of Unearthly Delights. We went to this cool light show/plastic hand sewn/glued architecture..which was deceiving, we thought it was going to be a ginormous jumpy thing..not..but we got some cool photos.

Our boss invited us over for an AMAZING dinner at her house in the hills. We had this massive feast that her husband Michael made and yummy wine! It was so great to have a home cooked meal. We were joking the whole time that we were going to swap accommodation just to convenient Jenny Daly (the director) so she could be closer to the office :) Who wouldn't want to live on Hindley Street? haha aka the classiest place in Adelaide (insert sarcasm here).

Future Music Festival was what our boss calls "doof doof" music aka dance/electronic music...it was weird we went to concerts that had just Dj's on the stage..but we did see David Guetta, Empire of the Sun and Franz Ferdinand (just some big names that people might recognize). There were about 6 stages with music from mid day (noon) to mid night...lets just say it was a long day.

SYDNEY BOUND! We made the trip 3/11-3/15 to stay with our friend Princess (for free!) The flight was quick and we had to be hush hush about staying with her because apparently her landlord isn't the coolest guy in Australia. There were 5 of us girls staying in one small bedroom...3 to a bed and 2 on the floor with barely any blankets or pillows, and the occasional cockroach that would come say hi. It wasn't a 5 star place but all totally worth it to be in an awesome city and stay for free with good company! We walked all over the city, and public transportation was really easy. Saw Sydney Harbor Bridge, Queen Victoria Building, Botanical Gardens, China Town, Paddy's Market, Sydney Opera House, Bondi Beach, the musical Wicked and SURFING...basically everything that makes Sydney what it is! We shoved it all into about 3 days...surfing was for sure on of my favorite things. We probably surfed for a good 7 hours...the waves were pretty intense and our guide was really cool. We all got up for sure by the end of the day and didn't want to leave..we definitely want to do it again! We still are talking about it...(I'm a little behind on blogging ha) The whole Sydney experience was great, but it really made Adelaide feel like home and we were excited to get back after a busy busy weekend. Especially after the last night where we slept like sardines, 6 to an even smaller room...5 on the floor with no blankets, just whatever clothes/towels we could find and one on the twin bed :) all worth it.

Still staying busy at work...I'd talk more about it but I think the trips are more fun to talk about :) We're really getting into it and sad that we have to leave before the games even start...We've been trying to find ways to stay for just a bit longer so we can at least see the opening ceremony and all the hard work we have all put towards the games.

Shar and I recently signed up and got into the Grandmas Half Marathon!! We're super excited, Amanda Childs and Jess Smith are doing it with us too! So we've started our training and are running just about every day...up to about 6 miles now!

Our weeks are pretty repetitive, but one of our new favorite things to do with our local friends here is to get Schnitzel, it's really random, but a big thing around here apparently. Just this past weekend with the same group of friends, we all went to Barossa for wine tasting. It was awesome!!! It was up in Adelaide Hills where the views are amazing and the wine is outstanding.

We also met up with our new friend Carol from the office and her husband Jean. They took us around town and showed us the worlds largest rocking horse (quite funny to say actually haha!), they’re cute home, and small town cooking…I guess Australia is known for having random "worlds largest" type monuments...?

Being here in Adelaide we have been surrounded by amazing people who show us nothing but open arms and hearts. Welcoming us into their homes, showing us around town, offering us accommodation if we ever come back, home cooked meals, good company, random necessities for our apartment etc. etc. As the days are dwindling down it’s getting harder to want to come back to reality.

2/21-27 Cleland Wildlife Center & Kangaroo Island!

