Tuesday, 29 November 2005
Burleigh Heads
Hello!!
I have no idea when the last e-mail was that I wrote so hopefully I don't repeat myself too much.
Emma and I are renting a master bedroom with an ensuite and bathroom in Burleigh Heads, which is a suburb just off of Surfers. We are living with a guy named Chad who is 25 and his younger sister Beth and her boyfriend that are 21. It is really nice here, and feels kinda homish. Other than that not too much is really new as we are just working to save up for the remaining couple months.
We are working two jobs, one in the morning from 8am till 1 working for a charity company and then working at a little Italian Restaurant on Main Beach named Milan. It is really cute and really high class with only 19 tables in the entire restaurant. We work evenings there and are starting mornings this weekend. The weather is just getting warmer and warmer as it approaches Christmas which is really weird to think as I'm used to the white Christmas's. It's really good in a way because it really helps with not getting homesick around Christmas time because it totally does not feel like it. It's weird to watch TV and see all the Christmas special ads and look outside and see a sunny bright blue sky and palm trees and such.
Schoolies is on right now which is absolutely insane; the gold coast gets so much action. It is when the Year 12 students come to the gold coast after graduation for 3 weeks of straight partying. Last week there were over 30,000 17 year olds roaming the streets. It's kinda cool though because every night they have massive concerts on the beach and it is all patrolled by the cops and tons of security so it is really a cool thing to see.
Other than that, life is not too exciting over here, except for the fact that I'm over here. Give me a couple weeks till we are back on the road then the adventure stories will come out. I hope everything is going extremely well back home and have fun with your Christmas shopping. We have e-mail at our house so I check it pretty much everyday so definitely write back if you want as I love talking to people from home. Take Care
LaRae
Monday, 14 November 2005
Back in Surfers!
Well Hello,
Things are still going great with Emma and me, although we are quite the gong show. We were up in Airlie Beach which is almost the top of the Eastern Coast of Australia and it was already insanely hot, on average of about 35. We had quite the experience as we decided to go fruit picking to earn a little extra money which in the end was utter hell. We were working in the middle of a field with nothing but rows and rows of tomatoes in extreme heat and humidity. It was so bad that we honestly felt like we were in a slave labour camp because we were insanely dirty, our skin turned yellow from all the pesticides and we earned a whopping $55 the first day after 12 1/2 hours of picking as you get paid for the amount you pick as a group, but at least we can say we've done it, Ha ha.
So us being spontaneous decided to hop on a Greyhound bus and drive 22 hours back down to the Gold Coast where we now are once again. We decided to come back to Surfer's and work here until January when Chris and Kelsey come. Right now we are staying with Mike Lauzon and it feels like a 5 star resort. We have a TV, washing machine and a pool just off the deck in the backyard, it is beautiful.
We are going searching tomorrow for a holiday apartment to live in for a month and a half with Emma and Mike Paine, the Canadian from Vancouver. I also had the most amazing opportunity and got the chance to hold a 6 month old Kangaroo that shouldn't have even been out of the mothers pouch. The mother died in a sugar cane field when it burnt down and the lady found the baby kangaroo that was also burned and took it to try to heal it. It was absolutely amazing and the tiniest, cutest thing ever.
Other than that things are great and time is sure flying over here. I hope that you are doing great back home and have fun with the snow, suckers!! Take care until next time and on November 17th you should call my mom and give her a warm happy birthday wish!!
Lot's of Love
LaRae
Friday, 04 November 2005
Fraser Island
Hey everyone,
Well Emma and I just got back from a 4X4 Self drive Fraser Island Camping safari and it was absolutely amazing. We had to take a ferry ride over to the island and it was so cool because Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island. It was amazing because there was absolutely no commercialization there. It was only nature and people camping. There were 9 of us in a Toyota Troop Carrier and we definately were roughing it. The roads were all thick sand that gave a new meaning to the word 4X4 as we found out by getting stuck tons of times. We went to Lake Mckenzie which is on the list of the World's Top 10 Beaches. We also saw tons of other white sandy beaches with the most crystal clear water I have ever seen. It was cool because on the beach we also got to see an old shipwreck from the 1920's that has been left there, untouched.
It was an amazing experience but unfortunately I cannot send any pics of the beauty because both Emma and my digital cameras somehow stopped working.
We are leaving Hervey Bay in the morning and making our way up to Airlie Beach where we are planning on staying for a while. Once we leave Hervey Bay we can no longer go swimming in the ocean because the water is getting so warm and the jellyfish start soon. Some are so poisonous that they can kill you and then once we get up to cairns, there are tons of Crocodiles in the water, you can't even go onto some beaches. They have lagoons that are supposed to be quite nice and have sand all around them but I don't think it will be quite the same.
It is insane to think that tomorrow will be the 2 month mark for how long Emma and I have been gone. I hope all is well back home and hope to hear from you.
LaRae
