Crappy hotels don't matter when you are this excited

Just wanted to do a quick post!  We are at a hotel right now right near the Sydney airport!  The hotel is a little ghetto (we couldn't even figure out how to turn on the lights and their "free wireless internet" was really a 5 dollar internet cord and 8 dollars per hour of usage) But we are totally excited to leave!  Our wake up call is at 4:45 tomorrow morning--bright and early! 

We will get to Christchurch by 1pm and then we start our epic drive!  I am not sure how often we will be able to talk on skype/aim or how often i will be able to post but if we stop at a wireless cafe or hostel then I will try to post and stay in touch with everyone.

Well I am off to shower and then get a good night sleep before tomorrow comes all too soon!

Can't wait!

Miss you all, talk to you soon!

Jindabella Heaven

This past weekend I think has been the best weekend yet. Absolutely amazing! We had signed up for a volunteer weekend of conservation work and I was a little worried about it. I wasn't sure where we would be staying or what we would be doing. We went with a bunch of American friends. So we piled into the conservation van having no idea what to expect or where we were going.
We drove for about 1 1/2 into the deep country and up the mountains. The scenery is absolutely beautiful in the Hunter Valley. It kind of reminds me of Vermont-a lot of beautiful farm land, rolling hills, big mountains etc. When we finally pulled into the driveway we thought it was a joke! It was the most beautiful house I have ever seen on a 85 acre property with the best view in the entire world. We couldn't believe it. It is called Jindabella and a couple Ross and Marianne recently bought it to do conservation work and rent out to tourists looking for a mountain retreat. Some retreat! It was basically a resort! The most beautiful yard and garden area on the most beautiful piece of property. A complete wrap around porch overlooking the huge rolling hills and mountains in the distance.
Our job was to plant 400 trees on the bottom part of their property. The area had been choked out by a lot of unnatural/foreign plants and the family was trying to get it back to temperate rainforest which it is naturally. It was pretty relaxing work except for the fact that it was SOO HOT. It was the hottest weekend yet-in the upper 90's on Saturday. The family had the best dog named Max who just loved people, he would come up to you and whine until you pet him and just plop down in your lap!
It was pretty awesome especially because the family was so nice! They took us swimming on Saturday to this beautiful little river. It felt like we knew them forever it was so fun. Everyone was swimming and playing with the dog, Ross splashing everyone! On Saturday night Ross had everyone shooting his guns in the backyard and attempting archery which was hilarious. Then his 25 year old son had us playing "Bush Croquett" and took us star gazing. We all had so much fun, it was such a relaxing weekend. It was the first time I really felt at home since I had been there, and really immeresed in Australian life with this family.
On Sunday we finished planting all of the trees and then they took us cliff diving! We went to a beautiful national park (even farther into the country!) to some really deep pools and jumping cliffs! It was so scary when you were up there but I finally did it after nearly peeing myself! haha. All the boys were having an awesome time! Marianne was nuts, she is probably almost 60 and she was one of the first ones to jump! Josh has some hilarious video of this that he will have to put up soon!
I was really sad to have to come back to Uni; Ross and Marianne seemed sad too. They said we could come back anytime and stay with them and they would pick us up at the train station. I may have to take them up on the offer! I absolutely LOVED it up there in the mountains. That is exactly the kind of simple life I want (plus a horse or two maybe!) I have some pictures rotating of the weekend up at Jindabella now that I FINALLY figured out how to do that haha. Also, I have a ton of pictures up at
http://picasaweb.google.com/Amanda.Beardsworth

Facebook is being lame and not letting me put anything up so you have to check them out!
And now... New Zealand in 2 days! AHHHH...

oh boy!

Just been planning the trip to New Zealand! We are renting a car and driving around the entire south island for 12 days. We just found our route and planned some things we want to do along the way including... swimming with dolphins in the wild! I have wanted to do that since I was probably about 8 so I am really excited! Check out the website of where we are going--there is an awesome video and it looks amazing--www.dolphin.co.nz I can't believe we are going to be able to do that!
We decided we are really going to rough it so we don't spend too much money on hostels and food that way we can do and see as much as possible.
We are pretty much going to sleep in the car most nights... except when we decide that we need a shower and a decent nights sleep lol. And we are basically just going to buy some bread, peanut butter and other cheap food as we go. We are going to get to see SO much so it is def. worth it.
Also pretty excited about the exchange rate there right now. I am planning on spending no more than 1000 NZ dollars and that is only about 650 US dollars right now! YAY! I am going to try REALLY hard to come home with at least 1000 dollars... otherwise I think I am going to be FUCKED... I can't believe in several months I have to think about job, apartment, car etc. AHHH...
But until then I will think about my dolphins in New Zealand...

Why yes, the Summer breeze make me feel fine...

Oh I just had to do a quick post because it was SO warm today and I am so HAPPY! The past month or so it has been pretty cool, but the sun has been nice and warm during the day. Today the air was really warm and breezy and the sun was hot! It was probably about 75-80 during mid-day. Perfect temperature!
Tomorrow is Tuesday again which means: BEACH!!

Can't freaking wait.

Melting pots.