2/21
Today we had a big day at Cleland Wildlife Center! Our friends Nathan, Timmy and his 3 year old son Brandon, took all 5 of us girls.
Sidenote...something funny prior to our wildlife adventures: I don’t know if I said this but my housing arrangement is right smack dab in the middle of the city and right on top of a KFC..ew i know..today when we were walking to go catch our ride one of our friends slipped and fell down the stairs!?! At first it looked like it really hurt so we all asked if she was ok. She stood up and said I JUST SLIPPED ON A CHICKEN WING....at that point we lost it and were practically on the ground laughing...we now are joking about the dangers of living above KFC...beware of chicken wings.
Anyways...right when we got there we saw Kangaroos, just hanging out in the field, which we thought was so bizarre! We didn’t know if we were supposed to approach them or what?..So we did but very hesitant. You can tell by my pictures at the beginning of the day they are from afar but as the day went on we were feeding them out of our hands, laying by them, petting them etc. etc. We got our pictures taken with a Koala named Rusty! She was just the cutest thing ever and they are soooo soft! We saw tons of animals, Koalas, wallabies, kangaroos, emu, dingo, Tasmanian devils, pelicans, tooons of birds. I got some really good pictures that don’t really do justice for how cool it was.
22-25
Work this week has been good. I am getting the hang of everything and really getting involved in some things like Accreditation, HAP, Signage, Families and the Volunteer Allocations, it is cool to see things falling into place as the games are approaching. We are thinking about trying to stay long enough to see at least the opening ceremony. I think it’ll be an important thing to sort of rap up my internship, to actually see the games come together through everyones hard work. The Special Olympics is ran almost entirely by volunteers, about 600+ to be exact. We have been working closely with the Volunteer coordinator to try and figure out a way how to tackle and get the allocation going of important roles due to certain availability, along with the other hundred roles that need to be filled. We were talking this week about how each person is a complete nerd when it comes to their major or whatever their interest of study is, and at this point in our internship it has really shown!
Like I said in some previous posts the weeks are sort of the same because of work, but the group of girls that I hang out with we all get along really well and have really compatible personalities where we can have fun doing just about anything, and funny things usually just happen on a day to day basis. I have had a good belly laugh..at the very least once or twice a day. Lots of inside jokes where if I tried to explain things that happen it would just be ridiculous.
A funny thing I can try and explain: So there are 3 of us girls who intern at Special Olympics and there was a "Meet and Greet" function that we were attending later that evening, so we all wore our red sporty polo shirts with a SO symbol on it. During lunch we usually go walk around Rundle Mall. We walk into this store and this lady comes up to me while Andrea and Shar are around somewhere:
"Oh you must be from out of town, what are you doing here"-Store Lady
"Ya...I am. I'm interning with the SO, part of the organizing committee"-Me
"Oooh cool..so like what do you guys play?"-Store Lady
"ehem..um..we don’t play anything...we help organize it"-Me
I run up to Shar and Andrea and tell them what happen..."Guys, we gotta go they think we play in SO"...so that was the joke of the day, by the end we made up this elaborate story of how we have travelled from the US and are the champions here to compete in the Bocce games :)
Wednesday night we went back to the Unearthly Delights to go to a show called 6 Impossible Things—Phillip Escoffey. It was really awesome!! It is supposed to be some sort of psychic..magician type show that ended up being just one of the coolest things I have seen! If I went on to tell all the stuff he did it would get really long, but basically he would guess words you were thinking, cards you were thinking, numbers etc. Andrea even went up on stage! There was an awesome twist at the end that really got us all...a word we, the audience, completely made up, the guy guessed it and it was inside our fortune cookie at the end of the show!

Weekend madness at Kangaroo Island
Day 1: 2/27
So in the beginning of our trip when we were in Cairns doing scuba diving and such we had a group of 8 of us. Well our friend Rachel, from that group who is interning in Cairns came to visit to go to Kangaroo Island with us. Our trip started Saturday at 6:30 am, but of course we had to show her the town a bit Friday night. We all had a blast and ended up staying out a little later than planned J but luckily with 6 alarms set we made it to the lobby and ready by 6:30 and our driver was the one who was late! He didn’t pick us up till 7:15! It was quite a funny site to see us on the corner of our road with backpacks looking like tired lost puppies. Anyone who went by offered to help us thinking that we were lost. To get over to KI we do a 2 hour bus ride with a group of about 20. The first half an hour we’re still laughing from the night before and I’m sure everyone on the bus enjoyed 6 giggly girls barely after sunrise. I was pretty excited to go on this ferry, it seemed like it would be a nice enjoyable ride on the ocean. OOOh was I wrong. This ferry was anything but nice. I haven’t experienced anything like it before. The waves were soooo huge that the ferry was tipping from one side to the other at intense angles. To be inside the cabin you have to be insane because walking is practically impossible and sitting inside rocking back and forth isn’t an option if you’re the least bit prone to motion sickness. Therefore we were out on the deck, which is absolutely dangerous and I was surprised they even let anyone out there. It felt like any movement or trip near the railings and you would be off the end into the ocean! We got some good pictures and a couple videos but they really don’t do justice. I haven’t laughed that hard, that early in the morning, probably ever. Our guides name was Doug, and he is exactly what I would picture a “surf and sun” guide to be. Dreadlocks, no shoes (he bet someone he could go w/o shoes for a week), tye dye shorts, and just a really awesome attitude about everything. Our first stop once we got off that awful ferry was Prospect Hill, which was a cool look out place that is the highest point on the island. Pennington Bay was our second stop, which was an amazing beach which again, pictures don’t do justice. We had a fun group competition to make sand creatures of some Australian animal. My group chose a crocodile, others were a shark and echidnas. They all turned out pretty good! Basically the whole trip is a group of 20 people who drive around the whole island going to different popular places and touristy type things. The 6 of us girls were basically the only people on the bus who knew anyone, so I bet you can imagine how fun those van rides were with us obnoxious girls J I had this thing though..where if we spent more then 30 minutes in the van I would fall asleep like an infant haha! Admirals Arch was our next stop. It was another amazing ocean view but with New Zealand fur seals swimming around and sleeping on rocks. Admirals Arch is basically a cool view of the ocean under an arch that was made billions of years ago and the things hanging down are fossilized roots. By the time we got back to our “camp” it was around 3 where we had a late lunch and I tried Kangaroo! It tasted pretty gamey...and a little like venison. Apparently its one of the worlds leanest meats next to camels...but who eats camel?...eew. The water on the island was absolutely the worst water I have ever had to drink. Doug mentioned the water isn’t that good and to grab a litre of water at the store if you don’t think you can handle it. And me, I was thinking, well as long as it’s safe to drink I think I’ll be ok. I have never regretted something so much (besides not packing warmer clothes ha) it was sick. There was flavour that you could pour in to “make it taste better” which to me made it taste even worse. I am just rambling about it now because I go through water like it’s my job through out the day. Aaanyways..the weather was perfect up until Admirals Arch...not too hot and not to cold, perfect for walking around. But at Admirals Arch it was windy and cold...I’ve definitely gotten pretty wimpy since I’ve lived here. It was windy and I didn’t pack accordingly because it’s so hot in Adelaide it’s hard to think about wanting to put on long pants and a jacket. Therefore I had a black zip-up hoody, where the tied hood did not leave my head for basically the remainder of the trip. Next place was remarkable rocks...where it sounds kind of lame to go look at rocks but it actually was one of our more favourite stops. We took tons of group photos and us girls were the last on the bus...basically every site we went to we were the last on the bus. It was expensive we had to soak it all in! J After that we went on a Koala walk...at this point it’s rainy, windy and cold but we are tough and drape towels around us. We actually got to see some wild koalas in perfect view! Doug said that he’s never given a tour with this much wild life! After the Koala walk we went back to camp to make dinner and head out for a penguin night watch. Apparently this time of year there really aren’t that many that come out but luckily we got to see about 5 or 6. A couple real close and one actually walking/running/wabbling on the road...we were joking that it was Shar on a typical Saturday night (hehe juuust kidding!) But they were seriously so cute! By this time we were getting REEEEAALLLY tuckered out, basically delirious and had the tired laughs. The rooms at camp were basically a hostel style, multiple bunk beds to a room. There was an option to sleep in a swag...just like a heavy body case sort of thing that you bring in your sleeping gear with you...if it’s warm and not raining you can sleep under the stars. Buuuut it was too cold and rainy for my liking...I stuck with the bed.
Day 2: 2/28
First thing we did was head off to see seals at Seal Bay. It was some sort of guided tour where we got within at least 10ft of them! They were soooo CUTE! It was still super windy and chilly. Fun facts about Seals: The women are pregnant for 18 months and can live up to 26 in the wild. They have pups well into their 20s. The seals go out to hunt for 3 days and rest for 3 days at a time. We saw lots of them spooning on the beach...I wanted to snuggle in with them cause I was freezing! The mothers will just leave their pups on land for 3 days and we got to see a mom and pup reunite it was precious.
Next stop was Sand Boarding!...and on a windy day you can only imagine how awful but so fun it was! Our group was really cool and most of us got really into it. We had a few world Olympic competitions because there were people from all over the place. I definitely prefer sledding in the snow...because it doesn’t get into your eyeballs and everywhere else you can think of! We then got some lunch and headed to Stokes Bay...another gorgeous beach on the other side of the KI where it was heaps less windy...still a little bit but it was sunny and gorgeous. Throughout the trip it seemed like we were always rushing rushing rushing/late to something...but this is just something I have come to expect but if someone was looking for a relaxing trip, this was not it. So of course we were rushing from Stokes Bay to catch the ferry. Apparently the waves were way worse on the way home, but I seemed to disagree. Although, the smell on board was heaps worse due to the fact that there was a truck load of COWS! It as sooo nasty on deck and cows were pooping all over the cars. It was an awful stench and a loooong ride that they even had to slow down a bit because it was so insane. We are completely starving and thirsty (again cause the water was god awful)...as Shar and I were purchasing our beverage and snack, Shar realized her wallet was missing. Great. We searched her bag at least 3 times, checked where we were sitting etc. Etc. No luck. We narrowed it down to being at two places, on the bus on KI still or where we ate lunch to pay for our trip. I had a good feeling that it was going to show up just because random things kept falling into place...someone knew someone who worked at this place who could check at another etc. etc. In the mean time while this whole ordeal is going on, our bus to drive back to Adelaide has a flat tire, not only that but the jack is also broke J ha we didn’t end up getting back until 11pm when we were supposed to be back at 8. But to be honest it was one of the funnest weekends yet and Shar got her wallet back the next day on our lunch break at work :)
More pictures to come!!