I have come to the conclusion that Australia is a big mixture between European and the western world mixed with an Islander lifestyle and Asian influences. I have eaten more Thai food here than I think I have in my entire life. A very interesting mixture of things I guess. It really is a European counterpart floating in the asia-pacific.
One thing that I haven't seen a lot of however is diversity. Almost everyone is white except for in the cities where probably half the population is Asian. Even though the countries first inhabitants were black, there are hardly any blacks anywhere. I probably have seen a small handful the entire time I have been here. It is not like America that way. In America you can walk around a mall, hear at least one other language, see african, white, hispanic, asian and everything in between.
In one of my classes they were talking about the upcoming US elections (they seem to all know more about it than me! They are really focused on it because everyone here hates Bush) and they said that Australia is way less likely to have a black or minority President.
I guess that is one thing that I really do like about America. There is so much diversity. Although there is still a more powerful white majority, things are slowly changing and I think American's are much more receptive to diversity.
Just a thought as I put off my homework...

Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains were incredible! I have never seen anything that amazing in my whole life. What I didn't realize was how far away they are! Josh and I took a train to Sydney on Thursday afternoon (which is 3 hours) and then had to take a train from there to the Katoomba (the village we stayed in at the BM) which was almost another 3 hours. We left a little after 3pm and got there a little after 9pm! We stayed in a pretty "crunchy-granola" hostel--we didn't really even know who was working there versus who was staying there which was a little weird but it worked out well.
I can't wait to be able to put up pictures. On Friday morning we got up early and signed up for a pass that let us see the BM's via the skyrail and stuff and did some hiking around.
The mountains are HUGE... it is basically equivalent to the grand canyon but with trees and waterfalls and a temperate rain forest! The cliffs were massive! The pictures we have are amazing but don't do it justice, Josh and I kept saying "It's never as good as what it looks like it real life!"
We did some hiking which was pretty intense I guess a couple of years ago an International Student from Newcastle got lost in the mountains for 3 days without food until some climbers happened to find him! Luckily, that wasn't us... we didn't do anything too crazy but we really want to try and go back if we get a chance to see more of it and do some more hiking.
On Saturday we had a day tour of the Janolen caves. I have never been in anything like these caves. It took over an hour to get out to them (the bus we were on was teetering on the edge of the windy mountains). We then got a tour of the largest cave-called the Lucas cave the tour took an hour and a half. It was massive! The first people to find it must have been so amazed--it goes on forever and there are beautiful crystal formations everywhere. The cave was formed hundreds of million years ago by a river. Anything being around that long is mind boggaling to me.
We had to come back Saturday night which was a pain becasue of rail track work! We had to take a bus and transfer all the way from Sydney back to Newcastle. NOT fun, but it was worth it for the amazing weekend we had. Now that we are back we really have to start mapping out NZ and packing! It is only 11 days away! In the meantime, I have to actually start doing some of my assignments... grrr.

I'm a little surfer girl.

I officially feel like I am halfway to being aussie now that I have finally surfed!!! The weekend was so much fun. We spent the weekend up at Crescent Head through a surfing company with a bunch of friends from Evatt. Friday was incredibly windy and rainy so surfing on Saturday was intense! It was so hard! The waves were really big (10 foot swells) so we had all the really rough surf from that. Saturday afternoon I finally began to get the hang of it and stood up! I was so proud of myself. Josh figured it out a little quicker but I wasn't has horrible as I thought I may be! It is a really cool feeling becauase you are looking down at the board and paddling, and when the wave hits, you travel with it and it feels really cool once you figure out how to stand up without loosing your balance! Saturday night was a huge campfire with all of the crazy instructors and everyone which was really fun, took some interesting pictures at the beach... lol.
I can't wait to go out and rent a surf board next time we go out to the beach at Newcastle. It was really fun and I want to keep trying. Hopefully next time I go the waves wont be massive and the surf wont be really rough so I can really get the hang of it.
I can't believe our trip to New Zealand is two weeks away! Time goes so fast it is unbelieveable. Josh and I are going to be planning our route and what exactly we want to see and do there so we can see as much as possible. I really wish that my parents could come out and visit. Emily and Lance (some friends of ours) have their parents down right now... they are so lucky. I would love for people to be here and show them all the cool stuff there is to do here! But... $2000 dollar plane tickets are a huge problem! ugh!
I really miss everyone! I wish that I could split myself in half so I could be two places at once... but I know I will be home before I know it which is going to be really weird. Time goes too fast!
Next week I think we are going to round up some people to try to go to the Blue Mountains. They are supposed to be beautiful and have some amazing hiking trails/waterfalls/rock structures. Going to be so busy until NZ with school work, my internship, the blue mountains trip, volunteer trip, packing etc! So much to do in 2 weeks!

Sydney round 2

Another awesome weekend! Went to Sydney early Friday morning (after the room crawl which was NOT fun getting up--josh being still drunk and all). We stayed in a hostel right in the heart of the city which was so fun--a close walk to everything. We went to a 3D Imax right in Darling Harbor which was awesome (but made josh really nauseous lol) Shopped around a lot, went up Sydney Tower which had a great view, went to a bunch of open markets in china town, walked along and saw the opera house up close... it was kind of a cold and overcast weekend which was a bummer but we had a lot of fun just being in the city. It is actually a pretty small city and I feel like I know my way around the main harbor area really well now becuase we were walking around sooo much. The weekends always go too fast though which really sucks. Classes come around too soon when it feels like you are on vacation!
Going on our surf weekend trip next weekend! I am hoping it will be a nice weekend otherwise I am going to freeze. It is going to be really fun though, I am hoping that I am not tooo horrible at surfing! Hopefully I will be able to at least stand on the board by the end of the weekend.... I have a feeling my center of gravity is too high... lol