Playing catch up with blogging! 2/8-2/20

So due to computer issues I’m going to have to sum up my life the past couple of weeks...hopefully with enough detail to keep you interested but...

2/8
We start work at noon on Monday’s (yes it is really rough I know). We usually start those days with a nice run in the morning by the river. It was about 90 degrees this morning at 9 o’clock and by mid run we were using our shirts to shield our faces from the sun! We attended our first GOC meeting (Games Organising Committee)...and yes they spell organizing with an S...weird. We decided our new tradition is to get cheap sushi on Mondays. We live right by about 100 sushi places and at 7 you can get two rolls for 2.50$ How awesome is that??! Monday’s are usually pretty chill.

2/9
We got an “early mark” at work today. We had a choice to go to the market and get groceries to eat or go to the beach...clearly the beach has priority. We invited all of our friends..ha all 5 ;) to the beach. Swam, played a little volleyball, ate dinner..it’s pretty rough. I’m getting a good tan going but when ever I see Corey on skype he keeps telling me how white I am...he’s only contributing to my future skin cancer ;)

2/10
We finally made it to the market, it’s like our Famers Market on steroids! This week is extra hot and humid...apparently it’s pretty abnormal for it to be this humid—even the locals are having a hard time dealing with it. I’m still adjusting to this heat, you can only imagine! Shar, Caty, Julie and I decided to go to the Moonlight Cinema—similar to Movie in the Park at home except you have BYOB and rent bean bags! Which of course we’re cheap and skipped the bean bags but half way through the movie were regretting that decision. Interesting fact, you can BYOB to just about anywhere, restaurants, movie theaters, some parks etc.—little bit of a change from what we’re used to. They also don’t tip here!?

2/11
Our main jobs at work have just been getting affiliated with the Special Olympics and assisting with the development of the Healthy Athletes Program and Families and Supporters program. I won’t go into detail what that is, but we’re staying fairly busy and will have heaps (one of my favourite words here) more to do in a week or so. Tonight we had to stay a little later to attend our work cocktail party!! It was the best day at work so far! The party was for all the sponsors of the Special Olympics. We met a bunch of...CEO...head of the company type people. There were appetizers, drinks, and music. It was seriously so fun, eat, drink and meet interesting people—can’t get much better then that at work. Later that evening we decided on a movie again...since Valentines day was coming up (who cares ha) but we watched Valentine.

2/12 Friday
We got up later then we wanted...but walked to the Botanical Gardens. It was pretty cool, there were amazing flowers!! My favourite was this massive rose garden! I have some good pictures that I’ll post up in the near future..Later that evening we went to “Unearthly Delights”—basically a circus. Apparently we’ve come to Adelaide at the perfect time, about mid summer where there at tons of festivities going on and this is just one of the many to come. It was weird like circuses are...but a good time.

2/13-14
I can’t get up early any more like I could right away when I got here—meaning my body has officially adjusted to the time difference. We went on an hour blade and cooked in the sun...of course we then headed to the beach for a few hours to catch some rays before the evening begins. We went to a new place called “Haych Q” or what we would say HQ. The dancing style here is a little different from at home (people my age would know what that means) more like wedding dance style (my favourite!!) and the dance floor is usually filled with all guys dancing by themselves, it’s pretty funny. At home its usually groups of girls dancing...Anyways it was another late night.It seems as I’m writing these all in a row, all I do is go to the beach and walk around everywhere. A new friend showed up from Australearn her name is Andrea and she will fit in just fine. We’ve already scoped out the town so she can ease into it.

2/15-18
The weeks have become a little repetitive so I’ll just share the fun, funny and interesting things that happen. So basically I work, work out, beach, walk around, and find fun things to do! This week got a little interesting mid-week so we had a “mini celebration/we’re in a different country we’ll worry about it when we get back” night out. We also tried Schnitzel...it was interesting but I think it will be a weekly thing because you can get a huge dinner and a drink for 12$..and around here that’s pretty good. This is the week where my computer started getting fussy, and eventually just stopped working completely...I would expect nothing less but for that to happen to me. No worries though...it’ll be ok.

2/19-20
The Fringe Festival is another thing that is going on around town. Tonight (Friday) was the kickoff. It’s insane!! There’s hundreds and hundreds of people all over the streets that are blocked off and if you lose sight of your group of friends...you might as well walk home and start back over. Basically like a ginormous block party with music, beer gardens, entertainment, rides (not big ones) etc. etc.We found a new beach besides Glenelg to go to—Hendle Beach. We took a bus to this one, it was a lot less crowded and took about the same amount of time to get there. There was a low tide so we could lay in the shallow water to catch some rays without getting too hot on the beach...reminded me a little at home when we are at the lake and set chairs up in the shallow water. The beaches are just indescribable and I’m really just loving, can’t get enough! We spent a good couple hours and of course on the way home I get stuck with the smelly lady next to me...Shar and Caty got a good kick out of it!

I'll post pictures when I get a chance! Sorry friends and fam!! Love and miss you! But I'm thinking you should all just pick up a one way ticket to Australia :)
Cheers,
Jayme